President Trump has been known to wade into political races with Twitter endorsements and enthusiastic encouragement for those he favors, but he’s presented with a difficult dilemma in the coming House speaker race. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been a loyal ally of the president and is the designated successor for the seat that will be vacated by Paul Ryan when his term expires early next year. Staunch conservative Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, however, sees this as an opportunity for Republicans to show their voters a commitment to the president’s agenda in a way they say the leadership has not exhibited before.

“We make the job of being a member of Congress way too difficult. It’s really basic. What did you tell the voters you were going to do? Let’s do that,” Jordan said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”

Jordan, who announced his speakership candidacy last week, said the current House leadership has not kept its commitment to voters and failed to act on key issues like a full repeal-and-replace bill for Obamacare and new immigration policy. He said a change in direction is necessary if Republicans remain in charge.

But the six-term lawmaker is a particularly divisive member of Congress. With fellow Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, he co-founded the conservative House Freedom Caucus — a group known for its opposition power and credited with driving former Republican House Speaker John Boehner to retire. Jordan has also led the push for a special counsel to investigate 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and recently initiated a now-abandoned attempt to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which he said he’s willing to resume if necessary. He has also faced a personal scandal in the past few months amid accusations he knew of sexual abuse claims while coaching wrestling at Ohio State University.

It’s unclear whether Trump will weigh in on the race, but a spokesman for Jordan said he would be “happy” to receive backing from the president. When asked if a Trump endorsement for McCarthy would change Jordan’s intentions, the spokesman said the Ohio Republican would not likely be deterred.

“I don’t think that would cause us to change our position. We’re in this to fight for the things that the Republicans got elected on,” said Ian Fury, communications director for Jordan.

Some GOP members have already started to take sides in the pending race. Meadows came out with a lengthy statement in favor of Jordan soon after his longtime friend’s announcement. “If the people entrust Republicans with the House this November, Jim Jordan would be a Speaker who would fight for real changes in Congress that would allow the people’s House to truly work for Main Street Americans. I fully support his candidacy,” his statement read in part.

RealClearPolitics contacted the offices of over a dozen members who are either part of the Freedom Caucus or are conservative members to get their assessment of a potential Trump endorsement. Few responded, but one of those who did said it is not the president’s place to select a House speaker.

“The president picks Supreme Court justices, not speakers of the House. Given the president picked conservative Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, I’d expect him to go with Rep. Jim Jordan, who is the solid conservative in this race,” said Rep. Thomas Massie. The Kentucky lawmaker is known as one of the most independent-minded House Republicans and was the only GOP member who did not vote for Ryan as speaker in 2017.

Rep. Dave Brat’s spokesman declined to comment. Brat may be facing a tough re-election bid for the seat formerly held by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, whom Brat beat in a huge 2014 primary upset. His re-election race was recently changed from “leans Republican” to “tossup” by the Cook Political Report.

Conservative outside groups are already getting behind Jordan. Leaders of these organizations say he is dedicated to upholding Trump’s agenda and would help rally the base in the upcoming midterms. Some have even planned ad campaigns to help elect Jordan as speaker.

“This is of course about base and turnout, and you left some big tickets from the Trump agenda on the cutting room floor,” said Adam Brandon, president of the conservative group FreedomWorks, naming Obamacare repeal and immigration reform as the top items. “Jim Jordan has credibility with the base on all of those issues.”

He added that it’s unlikely Trump will make an endorsement in the race. “I actually think that President Trump will work with whoever is speaker. I would advise him to stay out of it right now,” Brandon said.

Another conservative leader said that while it’s unclear whom the president will endorse, Jordan is more in line with his agenda. “The President has praised Jordan many times. … [L]ike Trump, he wants to accomplish right now what was promised to the American people,” said Brent Bozell, president of ForAmerica, in a statement.

Jordan’s path to the speakership will likely be difficult regardless of whether the president weighs in. Ryan has already given McCarthy his support and said that most Republicans see him as the successor. “I think we all believe that Kevin is the right person,” said Ryan in an interview with NBC News in April after he announced his retirement.

In order to elect a speaker, each party caucus nominates a candidate and typically votes by roll call at the start of the new Congress. Whoever receives the majority of votes wins. That does not necessarily mean a majority of the House overall, however, due to vacancies or members who simply vote “present.” Regardless, reaching a majority of votes will likely be a tall task for Jordan, especially with the current leadership pushing for McCarthy.

In addition, the president’s relationship with the conservative bloc in Congress has been rocky at times, and Trump may see McCarthy as a more stable ally. The fight in 2017 over health care resulted in a bitter exchange on social media when conservative members refused to back the Republican bill to replace Obamacare, which failed. The president ripped members for their opposition and called out several individuals directly, including Jordan.

“The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” Trump tweeted in March of last year. “Where are @RepMarkMeadows, @Jim_Jordan and @Raul_Labrador?#RepealANDReplace #Obamacare” he added.

Labrador warned the president not to alienate his friends despite his frustration. “Freedom Caucus stood with u when others ran. Remember who your real friends are. We're trying to help u succeed,” the Idaho congressman tweeted in reply.

The relationship has largely healed since then due to shared viewpoints on Trump’s recent legislative priorities, such as immigration. The caucus leaders have also been aggressive in pursuing an investigation into the origins of the Christopher Steele dossier that in part led to the special counsel’s inquiry into allegations of collusion between the president’s campaign and Russia. The ongoing case is an issue the president takes very personally, and he could see Jordan as a strong ally in pursuing the issue.

Of course, who will be House speaker depends entirely on the outcome of the midterms. A new president’s party historically loses about 30 seats or more in his first midterms if the president’s approval rating is below 50 percent, according to Gallup. With Trump’s rating at 43.3 percent in the RealClearPolitics polling average, and a large number of GOP retirements -- FiveThirtyEight puts the House total at 23 – discussions of Jordan vs. McCarthy could be moot. The RCP generic ballot poll average shows Democrats favored to win the House by 6.9 percentage points. They need to flip 23 seats in order to gain the majority.