WASHINGTON — Republicans’ choice for their next House speaker played an active role in trying to overturn Pennsylvania's 2020 presidential election based on disproven claims of voter fraud.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out votes that gave Joe Biden a victory in a state Donald Trump had carried four years earlier, accused Pennsylvania Democrats of trying to steal the election, voted to reject the state’s certified electoral votes hours after the Capitol was overrun by pro-Trump insurrectionists, and spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Harrisburg shortly after Election Day.

“In my view, Jim Jordan is tainted,” said Ross Baker, a congressional expert and political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “He carries the taint of being a collaborator with Donald Trump in trying to overturn an honest election and has never backed off from that. He has tenaciously held onto that false belief. This guy is Trump through and through. He is an advocate and somebody who pushed aggressively for the election fraud myth.”

It remains to be seen if Mr. Jordan, who Republicans nominated last week, can secure the 217 votes he needs to win the post in a roll call vote scheduled for Tuesday. With Republicans holding a razor-thin House majority and Democrats sure to unanimously oppose him, he can lose only five GOP lawmakers.