Scalise and Jordan offer competing pitches for House GOP leadership

Pre-election GOP doubts linked Scalise’s standing to party performance

Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan are pressing sharply different pitches for House Republican leadership after the party’s sweeping midterm losses. Scalise is casting himself as the experienced leader and fundraiser best positioned to help Republicans win back the majority, while Jordan is presenting himself as a fighter and drawing support from Republicans seeking a “brand new day.” More than a dozen GOP lawmakers, including Scalise allies, said before the election that Scalise’s standing in the race would likely be tied to the party’s performance. Republicans largely expected to lose their thin majority, but the breadth of their defeats came as a surprise.

Their earlier leadership struggle came after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was ousted in October 2023, and neither won the top job. Scalise received the internal party nod, defeating Jordan by 14 votes in a closed-door, secret-ballot race to become the party’s nominee for speaker. Jordan’s supporters and McCarthy allies refused to rally behind Scalise, preventing him from receiving a majority of the full House. Scalise’s allies and centrists then returned the favor, with 25 Republicans voting to block Jordan from ascending to the gavel.

On Tuesday afternoon, House Republicans are set to cast secret ballots to decide their next leader, with Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise facing Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan for House minority leader in the new Democratic-run Congress. The vote follows Speaker Mike Johnson announcing that he would not seek to lead the party next year. Scalise, 61, is making what colleagues see as his final bid, while Jordan, 62, is running for the position. The Wall Street Journal described the secret ballot as a test of whether the sweeping losses would prompt a break with the party’s longtime leadership in favor of new blood.

In an interview ahead of Tuesday’s election, Scalise said: “The real question is: How do we chart a new path that’s going to get us back into the majority, and that’s the kind of leadership that I bring.” He has served in the House for 18 years, including more than a decade in leadership, and cited his role in passing President Donald Trump’s top legislative priorities, including the president’s tax law last year with a razor-thin GOP majority.

He is also the No. 2 House Republican and has stood beside Johnson during press briefings. The Wall Street Journal reported that Scalise has a jump on Jordan in terms of campaigning with members and GOP candidates over the years. Scalise casts himself as the experienced leader and fundraiser best positioned to help Republicans win back the majority.

Supporters also point to Scalise’s history as a fighter. In 2017, a gunman ambushed a Republican baseball practice and nearly killed Scalise; his security detail stopped the shooter and prevented a massacre. Scalise later rebounded after a cancer diagnosis.

Scalise argues that House GOP leaders did the best they could to address voters’ concerns about the cost of living, gas and more, and he casts the Senate as a legislative graveyard that failed to act on various bills House Republicans passed.

Scalise also sought to cast doubt on Jordan’s record: “Go look at Louisiana and Ohio. Who do you want to lead our party back to the majority? How about the guy that’s poised to get us a new seat in a toughest environment we’ve had, versus somebody who actually lost House seats and a Senate seat in his own state?” Scalise added that his comparison was a shot at various seats that flipped blue in Jordan’s home state of Ohio. He pointed to a redistricted Louisiana seat that Republicans were expected to pick up after a runoff.

Neither candidate is trying to distance the party from President Trump after the election results, though some GOP figures hope to do so. Scalise called the result “clearly a rebuke on economic conditions that people were angry about,” citing Iran and gas and diesel prices. He also said he had no conflicts with Trump’s new chief of staff and hard-line immigration adviser Stephen Miller: “I’ve known Stephen Miller for a long time. I work really well with him.”

Jordan, 62, has cast himself as a known fighter who can counter Democrats’ investigations into the Trump administration and help communicate the party’s message. His office declined to comment and pointed to a Dear Colleague letter released last week. In that message, Jordan said the party had “operated without a clear plan to survive the hour or the day in front of us. That will not cut it against an emboldened and energetic Democrat majority.”

The Wall Street Journal described Jordan as a conservative grassroots star who co-founded the House Freedom Caucus. He led the group in pushing the party further right on issues that often brought him into conflict with GOP leaders and his colleagues alike. Former Speaker John Boehner once called Jordan a “legislative terrorist”; Boehner was among the lawmakers Jordan helped chase out of Congress.

Jordan sought to challenge McCarthy to be the top Republican in 2018. Later that year, a detente emerged when McCarthy sought to bring Jordan into the fold of the party and supported his bid to lead the House Oversight Committee. The Wall Street Journal said Jordan has since evolved, becoming an ally to party leadership. He has mentored members on the House Judiciary Committee, where he moved after leading the Oversight panel. He has stepped up his fundraising contributions for colleagues and the House GOP campaign arm while increasingly campaigning for various Republicans.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R., Fla.) endorsed Scalise as someone who could unite the party, saying, “Steve Scalise can unite the party, unite the delegation or the conference, and you know he’s a proven fighter. He literally took a bullet.” Gimenez also argued that Scalise could outfundraise Jordan and said, “Nothing personal against Jim Jordan, but he comes from a faction that is not where I believe we should be going.”

Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio praised Scalise but said he was backing Jordan, saying, “There is definitely a calling amongst the ranks, the ones of us that are still left, that they really want a brand new day, a brand new face.” Rulli added, “They want to start from scratch. And that is Jim Jordan.”

Tuesday’s secret ballots will determine which pitch prevails as House Republicans consider whether sweeping losses call for continuity or a break with the party’s longtime leadership. The 2023 record shows the internal divisions: Jordan’s supporters and McCarthy allies refused to rally behind Scalise after his 14-vote internal win, and Scalise’s allies and centrists later blocked Jordan from the gavel with 25 votes.