House Republicans elect Jim Jordan as their leader after midterm losses

Jordan defeats Majority Leader Steve Scalise 106-73 in a secret ballot

House Republicans elected Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as their leader for the next Congress on Tuesday, a week after the party suffered deep losses in the midterm elections.

Jordan defeated Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, 106-73, in a secret ballot among returning members, people familiar with the matter said. Republicans sided with Jordan over the current No. 2 member of the GOP House leadership.

In the new Congress, Democrats will have at least 254 seats, to at least 165 for Republicans, with some seats still not called, according to the Associated Press as of Tuesday afternoon. That reverses the GOP’s current 219-214 majority, which has two vacancies, and puts Republicans in the minority in the next Congress.

Jordan’s allies hailed him as a proven conservative fighter who can help the party navigate what they predict will be an onslaught of Democratic investigations into the Trump administration.

In a letter to colleagues last week, Jordan said the party has “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 vote marks the culmination of a transformation for Jordan, a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus. He once touted that he was behind the ouster of previous House leaders, including former Speaker John Boehner, who dubbed Jordan a “legislative terrorist.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who rose to the top of the party after Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted as speaker in 2023, opted not to run to lead Republicans in the minority. “I think we’ll have a great slate of leaders, and I’m encouraging the conference to unify around them quickly,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of important work to do to wrap up this Congress and finish strong.”

Jordan and Scalise had faced off before. After McCarthy was removed from the speakership, Scalise sought to move up the leadership rung and replace him, defeating Jordan in the closed-door race to become the party’s nominee.

Jordan’s supporters and McCarthy allies then refused to rally behind Scalise to give him the majority of the full House needed to become speaker. Scalise’s allies and centrists returned the favor, voting to block Jordan from ascending to the gavel.

Johnson, who was little known at the time, emerged as a compromise leader after that standoff. His decision not to run leaves Jordan, who defeated Scalise, to lead the party in the next Congress while Johnson remains speaker as Republicans finish the current Congress.