House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan will lead House Republicans into the minority for the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term, defeating Majority Leader Steve Scalise in a closed-door secret-ballot election Tuesday, according to multiple outlets covering the vote.
Jordan secured 106 votes to Scalise's 73, the Washington Examiner reported. Fox News Digital, citing sources in the room, heard loud, sustained applause from outside the hallway when Jordan's victory became official. The vote was open only to members who won their races on Nov. 3 — members who were ousted or are retiring were barred from participating, per ABC News.
The election comes a week after Republicans lost their House majority in what NBC News described as a "blue tidal wave," and Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would not seek the top GOP leadership post in the 120th Congress. The conference gathered Tuesday morning for a candidate forum before balloting ran from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., ABC News reported.
Jordan Pitched Himself as the Oversight Fighter
Jordan, first elected in 2007 and a Judiciary and Oversight veteran, made his case to colleagues on the central question facing the new minority: how to fight back against the investigations newly empowered Democrats have promised.
"I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats' playbook," Jordan wrote to his colleagues, according to NBC News.
In the Tuesday morning forum, sources told Fox News Digital that both candidates pitched themselves as the best person to unify the conference after the midterm losses, and both signaled they would give lawmakers wide latitude to "vote their districts." The Q&A session was described as largely cordial, with members asking how each man would unify the GOP and handle leaks to journalists. Jordan told Fox News Digital he thought the forum went well but declined to discuss closed-door details.
Also on Tuesday, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer defeated Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger for the No. 2 job of minority whip, 103-76, per sources cited by Fox News Digital. Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain survived a challenge and kept her post, those sources said. Senate Republicans held their own leadership elections behind closed doors Tuesday, with Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota running for minority leader and no announced opposition, per NBC News.
Ironic Note as Democrats Take the Gavel
On the other side of the aisle, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to be unopposed for speaker, which would make him the first Black speaker in House history, ABC News reported. Rep. Katherine Clark is seeking majority leader and Rep. Pete Aguilar majority whip.
As Next News reported earlier this month, Jordan launched his bid for the top GOP job in the House as Johnson stepped aside — a post shared by @nextnews announcing the run.
Jordan's ascent marks a turn for a two-decade veteran once regarded as a conservative bomb-thrower who clashed with his own leadership. After the 2010 Tea Party wave, he won the chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee and helped form the House Freedom Caucus alongside figures including now-Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. His 2023 bid for speaker fell short. On Tuesday, the conference chose confrontation over continuity — and chose the man who has spent years in the hearing room across from the other side.
Our Take
Speaker Johnson is out, Scalise stays at No. 2 in the cloakroom but not the corner office, and the Freedom Caucus godfather is now the face of House Republicans. That's the loudest possible answer to the question the GOP establishment didn't want asked: after a midterm shellacking, does the conference want more of the same committee-approved management, or does it want a brawler with subpoena power and a decade of practice at being underestimated?
Conservatives got their pick. Jordan is battle-tested in the exact arena Democrats are about to turn into a partisan circus — and the first subpoena fights of the new Congress will tell you whether 106 Republicans made the right call. So here's the question patriots should be asking tonight: if the GOP had listened to Jordan's wing years earlier, would we even be talking about a blue wave — or would we be watching Democrats sweat in the minority instead? Tell us in the comments.
