Rep. Jim Jordan wins race to lead GOP House minority after midterms blowout

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Nov 10, 2026

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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, decisively won a closed-door vote to lead the Republican minority in the House of Representatives in the next Congress after the GOP suffered sweeping losses in the midterm elections.

The right-wing firebrand beat Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, by a healthy 106-73 margin in a secret-ballot election that came after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would step down in light of the party’s defeat last week.

Jordan, 62, who relishes playing political hardball, will likely be a combative Republican foil to presumptive incoming House Speaker Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and may seek to rebuild the GOP’s foundation in the House after the party lost close to 50 seats in one of the worst beat-downs in recent history.

“I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook,” he wrote to his Republican colleagues in a pitch for his candidacy. “Our job cannot be merely to spotlight how radical this new Democratic Party is — offense, not defense, wins elections.”

Jordan may have had the edge over Scalise because the Louisiana lawmaker was Johnson’s top lieutenant for the past four years and the sitting leadership team must shoulder a share of the blame for the midterms debacle.

By picking Jordan, the shrunken GOP House caucus is signaling they want to take a pugnacious approach to dealing with ascendent Democrats in Congress. Even though he’s also a staunch conservative, Scalise was seen as being more likely to be willing to cut deals with the other side when possible.

The House Speaker will only be elected when the new Congress is seated in January. Jeffries is the overwhelming favorite to win the 218 votes he needs to win the gavel because Democrats will hold about 260 seats.

Both Jordan and Scalise lost prior bids for House Speaker during a chaotic period in 2023 after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was stripped of the gavel by Republican hardliners.

Jordan, who has served as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has warned GOP colleagues to brace themselves for an aggressive Democratic push to investigate President Trump’s administration and to hobble his chances of winning any policy wins during his final two years in office.

Jordan will also face the difficult task of clawing back a chunk of the nearly 50 seats Democrats won in the midterms as soon as 2028.

Republican senators haven’t yet decided whether to reelect Senate leader Sen. John Thune.

Sen. Chuck Schumer is the favorite to retain his position as Senate Democratic leader although several senators have said they oppose his bid.

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