Jim Jordan defeats Steve Scalise 106 to 73 to win House Republican minority leader race

House Republicans voted behind closed doors on Tuesday afternoon to elect Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio as their next minority leader, delivering a sweeping institutional rebuke to sitting Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana one week after voters swept the party out of power across both chambers of Congress. In a secret ballot tally among returning lawmakers and incoming Republican freshmen gathered on Capitol Hill, Jordan defeated Scalise by a decisive 106 to 73 margin according to CBS News.

The 33 vote margin marks the sharpest internal shakeup inside House Republican ranks since the autumn 2023 speakership crisis and installs one of President Donald Trump’s fiercest congressional defenders atop a shrunken conference preparing for two years in the political wilderness. Outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana bowed out of the race for minority leader the morning after last week’s midterm wipeout, setting off a high stakes rematch between Scalise and Jordan over who should command the opposition when the 120th Congress convenes in January.

With Democrats projected to hold roughly 260 House seats after flipping more than 40 Republican districts nationwide in their largest lower chamber majority in 35 years according to NBC News, rank and file Republicans opted for a clean break from the existing leadership table. Rather than turning to Scalise’s veteran fundraising network, a clear majority of the conference embraced Jordan’s promise of relentless televised counterattacks as newly empowered Democratic committee chairs prepare wide ranging subpoena campaigns targeting the White House.

How Jordan won a conference hungry for a clean break

Inside Tuesday’s candidate forum and afternoon balloting, the contest boiled down to whether surviving Republicans wanted steady organizational repair or aggressive ideological combat after a historic electoral rout. Scalise, a 61 year old Louisiana lawmaker who has held elected party leadership posts continuously since 2014 as whip and majority leader, urged colleagues after the morning forum to trust what he called a proven record of campaigning across both deep red seats and competitive suburban battlegrounds while crafting policy alternatives.

That institutional pitch ran headlong into raw anger among surviving members over economic messaging, energy costs, and strategic missteps during the 119th Congress. Speaking to reporters outside the conference room shortly before the afternoon vote, Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett captured the insurgent mood by demanding a leader willing to admit openly that Republicans made serious mistakes on cost of living pressures and congressional stock trading rules, warning according to CBS News live Capitol Hill updates that the party would keep losing if it refused to change course.

Jordan, a 62 year old former collegiate wrestling standout and assistant coach who has represented west central Ohio for two decades, seized directly on that appetite for upheaval. In written appeals and closed door remarks to colleagues, Jordan argued that House Republicans had spent far too long operating without a clear long term plan simply trying to survive one legislative hour or day at a time, warning that incremental defense would fail against an energized Democratic majority.

Pitching himself as battle tested from years leading both the Oversight ecosystem and the Judiciary Committee, Jordan told lawmakers that offense rather than defense wins national elections and argued that he already knows the investigative playbook Democrats plan to deploy against Trump’s administration, family, and business dealings. Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, publicly backed Jordan ahead of the ballot on the grounds that a historic defeat required changing the leadership team and elevating the party’s sharpest television communicator.

From Freedom Caucus insurgent to top House Republican

Jordan’s victory completes a remarkable two decade arc from anti establishment agitator to the top rung of House Republican power. Swept toward prominence alongside the 2010 Tea Party wave, Jordan chaired the conservative Republican Study Committee before joining a small band of hardliners including future Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and future White House chiefs of staff Mark Meadows and Mick Mulvaney to found the House Freedom Caucus in 2015.

From that perch, Jordan repeatedly clashed with fellow Ohio Republican Speaker John Boehner and later frustrated Boehner’s successor, Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, earning a reputation among party moderates as an uncompromising legislative insurgent. When Democrats last captured the House during the 2018 midterm wave, Jordan mounted an underdog challenge against California Republican Kevin McCarthy for minority leader and suffered a lopsided 159 to 43 defeat.

Over the subsequent eight years, however, Jordan steadily converted outsider populist celebrity into institutional leverage by aligning closely with Trump and cultivating ties with party leaders while chairing the high profile Judiciary panel since 2023. During the chaotic three week speakership vacuum following McCarthy’s ouster in October 2023, Scalise initially edged Jordan inside the conference room before withdrawing without the 218 floor votes needed to claim the gavel, and Jordan likewise fell short across three bruising House floor ballots when centrist and appropriations minded Republicans balked at hardball pressure tactics.

Crucially, Tuesday’s contest for minority leader unfolded under conference rules rather than a full House floor roll call. Freed from the requirement to assemble 218 near unanimous votes on the chamber floor, Jordan needed only a simple majority of secret ballots inside the shrunk 179 vote Republican caucus room, allowing conservative lawmakers and frustrated rank and file members to vault him past Scalise on the first decisive tally as tracked by The Guardian.

Outgoing Speaker Johnson, who emerged from obscurity as conference vice chair in 2023 when neither Scalise nor Jordan could claim the speakership, told reporters earlier Tuesday afternoon that he intends to take the oath of office in January to represent his Louisiana district in the 120th Congress even after declining earlier in the week to guarantee he will serve out the entire two year term. Johnson emphasized that he remains in command of the chamber until early January as lame duck lawmakers confront government funding deadlines and foreign policy clashes.

Down ballot House fights, Senate tensions, and Hegseth floor vote

Jordan’s triumph immediately raised the stakes for ongoing secret ballot contests across the rest of the House Republican leadership table on Tuesday afternoon. Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota sought to hold the number two minority whip post responsible for counting votes, facing an insurgent conservative challenge from Texas Rep. August Pfluger, who chairs the Republican Study Committee.

One rung lower, House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan worked to fend off two simultaneous challengers for the party’s top messaging post: Indiana Rep. Erin Houchin and Florida Rep. Greg Steube, who blistered sitting leaders on social media after Election Day for choosing accommodation over conservative conviction and presiding over a historic wipeout despite record campaign fundraising.

Across the Capitol, Senate Republicans reconvened Tuesday afternoon after breaking from a tense two hour morning session without deciding whether to reelect South Dakota Sen. John Thune as their leader. While Thune ran unopposed and remained favored by colleagues including Oklahoma Sen. Jim Lankford and South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, conservative senators including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and David McCormick of Pennsylvania pressed for a vote to delay leadership balloting until the conference conducts a full postmortem on losing at least seven Senate seats, with uncalled races in Alaska and Mississippi threatening steeper losses as Democratic challenger Scott Colom led Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde Smith by more than 2,500 votes.

Before Tuesday’s turbulent Capitol Hill session concludes, House Republicans must also navigate an immediate floor test at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time over Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s privileged resolution bringing eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over unauthorized military operations in Iran, Yemen, and Venezuela. Following Hegseth’s defiant morning Pentagon press briefing, Speaker Johnson insisted Tuesday afternoon that leadership holds the votes to table or refer Massie’s resolution to committee, while Massie warned he will demand eight separate roll call votes if the procedural motion falters.

Once the 120th Congress is sworn in this January, Jordan will inherit the formidable twin tasks of shielding the Trump White House from aggressive Democratic oversight panels while trying to rebuild a fractured Republican map across dozens of suburban swing districts ahead of the 2028 presidential cycle. Whether the confrontational style that propelled Jordan past Scalise inside a grieving caucus room can also broaden the party’s national appeal will define the next two years on Capitol Hill.