BREAKING: Jim Jordan Wins Election for House Minority Leader in Next Congress

House Republicans elected Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday to serve as minority leader in the next Congress, choosing one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken allies to lead the party after steep losses in the midterm elections. Jordan defeated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, 106–73, in a secret ballot.

The contest opened after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced last week that he would step aside from Republican leadership. Jordan’s victory signals that House Republicans intend to stick with Trump’s America First agenda as they move into the minority. His immediate task will be keeping a much smaller Republican conference together to oppose Democrat legislation and finding where a united GOP can still influence what passes.

Jordan has built a reputation for taking on Democrats in hearings and on the House floor. He was a prominent defender of Trump during both of the president’s first-term impeachments, in 2019 and 2021. That experience could become relevant again. Democrats will control House committees and their investigative agendas in the next Congress, and Trump or members of his Cabinet could face new impeachment efforts. Jordan’s oversight experience will help shape how Republicans challenge those inquiries and defend the administration.

Now in his 10th House term, Jordan helped found the House Freedom Caucus and served as its first chair from 2015 to 2017. Before entering politics, he won two NCAA wrestling championships at the University of Wisconsin and went on to coach and earn a master’s degree at The Ohio State University.

Jordan took over as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in 2023 after Republicans regained the House in the 2022 elections. In that role, he helped lead the Republican impeachment inquiry into then-President Joe Biden, which examined allegations that Biden’s family profited from its ties to him and that federal officials mishandled the investigation into his son Hunter.

Jordan has long been discussed as a candidate for House leadership. He sought the speakership in October 2023 after Republicans removed Kevin McCarthy, but fell short on three House ballots before Johnson ultimately won the job. If Republicans regain the House in 2028, leading the conference through two years in the minority would put Jordan in a strong position to make another bid for speaker.