House Republicans on Tuesday picked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio to lead them in the next Congress, choosing him over Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana in a 106-73 secret-ballot vote, the Associated Press reports. ABC News, CBS News and NBC News reported the same tally from lawmakers in the room.
Jordan, 62, co-founded the House Freedom Caucus and was its first chairman. He will become minority leader when the new Congress is sworn in in January, after Democrats took the House in last week's midterms. Speaker Mike Johnson stays in his post until then.
Jordan's pitch was that the conference needs a fighter as the new Democratic majority prepares a wave of investigations aimed at President Trump. After the vote he said Republicans will "fight for American families" in the 120th Congress.
It is a rematch of sorts: Jordan and Scalise both ran for speaker after Kevin McCarthy was ousted in 2023, and neither could unite the conference before it turned to Johnson.
On the Senate side, John Thune will stay on as the Republican leader in the minority, ABC News reports, after some senators had pushed to delay the leadership vote to talk through the election results.
SOURCES
UPDATES
6:06 AM ET
Published.