By Sarah Jay · Updated November 11, 2026 · Compiled from reporting by the Associated Press, CBS News, ABC News, Fox News and TIME, cross-checked against each other. Nothing here is sponsored.
Jim Jordan will be House minority leader in the next Congress. House Republicans picked the Ohio congressman over Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, 106 to 73, in a closed-door, secret-ballot vote on Tuesday, November 10, according to the Associated Press, CBS News, ABC News and Fox News.
The vote came one week after Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the midterms. Speaker Mike Johnson isn’t running for any leadership job in the new Congress, so Republicans had to choose someone to lead a much smaller conference into two years of Democratic control.
What happened in the House GOP leadership vote
Republicans who’ll serve in the next Congress, including members-elect who won last week, met behind closed doors on Capitol Hill and voted by secret ballot. Jordan won by 33 votes. The count wasn’t announced publicly; the 106-73 figure comes from sources in the room who spoke to CBS News, ABC News and Fox News, and the AP reported the same tally.
Before the vote, both men spoke at a candidate forum. According to Fox News, each said he could unify the conference, and each signaled that members would have room to “vote their districts.”
Jordan’s pitch was about posture. “Offense, not defense, wins elections,” he said, according to the AP. TIME reported that a letter he sent to colleagues made the same argument, urging Republicans to push their own agenda over the next two years on top of exposing Democrats. After winning, he told reporters Republicans would “fight for American families,” ABC News reported, adding: “When Democrats offer more government, we’ll offer more freedom.”
Scalise ran on experience and money. He told colleagues he raised $67.9 million for this year’s midterms, according to the AP, and TIME reported he warned of what he called a “radical” Democratic oversight agenda aimed at White House officials and President Trump.
Who else Republicans picked
The rest of the House GOP leadership slate was settled the same day. Here’s how it came out, based on CBS News and ABC News reporting:
- Minority leader: Jim Jordan of Ohio, who beat Steve Scalise 106-73
- Minority whip: Tom Emmer of Minnesota, re-elected after defeating August Pfluger of Texas
- Conference chair: Lisa McClain of Michigan, who beat Erin Houchin of Indiana and Greg Steube of Florida
Neither outlet published a tally for the whip or conference chair races.
Senate Republicans also met. John Thune of South Dakota was re-elected as their leader by acclamation, and John Barrasso stays on as whip, according to both CBS and ABC. “Obviously, the election result was not what we had hoped for,” Thune said, per ABC News.
Who is Jim Jordan?
Jordan, 62, chairs the House Judiciary Committee. He co-founded the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and was its first chairman, the AP noted. He has served in Congress for nearly two decades and is one of President Trump’s most vocal defenders on Capitol Hill.
He has also run for the top job before. After Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker in October 2023, Jordan and Scalise both sought the gavel. Jordan won the conference nomination at one point but couldn’t get enough votes on the House floor, and Republicans eventually settled on Mike Johnson. TIME and the AP both recounted that history on Tuesday.
Three years later, the rematch went the other way.
Scalise, 61, has been in leadership for years, as whip and then majority leader. He was critically wounded in the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice and was treated for multiple myeloma in 2023, the AP reported. That long tenure cut both ways. “I personally like Steve, but he’s been in leadership since before I was in Congress,” Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio told Fox News.
Why Mike Johnson isn’t running
Johnson announced last week that he would step aside and not seek a leadership post for the next two years, after what Fox News called historic Republican losses in state and federal races. A day after Election Day, he’d said that “a new battle is just beginning” and that Republicans would retake the House by 2028, TIME reported.
President Trump said he hadn’t asked Johnson to step down and called his leadership “fantastic,” according to TIME. On the race to replace him, Trump said “we’ll stay out of it.” The AP also reported that Trump hadn’t publicly weighed in.
What the Jim Jordan minority leader role means for the next Congress
Minority leader is the top job for the party out of power in the House. The speaker comes from the majority, and Democrats are expected to choose Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, with Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts as majority leader, according to the AP. Democrats hold their own leadership elections next week.
The numbers are lopsided. ABC News reported Democrats hold a 254-166 edge going into the 120th Congress, with 15 races still undecided. With a margin like that, a minority leader can’t block much on the floor alone. What Jordan can do is shape the message, keep his members together on key votes and lead the response to Democratic investigations.
That last part is likely to define his job. Democrats are preparing investigations aimed at Trump’s Cabinet, family and business interests, Fox News reported, and Jordan is expected to be the main Republican pushing back. Jeffries has already signaled where some of that is headed. After the House on Tuesday voted 211-204 to send Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it for now, Jeffries said, “This is not the end of it. It’s just the beginning,” according to CBS News. We covered the eight articles in that resolution in our explainer on the Hegseth impeachment vote.
Supporters see that as his strength. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, a Jordan ally, told Fox News that Jordan “understands what we’re up against” and called his communication skills “really kind of unrivaled by anybody else in the House right now.”
Analysis: what to watch
What follows is analysis, kept apart from the reporting above.
I think the 106-73 result tells you what kind of minority House Republicans want to be. Scalise offered continuity, fundraising and a long record of counting votes. Jordan offered confrontation. With Democrats about to hold subpoena power, a majority of the conference decided the job is mostly about defending the president and fighting on television and in hearings, and less about legislative deal-making.
It isn’t clear yet how that plays with the members who won in swing districts, or with the Republicans who’ll try to win back seats in 2028. The AP described a return to the majority as a steep climb given how small the conference now is. Fox reported that both candidates promised members room to vote their districts. Whether Jordan keeps that promise when it collides with the White House’s priorities is probably the first real test.
For the full picture of how Democrats won both chambers, see our 2026 midterm election results breakdown.
FAQ
Who won the House Republican leader race?
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio won. He beat Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana 106 to 73 in a secret-ballot vote on November 10, 2026, according to the AP, CBS News and ABC News. He’ll lead House Republicans as minority leader when the new Congress begins in January.
Why did Mike Johnson step down as GOP leader?
Johnson announced he wouldn’t seek a leadership post in the next Congress after Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms. He remains speaker until the current Congress ends. President Trump said he hadn’t asked Johnson to step aside, according to TIME.
What does the House minority leader do?
The minority leader heads the party that doesn’t control the House. They set the party’s strategy, speak for it on the floor and in the press, and try to keep members united on key votes. The speaker, who runs the chamber, comes from the majority party.
Who was elected House Republican whip?
Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota was re-elected whip, defeating Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, according to CBS News and ABC News. Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan won the No. 3 post, conference chair. No tallies were published for either race.
Who will be the next speaker of the House?
Democrats are expected to pick Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, according to the AP. House Democrats hold their leadership elections next week, and the full House formally elects the speaker when the new Congress convenes in January.
Did Trump endorse Jim Jordan for minority leader?
No. Trump said “we’ll stay out of it” when asked about the race, according to TIME, and the AP reported he hadn’t publicly weighed in. Jordan is a longtime Trump ally.
Sources: Associated Press via MPR News, CBS News, ABC News, Fox News, TIME.
Sources and Editorial Notes
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Sarah Jay
Sarah Jay is a journalist, fact-checker, and writer who creates well-researched articles using information from credible and trusted sources. She combines verified facts with thoughtful analysis, offering readers clear, balanced, and insightful perspectives on the topics she covers.
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