Congressman Jim Jordan elected to lead House Republicans

O congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio won Tuesday the race for Republican leader in the House, when his party prepares for the minority, and South Dakota Senator John Thune was re-elected Senate leader.

The Senate Republicans re-elected South Dakota Senator John Thune as leader of the Republican Party conference after a tense day of discussions about the major losses in the legislative elections that cost them the majority.

Thune was already expected to win, as he is popular among his party colleagues and was running without opposition in the secret vote election.

But the Senate Republicans vented their frustrations at three separate meetings today, after an electoral defeat that cost them at least seven seats.

Some Republicans had tried to postpone the decision on leadership, but the conference voted to move forward, said Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who had tried to postpone. He left the room when the vote started.

As for Jordan, who is chairman of the House Judicial Committee, he defeated Louisiana's deputy Steve Scalise in a secret election of the Republicans who will serve in the next Congress. The vote was 106-73.

62-year-old Jordan co-founded the ultraconservative Caucus of the House Freedom and was his first president.

His candidacy pleased those seeking new leadership after last week's electoral disaster and those enjoying his direct political style.

As minority leader, Jordan will inherit a historically small Republican conference in the House, which only now begins to deal with the loss of power, while President Donald Trump fulfills his last two years in office.

Leading the party back to the majority in the House in 2028 promises to be a difficult task, given the scope of the Democratic victories in the mid-term elections.

Jordan warned of the impending Democratic efforts under supervision, with several investigations to the Trump administration expected.

“ Our job cannot just be to highlight how radical this new Democratic Party is – the attack, not the defense, wins elections,” he said, in a reference to his combative reputation in commission hearings.

Trump said he wouldn't be in the race. Scalise and Jordan had faced each other before, when they both applied for mayor, after Kevin McCarthy was removed from office just over three years ago.

None, however, managed to gather the support needed to secure the position, which eventually went to Mike Johnson, who will give way to leadership in the new Congress.

Scalise, 61, held key leadership positions in the Republican Party since 2014, serving as a bench leader and then as a majority leader.

In 2017, he was seriously injured when a shooter opened fire in a baseball match where several Republicans, deputies and officials were preparing for an annual charity game against Democrats.

In 2023, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that was successfully treated.

“ Overcoming adversities is nothing new to me,” Scalise said by introducing himself to colleagues, also highlighting his ability to raise funds, stating that he raised 67.9 million dollars for the midterm elections this year, with about a third of that amount going directly to individual House campaigns and to the National Republican Committee of Congress.

But most Republicans chose Jordan, who emphasized his experience in confronting Democrats in committee rooms.

“ I am tested in battles in supervision and know the Democratic playbook,” Jordan said.

Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota was elected to number two in the Republican leadership hierarchy by beating Deputy August Pfluger from Texas to the post.

Three candidates were trying to serve as conference president: representatives Lisa McClain of Michigan, Erin Houchin of Indiana, and Greg Steube of Florida.

The Democrats will hold their leadership elections next week. New York's representative Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the next mayor, the first African-American to take office, and Massachusetts representative Katherine Clark is the next leader of the majority. If this were to be confirmed, Clark would be the first woman to take that position.