Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, defeated Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana by a vote of 106-73 in a closed-door, secret-ballot election, according to two Republican lawmakers who were in the room. The contest followed last week's Democratic wave, which NBC News projected would give Democrats roughly 260 House seats — their largest majority in 35 years — and swept Republicans out of power in both chambers.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Jordan framed the next two years as a battle over the size and scope of government. "When Democrats offer more government, we'll offer more freedom, and we will bring that fight in committee, on the floor, and on the stump every single day," he said.

Jordan, 62, pitched colleagues on his record as a relentless investigator, arguing that his tenure leading the Oversight Committee has prepared him to counter the wave of probes newly empowered Democrats have promised into President Donald Trump's administration, family and business dealings. "I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats' playbook," he wrote to colleagues before the vote.

The result amounts to a clean break from the leadership team of outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson, who announced a day after the election that he would step down from the leadership. Scalise, a close Johnson ally who has served in Republican leadership since John Boehner was speaker, argued he was best positioned to unify the party's factions against what he called the "socialists" arriving in Washington. But a majority of the conference opted for Jordan, who has spent two decades in Congress and whose career has been defined by pushing the party to the right.

Jordan's ascent is remarkable for a lawmaker once regarded as a conservative bomb-thrower. He rose to prominence after the 2010 Tea Party wave, winning the chairmanship of the Republican Study Committee, then the largest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill. He later co-founded the House Freedom Caucus with a handful of hardliners — a group that included future Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and future Trump chiefs of staff Mark Meadows and Mick Mulvaney — and frequently clashed with Boehner and his successor, Paul Ryan.

In 2018, after Republicans lost the majority in the anti-Trump wave, Jordan challenged Kevin McCarthy for minority leader and was soundly defeated, 159-43. That same year, former wrestlers at Ohio State University, where Jordan was an assistant coach, accused him of failing to stop sexual abuse by the team doctor, Richard Strauss. An independent investigation found Strauss abused hundreds of men over decades; he died in 2005. Jordan has repeatedly denied any knowledge of the abuse.

After McCarthy resigned as speaker in October 2023, both Scalise and Jordan sought to succeed him but failed to secure the 218 votes needed on the floor. Johnson, then a low-ranking vice chairman, unexpectedly won the gavel. Jordan's victory on Tuesday completes a long climb from insurgent to leader, a shift colleagues attributed to his years running committees and working more closely with the conference.

In other House Republican leadership races, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota fended off a challenge from Rep. August Pfluger of Texas to retain the whip job, the party's top vote counter and the No. 2 post in the minority. Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan beat back challenges from Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana and Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, who had criticized the current leadership team for choosing "accommodation over conviction."

Senate Republicans also held their leadership elections Tuesday, re-electing their current slate after a small group of conservatives pushed to delay the vote. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota will serve as minority leader, with John Barrasso of Wyoming as minority whip and Tom Cotton of Arkansas as conference chairman. A Thune spokesman said all three were elected by acclamation, meaning there was no dissent and no formal vote.

The push to delay came from senators who argued the party needed more time to digest last week's losses. Sen. David McCormick of Pennsylvania said in a statement that "a week ago, we had the worst election result in decades" and that Republicans should not move to leadership elections until they had "digested and debated the lessons of the midterms." Five other Senate Republicans, led by Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, sent a letter to Cotton asking for a robust discussion of how leadership candidates intend to lead. Johnson walked out after Republicans voted 31-15 to proceed with the elections.

On the Democratic side, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, are favored to become the next House speaker and Senate majority leader, respectively. Neither faces a declared challenger for the top job, though Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland has left the door open to a run for majority leader amid grassroots pressure for an alternative to Schumer. Senate Democrats will elect their leadership team in a private meeting in early December, while House Democrats will pick theirs next week.

With Democrats projected to hold 259 House seats, Jeffries can afford roughly 40 defections and still reach the 218 votes needed to win the speakership on Jan. 3. Some progressive members have said they are undecided about supporting him as grassroots groups push the party to confront Trump more aggressively. "We're not withholding votes. What we're doing is saying we're undecided," said Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy of New Jersey. "We want to sit and have a conversation about the issues and what's the plan going forward." Jeffries told reporters he was confident Democrats would unite. "We're going to work as hard as we can to get to the 218 number, and we're confident that we will get to that number and beyond," he said.