Politics
House Republicans to Choose Minority Leader After Midterm Losses
House Republicans will vote by secret ballot Tuesday to replace Mike Johnson as their top leader, choosing between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan as they regroup from a midterm defeat that cost them more than 40 seats.
House Republicans will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to elect a new minority leader, one week after losing the House majority in midterm elections that saw Democrats flip more than 40 GOP seats.
The secret-ballot contest to succeed Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as the chamber's top Republican pits current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., against Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a co-founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus.
The choice carries high stakes for a party trying to regroup after a staggering defeat. Former House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry said the outcome will reverberate well beyond the Capitol.
"I think what develops here will become a larger, external conversation about the direction of the Republican Party," McHenry said.
Scalise, 61, has served as the No. 2 House Republican since 2023 and has held leadership roles for more than a decade. Seen as more moderate than Jordan and a close ally of President Trump, Scalise has pitched a "conservative and consensus-driven" approach.
"My number one goal as Republican Leader will be to win back the majority and I expect you to hold me accountable to that mission," Scalise wrote in a letter to colleagues. "To succeed, we will need to be effective in both the oversight and legislative fights ahead, but we will also need to lay out a clear and optimistic vision for America."
Jordan, 62, a former college wrestling coach known for his combative style, has argued for a more aggressive posture. The veteran of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees â panels expected to be central to the new Congress as Democrats prepare a long list of investigations into the Trump administration â wrote that "offense, not defense, wins elections."
"For too long, we have operated without a clear plan to survive the hour or the day in front of us. That will not cut it against an emboldened and energetic Democratic party," Jordan said in his own letter to colleagues, taking a swipe at the leadership team led by Johnson and Scalise. "I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats' playbook."
The race is a rematch of 2023, when Jordan and Scalise vied to succeed Kevin McCarthy. After multiple candidates failed to secure enough votes, Republicans ultimately settled on Johnson.
Republican strategist Leslie Shedd said the candidates must break through a process that can resemble "family-on-family violence."
"It's really important ⦠to lay out a very clear, substantive vision of how they plan to lead this conference out of what is now a desert," she said.
John Leganski, a former aide to McCarthy, estimated that more than 70% of the incoming House GOP conference was elected after Trump's first term, meaning most members were shaped by â or won because of â the former president. Trump has so far stayed out of the race, though he endorsed Jordan in 2023.
Leganski said the scale of the Democratic victory will limit the leverage available to Republicans under the eventual minority leader when the new Congress is seated in January.
"I think whoever wins your job is to ⦠number one, try to win back to the House," he said. "And number two, make life as difficult for the Democrats as possible, largely by voting no."