House Republicans have elected Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as their new leader, and Senate Republicans have re-elected Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to lead them, as the party regroups after losing control of Congress in last week’s midterm elections.
Jordan defeated House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana by 106 votes to 73 in a closed door, secret ballot election on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Thune was chosen by acclamation in the Senate, where he ran unopposed. Both men will take up their new roles as minority leaders when the 120th Congress convenes in January 2027.
The split tells you a lot about where each chamber stands. The House chose change. The Senate chose continuity. Jordan, 62, chairs the House Judiciary Committee and co-founded the House Freedom Caucus. He is one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress, and his election puts a combative Trump defender at the head of the House Republican conference for the final two years of Trump’s presidency.
Thune, by contrast, led Republicans through the defeat. He is the current Senate majority leader, and he will become Senate minority leader on Jan. 3, when Democrats take power. Senate Republicans picked him again at a closed door meeting, with the job of trying to block Democratic initiatives they oppose, including by using the Senate filibuster.
House Speaker Mike Johnson opted not to stand for the leadership position. Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota will serve as House minority whip in the new Congress, and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming will serve as Senate minority whip, according to announcements from the conferences.
Democrats won sizeable majorities in both the House and the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterms, and they will take control of both chambers in January. That is the backdrop for both votes. Republicans are no longer setting the agenda. They are picking the people who will fight it.
Jordan’s task will be to hold a bruised House conference together and defend Trump’s agenda from the minority. Thune’s task will be to use the Senate’s rules to slow or stop what Democrats pass in the House. Neither job is easy, and the two leaders have very different styles for doing it.
What happens next is straightforward on paper. The new Congress is seated in January, Jordan and Thune take their minority leader posts, and the fight over the last two years of Trump’s term begins in earnest. The House picked a fighter. The Senate kept its steady hand. Now voters will see which approach works better in opposition.
Sources:
- Devdiscourse / Reuters, Thune, Jordan emerge as Republican minority leaders for next US Congress
- Christian Post, House Republicans elect Jim Jordan as minority leader
- FAIR, Congressman Jim Jordan Elected as House Republican Minority Leader
- HeadlinesXtra, Jim Jordan Wins House GOP Leadership Race
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