Republicans on Tuesday selected Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio to be the minority leader of the next House of Representatives in a rebuke of the chamber’s current GOP leadership.
Having defeated Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, currently the number two Republican in the chamber, in an upset win by a vote of 106-73, the conservative hardliner will lead a much-diminished caucus of House Republicans once members of the new Congress take office next year.
The selection of Jordan is a sign that the House GOP is hoping for a shakeup in the wake of last week’s drubbing in the midterm elections. With Speaker Mike Johnson deciding not to seek the top GOP position in the minority, Scalise, who also served on the leadership teams of John Boehner, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy, was next in the line of succession. Jordan, meanwhile, was for years a thorn in the side of the Republican establishment, having helped found the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, which tries to push the caucus to pursue more fiscally conservative policies. Their tactics have annoyed both leadership and rank-and-file members.
Jordan’s win is also the byproduct of more centrist Republican members in swing districts who would have likely voted for Scalise losing to their Democratic opponents on Election Day.