Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio formally entered the race to lead House Republicans on Wednesday, telling GOP colleagues in a two-page letter that he wants the job of minority leader after the party’s heavy midterm losses, CBS News reported, citing the letter it obtained.
“This is a staggering day for our Conference,” Jordan wrote in the letter, dated Wednesday. “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 Democrat majority.” Jordan argued he is “battle-tested on the oversight front” as Democrats prepare an investigative blitz into the Trump administration. “I know the Democrats’ playbook,” he wrote. “I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats’ tactics.”
The letter made official what Fox News first reported Wednesday morning, citing two sources.
The bid sets up a fight for the job of House minority leader, the post that will lead the Republican opposition for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term after the House was projected to flip to Democrats. Speaker Mike Johnson, the potential rival for the job, told staff on an all-staff call that he is not running for House minority leader, Fox News reported, citing sources. Johnson remains in Congress.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana also plans to announce a bid for minority leader, Fox News reported, citing two sources. “His number one goal will be to lead the conference back into the majority. He is a proven and tested leader who is ready on day one,” one source told Fox News. Scalise has not made a formal announcement, and nothing is decided. House Republicans will hold their leadership elections on Tuesday, November 10, NBC News and CBS News reported. The contest is a rematch of sorts of their October 2023 leadership fight, which ended with Johnson becoming speaker.
Rep. Jim Jordan (Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0).
Republican lawmakers had expected a Jordan bid for months if the party lost the House, Fox News reported. The Judiciary Committee chairman has spent six years as the panel’s top Republican, clashing with the same Democrats who would now lead investigations of the Trump administration, and he campaigned across the country for Republican candidates this cycle, building goodwill inside the conference. Scalise, a senior leader and prolific fundraiser, has likewise spent the cycle crisscrossing the country for fellow Republicans.
The math could favor a challenger this time. Jordan ran for House speaker in October 2023 after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster and failed to win a majority of the full chamber. A minority leader needs only a majority of House Republicans – and many of the moderates who blocked him then lost their seats Tuesday night, according to the report.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota is running to become House Republicans’ minority whip, the party’s second-ranking post in the minority, and has been calling colleagues to gather support, multiple sources told Fox News. Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger of Texas is also running for the whip job, Fox News confirmed, setting up a contest for the post.
Rep. Rudy Yakym of Indiana is running to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s House campaign arm, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News. The NRCC chair is not a floor leadership post – the committee raises money and recruits candidates to win back the majority in 2028.
What it means for you: the winner of this race becomes the Republican Party’s daily voice in Washington for two years, deciding how hard to fight the Democratic majority’s investigations and possible impeachment efforts – and shaping what, if anything, gets done in a divided capital. With Johnson out of the running, the choice now looks like Jordan, the fighter, or Scalise, the operator.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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