House Republicans elected Ohio Republican Jim Jordan as their next leader after a blue wave swept the party from power last week.
Jordan defeated Majority Leader Steve Scalise in a closed-door, secret-ballot vote of 106 to 73, two Republican lawmakers told NBC News. The contest follows historic election losses that cost Republicans their House majority and left the caucus searching for a new direction after outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson.
Jordan pitched his colleagues on his experience leading the House Judiciary Committee, arguing that his oversight background prepares him to counter upcoming investigations from newly empowered Democrats.
“I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook,” Jordan wrote in a letter to his colleagues reported by NBC News. The victory marks a decisive pivot for a caucus looking for a clean break from the Johnson political apparatus.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters he is actively listening to colleagues regarding a potential challenge to Schumer, emphasizing that the position should not be treated as a coronation.
While Washington leadership battles unfolded, election analysts dissected a massive shift toward Democrats in North Carolina. According to NBC News, Democrats flipped five congressional seats from red to blue in the Tar Heel State, tying California for the most flips nationwide.
With three House races still uncalled in North Carolina, razor-thin margins separate two Republican incumbents, Reps. Greg Murphy and Virginia Foxx, and their Democratic challengers. David Rouzer is up by roughly 2,500 votes in the 7th District.
Instead, the map backfired in districts that President Donald Trump carried by at least nine points in 2024. Democratic Rep. Don Davis also held on to the 1st District seat the GOP was targeting by 3 points, and one of the flipped seats is held by Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of House Republicans’ national campaign arm. Former Democratic Gov.
Kian Sadjadi, executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, told NBC News that the largest voter shift came from young men who backed Democrats after supporting Trump in 2024. For years, North Carolina Democrats have credited state party Chair Anderson Clayton for building up a strong on-the-ground organization that has meant flipping statewide, judicial, and local seats in recent cycles. Now, North Carolina Democrats will hold a majority of the state’s congressional seats and have a newly minted senator.
Regarding what the results mean for the 2028 presidential election, Sadjadi said, I don’t think that we can look at this year as kind of a bellwether for ’28. We’re still going to have to work hard every day … we’re still going to have to fight like we’re behind and not take this as a surefire path to victory,
adding that We will be a true battleground. It’ll be one of our most competitive states.
Republicans choose Jim Jordan as House minority leader https://t.co/ZfQzTbHYtB
