House Republicans elected Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as their minority leader on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, defeating Majority Leader Steve Scalise 106-73 in a closed-door secret ballot. Jordan takes over as the top House Republican when Democrats take control of the chamber in January, after last week's midterm defeats. Attention had already been building before the vote: Google searches for Jordan quadrupled in the week ending Nov. 7, and the story ranked second in Google News top news on Nov. 11, with 27 outlets carrying 31 articles.
The vote was 106-73, and it settles a contest the two men fought before
Jordan won a secret ballot of Republicans who will serve in the next Congress, the Associated Press reports, beating Scalise 106-73, a count confirmed by two lawmakers in the room, Newsmax reports. Scalise, the outgoing majority leader, has held the No. 2 spot in the conference since 2019, Louisiana First News reports. The two men squared off before, in the 2023 contest to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the New York Post notes, a race for the Speaker's chair rather than this job. Jordan won this time by 33 votes.
Jordan, 62, chairs the House Judiciary Committee, the Associated Press reports. He co-founded the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and served as its first chairman, the Associated Press reports, and has served in Congress since 2007, the Columbus Dispatch reports. The New York Post reports this was his third attempt at the top House Republican job. Newsmax reports Jordan succeeds Speaker Mike Johnson as the party's leading figure in the chamber. Johnson announced he would not seek the minority leader post, the New York Post reports.
Searches for Jordan sat flat for months, then jumped in midterm week
Google Search interest in "Jim Jordan" held at index 1.0 for the 13 weeks through Oct. 31, then rose to 4.0 in the week ending Nov. 7, a 300% rise on both the 7-day and 30-day measures. The data's latest point is Nov. 7, three days before the vote, so the jump points to midterm-week attention rather than the vote itself: searches sat near the floor until the week ending Nov. 7, the week of the midterm elections.
Coverage was heavy. The story sat at No. 2 in Google News top news on Nov. 11, behind only the House blocking the bid to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It drew 27 outlets and 31 articles, among them NPR, Time and the Guardian, according to the Trends API news context for the story.
The rest of the leadership slate stayed mostly as it was
Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota kept the whip job, beating Rep. August Pfluger of Texas 103-36, and Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan won another term as conference chair with 93 votes against 57 for Rep. Erin Houchin and 27 for Rep. Greg Steube, The Answer Orlando reports. Senate Republicans re-elected Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as their leader without a challenge, and he will become minority leader in January, The Insight International reports.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is in line to become Speaker when the 120th Congress convenes in January, with 258 confirmed Democrats, which Jeffries said is the largest majority for either party this century, the Columbus Dispatch reports. The leadership elections do not change who runs the House now: Johnson remains Speaker for the rest of the current Congress, The American Quorum reports.
Jordan inherits a conference that split 106-73
The split suggests his first test is unity, not messaging: 73 members backed the outgoing majority leader, so Jordan starts with a sizable bloc inside his own conference that voted against him. What that bloc does in January, when the new Congress convenes under a Democratic majority, is the first thing to watch.
