Jim Jordan, once called a 'legislative terrorist' by a top Republican, will now lead the party in U.S. House

The Republicans may have just lost control of the House of Representatives in resounding fashion, but they signalled Tuesday they may not be in a conciliatory mood with Democrats, picking combative Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan as their leader in the chamber.

Jordan, a longtime ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, emerged from a closed-door session with party colleagues Tuesday as the winner over Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana to become House minority leader.

Jordan, 62, said Republicans would focus on fighting for American families over the next two years.

“When Democrats offer more government, we’ll offer more freedom,” he said. “We will bring that fight in committee, on the floor and on the stump every single day.”

'A pitbull who will fight it out'

Jordan, once described as the "walking embodiment of conflict-mindedness" by a member of the conservative Federalist Society, was first elected to Congress in 2006. He was seen as one of the prime Republicans legislators responsible for a 16-day shutdown in late 2013 over a government funding bill, in opposition to plans from Barack Obama's administration to push ahead with landmark health-care legislation.

Not seeing his party's leadership as sufficiently to the right, Jordan soon founded the House Freedom Caucus with Ron DeSantis, Mark Meadows (North Carolina) and Mick Mulvaney (South Carolina). DeSantis would eventually leave Congress for two terms as Florida governor, while Meadows and Mulvaney served in the first Trump administration.

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John Boehner, the former Republican House Speaker from Ohio who often bore the brunt of appeals from that caucus, once described Jordan as a "legislative terrorist."

"I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart — never building anything, never putting anything together," Boehner told CBS News in a 2021 interview.

Boehner's comments may not have been just a matter of a retired politician settling scores.

Two years ago, the Center for Effective Lawmaking rated Jordan 202nd out of 205 House Republicans in terms of legislative effectiveness. The ongoing joint project between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University examines a number of criteria, including number of bills sponsored, whether the bills made it into or out of committees, and whether they were subsequently passed by the House.

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Passing legislation is never the prime responsibility of a minority leader however, as Alyssa Farah Griffin hinted at in a post on Tuesday. Griffin, who served in the first Trump administration and is now a panelist on The View, praised Jordan's elevation.

"In the new Congress, House Republicans will have very little actual power," she said. "They need a pitbull who will fight it out with Democrats, and on TV and who has the ear of the [White House]. That’s Jim Jordan."

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Defied subpoena from Democrats

Democratic legislators and pundits argued Jordan’s selection suggested that Republicans aren't receiving the message sent to them last week in the midterms.

Democrats so far have gained a new total of 42 seats in the 435-member House — they have flipped 44 Republican seats, while Republicans flipped 2 Democrat seats — with 13 races yet to be called.

“I would think that they would want somebody that was going to moderate towards what the voters want. They lost so many Republican voters,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington. “Obviously that’s not the case.”

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Former U.S. senator and Saturday Night Live cast member Al Franken quipped on social media: "Picking Jim Jordan to be Minority Leader is surviving Republican House members saying, 'We heard you, America!'"

Jordan has been a vigorous defender of the current president, excoriating special counsel investigations into Trump's 2016 campaign contacts with Russia and his handling of classified documents as a private citizen. Leading up to Trump's 2019 impeachment related to foreign policy with Ukraine, Jordan encouraged a group of Republicans who stormed a closed-door deposition, a move Lindsey Graham, the late Republican senator from South Carolina, called "nuts."

Jordan ran for House Speaker in 2023, but couldn't get the necessary votes. Some lawmakers reported they had received threats of violence in emails and phone calls from citizens supporting Jordan's effort.

In a social media post Tuesday, Ayanna Pressley, Democratic representative from Massachusetts, highlighted what she saw as a number of Jordan's failings, leading with his activities supporting Trump's election denialism after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.

House Republicans just made Jim Jordan their Minority Leader. The same guy who: —Helped plan & execute Jan 6 —Has covered up the Epstein files —Wants to ban abortion nationwide —Voted to gut Social Security & Medicare —Is a Trump loyalist Republicans are doubling down on far-right, MAGA extremism.

—RepPressley

The committee with seven Democrats and two Republicans that examined the 2020 election and the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol said in its final report that Jordan led a conference call four days earlier "in which he, President Trump, and other members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the Jan. 6 joint session" to certify Biden's win.

The panel wanted to hear more from Jordan about his communications with the White House during those feverish days, but he defied a subpoena. Despite that fact, in his time as a leading Republican member of the House's judiciary and oversight committees, Jordan has frequently been in favour of issuing subpoenas to elicit testimony in Congress.

Trump honoured Jordan five days after the Capitol riot with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, praising him as "an inspiration to freedom-loving Americans everywhere."

Denied knowledge of abuse allegations

Jordan might also be considered an interesting choice in terms of optics, given how prominently Jeffrey Epstein figured in hundreds of midterm campaign ads before the convicted sex offender died in 2019. On the same day Jordan was named minority leader, a Republican-led committee issued a report finding fault with the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, with the release leading to some female victims and accusers having their identities revealed when their names should have been redacted.

Jordan, a two-time NCAA wrestling champion at Ohio State, later served as an assistant coach for the university from 1986 to 1994. That period of time encompassed a small portion of a two-decade period in which a physician who worked for the school's athletic department was alleged to have sexually abused athletes.

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Some former wrestlers say Jordan was among those who knew of the allegations and failed to intervene in a meaningful way, though Jordan has denied any such knowledge of any abuse taking place.

In 2022, when reports emerged that a 10-year-old Ohio girl had to travel across state lines to get an abortion after being raped, Jordan suggested in a social media post that it was "another lie" from Democratic and progressive factions. He deleted the tweet after the allegations were confirmed.

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As the Republicans settled on Jordan in the House on Tuesday, their Senate colleagues voted to keep John Thune as their leader in that chamber.

The Democrats have yet to formally deliberate on who will lead them as House Speaker and Senate majority leader in the next Congress. The House leadership decision is expected next week, with the Democratic senators to vote for their leaders in early December.