Jim Jordan throws hat in ring for House minority leader as GOP picks up pieces after blue wave
There's blood in the water as House Republicans watch their razor-thin majority disappear under an ocean of Democratic victories.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is throwing his hat in the ring to lead the chamber's Republicans for the next two years, two sources told Fox News Digital, potentially setting up a bruising battle against Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to be in charge of the House minority.
It comes as the House of Representatives is projected to fall into Democratic hands for the remainder of President Donald Trump's term.
Republican lawmakers had for months expected Jordan to launch a bid for House minority leader should they lose the House majority in this year's elections. He's quietly been building up support and goodwill within the House GOP and spent much of the midterm season campaigning for various Republican candidates across the country.
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Rep. Jim Jordan leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 10, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Whoever wins House minority leader is all but guaranteed to take on the role of Trump's top defender against a barrage of Democrat-led investigations and potentially even impeachment efforts.
Jordan has spent the last six years as top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, where he's gone toe-to-toe with the very Democrats who will likely be at the forefront of the Trump accountability push.
Jordan previously ran for House speaker in October 2023 after a GOP rebellion deposed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., but failed to clinch the necessary chamber-wide majority. Moderate Republicans who opposed that campaign accused Jordan's allies of fomenting an aggressive public pressure campaign that even escalated to death threats in some instances.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks onstage at the 2026 National Association of Black Journalists Convention at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Atlanta on Aug. 13, 2026. (Getty Images)
But the Ohio Republican has spent recent years morphing his image from a divisive GOP bomb-thrower to a unifying leader for the right — and he's even campaigned for some of those same moderate Republicans who opposed him previously.
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And becoming minority leader is significantly easier than becoming House speaker. A candidate for speaker must get a majority of the entire House of Representatives to win the gavel, but a minority leader only needs a majority of their party.
It's not clear yet whether Johnson will seek to lead House Republicans in the minority, but it's widely expected that he will step aside.
Jordan is likely to face a significant challenge, however, from current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to members of the media after a meeting with House Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 15, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Scalise, as a member of senior House leadership, has been crisscrossing the country in support of fellow Republicans and has spent years as a potent fundraiser for the right.
It comes after a devastating night for Republicans across the federal and state levels. Both battleground-district Republicans and GOP lawmakers in safe-red seats fell to a tsunami of Democratic victories.
The losses prompted House Republicans to demand new leadership, which could work out in Jordan's favor, and many of those moderates who had opposed Jordan's 2023 speakership bid lost their seats on Tuesday night.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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