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US midterms 2026: Is MAGA dead after Republican defeats? | This Is America
Washington, DC – One week after losing their majority in midterm elections in the United States, Republicans in the US House of Representatives have chosen Congressman Jim Jordan as their new minority leader.
In a secret ballot vote held on Tuesday, the Ohio lawmaker, who was first elected to the US Congress in 2007, won the support of his fellow party members to succeed Mike Johnson as the chamber’s top Republican.
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The high-stakes decision comes as Republicans try to chart a path forward after a bruising midterm defeat in which Democrats flipped at least 40 seats nationwide.
Jordan had been vying with current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise for the role, which will carry a host of responsibilities as Republicans prepare to message against at least two years of Democrat-led investigations into US President Donald Trump’s administration and pick a 2028 presidential nominee.
In a reported letter to his fellow Republicans before Tuesday’s vote, Jordan described himself as a “battle-tested” leader who was ready to take on those challenges.
“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”, he wrote. “We need a Leadership team that is active and engaged, forward-thinking and straight-shooting”.
Jordan, a top Trump ally, has been an influential voice in the Republican caucus. He cofounded the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has frustrated many former and current Republican leaders and thwarted party-backed legislation.
The group’s chairman, Republican Congressman Andy Harris, congratulated Jordan after the vote, calling him “a fierce fighter, uniter, principled conservative, and relentless advocate for the American people”.
“Jim is exactly the right man for the job to fight back against the radical, crazy agenda of Democrats”, Harris said in a statement.
As the current chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Jordan has used his power to look into what he has argued is the weaponisation of government against Trump. He has led the panel’s investigations into former US Special Counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, who both have unsuccessfully prosecuted the president.
Jordan’s allies on the panel were quick to praise his selection.
“Jim is a fighter and a convicted conservative,” Republican Congressman Brandon Gill wrote on social media. “He’s the original congressional brawler and is exactly what our Conference needs to lead us back to the majority”.
Jordan, who once worked as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University, had faced allegations that he had knowledge of sexual abuse of student-athletes by the team’s physician, Dr Richard Strauss, from 1978 to 1998. Jordan has denied the allegations.
He previously made a short-lived bid for US House speaker after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role in 2023.
Since then, Jordan has taken a less adversarial approach and aligned himself with Johnson and other members of the current House Republican leadership.
Before Jordan’s victory was sealed, McCarthy went on a podcast after last week’s midterm results to offer some advice to the future leader of the US House Republican conference.
“You can’t just play it day by day”, he told his former aides on Glory, Grief and the Gavel. “You’ve got to have a strategy, because it’ll knock the Democrats off base”.
McCarthy added: “You better have an acknowledgement of what transpired in this last election. Because you got to tell the American people I heard you and it’s going to take time to earn your trust again.”
