U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) arrives at a House Republican Conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on November 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. House Republicans have elected Jordan to their next leaader for the Conference for the new Congress in January. (
House Republicans have elected Jim Jordan to lead the House GOP in the 120th Congress, which will be sworn in at noon on January 3, 2027.
Jordan has represented Ohio’s 4th Congressional District since 2007.
Jordan defeated Rep. Steve Scalise 106-3 in a secret ballot vote to choose the Republican leader for the next Congress.
The backstory:
He was born in Troy, Ohio and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1986, his master's degree from Ohio State University in 1991, and his law degree from Capital University in 2001.
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.
Jordan now has the critical task of being Trump's top bulldog for the final two years of his term.
Jordan succeeds Mike Johnson, R-La., whose remarkable rise to power began with his ascension from relative obscurity to win the gavel in October 2023, following the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Johnson, who only came to Congress in 2017, had won the unanimous backing of his colleagues after three weeks of chaos that paralyzed the legislative branch where the House was leaderless.
He spent the majority of his time in recent months crisscrossing the country for GOP candidates in a bid to keep his leadership spot.
But those efforts apparently were not enough to stave off significant losses across both battleground districts and seats that were considered Republican strongholds.
The Source: This article includes information from FOX News, The Associated Press, and previous FOX Local reporting. This story was reported from Orlando.