Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has been elected by House Republicans as the next leader of their conference and therefore House minority leader in the 120th Congress, starting Jan. 3.
He will lead a smaller House GOP conference following the midterms, in which Democrats took at least 251 seats with the possibility of capturing more than 260. He beat House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) for the minority role on Nov. 10. Jordan will lead the pushback against the investigations Democrats are expected to launch against the Trump administration.
Here is what to know about the Ohio lawmaker.
A Self-Described Fighter
Jordan’s election follows the Republican Party suffering massive defeats in the midterm elections.
In a Dear Colleague letter, Jordan described himself as a fighter for the House GOP and touted his experience in Congress facing the Democrats.
He criticized House Republicans for not having “a clear plan to survive the hour or the day” in front of them.
“That will not cut it against an emboldened and energetic Democrat majority,” Jordan said.
“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. We need a Leadership team that is active and engaged, forward-thinking and straight-shooting.”
On Capitol Hill, Jordan has earned a reputation of being hard-nosed and unwilling to back down from a fight.
“Jim is a fighter and a convicted conservative. He’s the original congressional brawler and is exactly what our Conference needs to lead us back to the majority,” Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) posted on X.
On committees, Jordan has had intense exchanges with witnesses such as former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who indicted President Donald Trump in 2023 on two separate occasions as Trump was running for president. Jordan referred Smith to the Department of Justice for prosecution over allegedly lying to Congress about obtaining the records of lawmakers while investigating Trump. The department has yet to indict Smith.
In the minority, Jordan will lead the charge against the Democratic investigations. Incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) has told Trump administration members and others aligned with the White House to “lawyer up.” Jordan would also be in charge of the GOP pushback against possible impeachments. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who is expected to be elected speaker of the House, has said he supports impeaching Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Under Jordan, according to House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), who was reelected to her leadership role, Republicans look to hold Democrats accountable on everything they do while in the majority, from the hearings held to the votes on the House floor.
First Ran for Congress in 2006
Before running for Congress, Jordan served in the Ohio state legislature between 1995 and 2006, serving in both the state House of Representatives and state Senate.
In 2006, Jordan ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Ohio’s Fourth Congressional District and defeated Democratic nominee Rick Siferd in the general election with 60 percent of the vote. Jordan succeeded former Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio), who retired.
Jordan has never won reelection with less than 58 percent of the vote.
In 2015, Jordan cofounded the House Freedom Caucus, the staunchly conservative wing of the House GOP conference. He served as its first chairman. Under his watch, pressure from the Freedom Caucus helped drive former Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) to resign as speaker of the House.
Jordan has served in senior roles in the House GOP, such as being the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He was ranking member of the House Oversight Committee and the House Judiciary Committee.
In 2023, Jordan ran for speaker of the House after former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted following a motion to vacate. However, Jordan lost a conference vote to Scalise, who then withdrew. Jordan became the conference nominee but lost three floor votes and was dropped, and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) stepped in and won the gavel, which he will relinquish on Jan. 3.
Positions
Jordan has disputed the 2020 election results, a stance that has drawn criticism from Democrats and others.
“I don’t know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn’t actually win this thing based on all the things you see, the eleven million more votes,” Jordan told Fox News Radio in a December 2020 interview.
Jordan is a staunch conservative when it comes to policy issues.
He is for tax cuts, spending cuts, and introduced the only balanced budget in recent years in 2009 in response to then-President Barack Obama’s budget, according to Jordan’s House biography. Jordan is a border and immigration hawk, being against illegal immigration and giving amnesty to those in the United States illegally.
Jordan voted against Democratic legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, the 2021 stimulus, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
He has supported GOP legislation such as the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which enacted numerous conservative policies, including making the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent.
However, one area where Jordan changed his position is on warrantless surveillance by the U.S. intelligence community.
Earlier this year, Jordan supported a clean extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the United States to do warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens abroad. This was a reversal from 2024, when he voted for a warrant requirement to Section 702.
Wrestling Career
Before entering politics, Jordan was a champion wrestler.
He was a four-time state wrestling champion at Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio, with a career record of 150-1. He graduated from there in 1982.
He went on to become a three-time All-American and a two-time NCAA champion on the wrestling team at the University of Wisconsin, where he compiled a career record of 156-28-1 between 1982 and 1986.
Jordan served as an assistant coach for the Ohio State University wrestling team between 1987 and 1995.
An investigation by the school found that Richard Strauss, who was the team physician at the time, sexually abused 177 students. Some of those involved said Jordan must have known about the abuse, which Jordan has denied. Former Ohio State University wrestling coach Russ Hellickson told CNN in 2018 that he never told Jordan about Strauss.
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame gave Jordan its Outstanding American award in 2014.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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