House Republicans meet behind closed doors on Tuesday to choose a new leader, one week after losing their majority in the midterm elections. The vote will decide who leads the party in the next Congress, when Democrats take control of the House.

The choice is between House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Both men announced their candidacies last week after Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not seek the party’s top post in the new Congress.

The election is being held by secret ballot among members of the House Republican Conference. The winner needs a simple majority of the conference to take the job, and will serve as minority leader — and the party’s nominee for speaker — when the new Congress is seated on 3 January 2027.

Scalise offers continuity, Jordan offers a break

Scalise, 61, has been the second-ranking House Republican since 2023 and has held leadership roles in the party for more than a decade. His supporters present him as the steady choice: a leader who knows the conference, its members and the demands of running the floor.

Jordan, 62, is a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and a veteran of the Oversight and Judiciary committees. His backers argue the party needs a sharper break from the leadership that presided over the midterm defeat. Jordan has blamed the current leadership, including Scalise, for the scale of the loss.

The two men have contested leadership posts before. Jordan ran for minority leader against Kevin McCarthy in 2018 and lost, and he later failed in a bid to replace McCarthy as speaker in 2023.

A party regrouping after a heavy defeat

The vacancy opened because Democrats won control of the House in the elections on 3 November, flipping more than 40 Republican seats. Johnson announced on 4 November that he would step aside from leadership, though he is staying in the House as the representative for his Louisiana district.

Whoever wins on Tuesday inherits a much smaller conference and a difficult job. Democrats in the new Congress are planning a long list of investigations into the Trump administration, and the Judiciary and Oversight committees — where Jordan has spent much of his career — are expected to be at the centre of that work.

President Donald Trump has told reporters he will not get involved in choosing the next House Republican leader, leaving the decision entirely to the conference.

The result of the secret ballot is expected later on Tuesday, Washington time. The winner will lead House Republicans through the remainder of the current session and into the next Congress as the party tries to rebuild after its midterm defeat.

Source: NPR via WHRO and Shreveport Times.