House GOP bets on MAGA "fighter" Jim Jordan
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House Republicans are turning to one of their fiercest fighters to lead their diminished conference after one of their biggest drubbings in decades.
Why it matters: Jim Jordan, 62, a founding member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, has completed a stunning insurgent-to-establishment turn after spending much of his nearly 20 years in Congress battling Republican leaders from the right.
- The Ohio Republican's victory over House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) represents a bet by Republicans that they shouldn't move away from President Trump to claw their way back to power.
- But Republicans are divided over what went wrong in the midterms, and whether a more confrontational approach is the right answer.
Driving the news: Republicans emerged from last week's defeat hungry for change, handing Jordan a 106–73 victory over long-time GOP leader Scalise.
- GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) survived their elections.
- Jordan pitched himself as a battle-tested fighter capable of defending Trump against Democratic investigations and winning back the majority.
What they're saying: "I think when you take a beating like we took, you need to make some changes, and I also think we're gearing up for war," Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who backed Jordan, told Axios.
- "We need someone who can punch hard, and I think that he'll do that," Fine said.
- "We just got beat bad. We can't just go in with the same step forward," Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) told Axios.
- McClain told Axios: "Don't count Jim Jordan out. He's a fighter. He's been able to get stuff done."
Yes, but: Not all Republicans are convinced they have the right response to their losses.
- Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), who backed Scalise, argued that Republicans lost too many independent and Hispanic voters, pointing specifically to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies.
- Asked whether Republicans should have examined their losses before electing new leaders, Gimenez said: "Yeah, we probably should have," adding he was "not sure" whether Jordan is the right person to lead Republicans back to the majority, though he pledged to support him.
- "We've got to do a lot of introspection," Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) told Axios. "It's going to take some really deep thought and really looking at what we did wrong and what we can do to gain back the trust of the American people."
Zoom in: Jordan's victory marks a major shift in the relationship between GOP leadership and the hardline House Freedom Caucus, whose members have spent years clashing with party leaders.
- Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), who is running to chair the Freedom Caucus, told Axios he hopes the group won't have to push leadership as hard under Jordan, though it will still try to serve as the party's "moral compass."
- But Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a Freedom Caucus member who voted for Jordan, warned that changing the man at the top won't change the conference's ideological divisions.
- "I still don't expect a ton to change," Crane told Axios.
The intrigue: Jordan's elevation could also sharpen tensions with Senate Republicans, whose leader, John Thune (R-S.D.), has frustrated House Republicans over his handling of Trump's legislative priorities.
- Asked whether Jordan would push back harder on the Senate than Scalise, Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) told Axios: "That's to be seen, but I think he was voted in with that in mind."
The bottom line: Jordan inherits a conference eager for a new direction but still deeply divided over what that should look like.
