House Republicans have elected Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio as their minority leader for the 120th Congress, according to two lawmakers and a GOP aide who were in the room. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the tally.

The victory places Jordan at the center of Washington for the next two years as Republicans confront the wreckage from the previous week’s crushing election losses. The party is now searching for a path back to the House majority after falling to its smallest minority in more than 30 years.

Jordan campaigned on an even more conservative and confrontational approach during President Donald Trump’s final two years in office. His win signals that House Republicans are responding to their stunning losses not by moderating, but by leaning further into the political style that brought them here.

The Ohio Republican presented himself as a change agent, arguing that the party should not remain on the path that produced such a diminished House conference. His candidacy offered a contrast with Steve Scalise, who has served in House GOP leadership for more than a decade.

But the change Jordan offered was hardly a retreat from the party’s conservative agenda or its taste for political combat. Most House Republicans viewed him as the choice further to the right, while Scalise was seen as the establishment candidate.

Neither Jordan nor Scalise argued that Republicans should break with Trump. The leadership contest focused instead on how the party would support the president and oppose Democrats, rather than whether Republicans should seek common ground with the incoming majority.

The vote completes a rise spanning nearly two decades for Jordan, who arrived on Capitol Hill in 2007. He became a prominent conservative during the Tea Party movement and later helped establish the far right Freedom Caucus.

In more recent years, Jordan has stepped back from his prominent role in the Freedom Caucus and worked to build relationships with more moderate House Republicans. Still, his conservative identity remained central to his campaign and his standing within the conference.

Jordan has consistently cheered on Trump and has sought to use the Judiciary Committee to support the president while putting Democrats on the defensive. That history provides a likely model for his leadership of the House Republican conference.

As minority leader, Jordan is expected to resist Democratic efforts to investigate the Trump administration and oppose Democratic attempts to legislate with bipartisan support. His victory gives that confrontational strategy a commanding position inside the House GOP.

During the campaign, however, Jordan also argued that he would be more mindful of the political pressures facing individual members. At Tuesday’s candidate forum, he said House Republicans must “give space and grace” to lawmakers voting their district, according to two lawmakers in the room.

Jordan’s political future has never appeared brighter, but Scalise now finds himself outside Republican leadership for the first time in more than 12 years. It is another setback in a congressional career that has included repeated setbacks and comebacks.

Scalise entered Congress in 2008 after Bobby Jindal was elected governor. He became chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee at the end of 2012, then won the majority whip position in 2014 after Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost a Republican primary.

In 2017, Scalise was seriously injured in a shooting during practice for the Congressional Baseball Game and nearly died. He returned from those injuries and rose to majority leader at the beginning of 2023, before being diagnosed later that year with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.

Only months after that diagnosis, Scalise ran for speaker following the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy. Scalise narrowly defeated Jordan in a conference vote but could not secure the near unanimous Republican support required to win on the House floor.

Republicans ultimately turned to Scalise’s Louisiana colleague, Rep. Mike Johnson, to take the gavel. After the party’s decisive election losses, Johnson declined to run for minority leader and has not clearly said whether he plans to remain in Congress for the entire term to which he was just elected.

Johnson said his immediate focus remains finishing the 119th Congress and helping Republicans succeed during the 120th Congress. Scalise will now face similar questions about his future after most of the GOP conference rejected his latest leadership bid.

For now, Scalise is preparing to serve as a regular member for the first time in more than a decade. Jordan, meanwhile, is entering a leadership role for the first time, with House Republicans choosing more confrontation after voters delivered them a crushing defeat.