Dem
54
Ties
2
GOP
44
In a move that can only be described as very good news for the Democratic Party, House Republicans yesterday chose Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as their leader for the 120th U.S. Congress. In the secret balloting, which was not so secret, the final tally was 106-73.
This result was entirely unsurprising. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who probably could have had the job if he wanted it, announced he was stepping down. Current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) presumed the job was his for the taking, but he's a prickly SOB who has stepped on more than a few toes. Further, because he was a part of Johnson's leadership team, he inherits some of the toes that the Speaker stepped on over the past few years. And, in the ultimate sin, Scalise said he would try to work with Democrats to achieve some conservative priorities in the next Congress. This is not Ronald Reagan's Republican Party. In today's GOP, you do not reach across the aisle, ever.
Meanwhile, while Jordan is a gasbag and a bomb thrower and a first class show horse, he's actually spent the last couple of years rolling up his sleeves and acting like a serious political operator. By that, we mean that he's toned down some of the most ridiculous stuff, so that he doesn't give the Party needless black eyes. He's also done a lot of the behind-the-scenes, unglamorous stuff, like fundraise for other Republicans and make campaign appearances in districts where his presence might be useful. Ironically, his recent path bears a striking resemblance to that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has also been doing the things necessary toward achieving real power.
Also important, the 120th House Republican Conference is going to be pretty different from the 119th House Republican Conference. Nearly all of the moderates are gone, having chosen to retire, or else having been swept up in the blue tsunami. The remaining members, at least at the moment, and probably for the foreseeable future, are a wounded elephant. They are mad and they are extremists. Of course they chose one of their own—recall that Jordan is a leading member of the Freedom Caucus—as their new leader.
So, how is this good news for the Democratic Party? Well, to start with, their majority is so large, they aren't going to need the Republicans for... anything, really. Maybe for the occasional attempt at a veto override, we suppose, but those GOP votes are probably still there, since there are certainly some Republicans who hate the Iran War, or who know that their constituents dislike gerrymandering. Outside of that (rare) scenario, though, it will be much easier for the Democrats to figure out what makes 218 of their roughly 260 members happy, than it will be to do what it takes to get Republican votes.
That means that the main thing the GOP minority will do, since they clearly have no interest in compromise or governance, is engage in bomb-throwing, and in trying to create meme-worthy moments at committee hearings. The Republicans' dysfunction and inability to govern is a big part of the reason that the Party just took it in the teeth at the polls, and Jordan & Co. are about to deliver more of the same for 2 years.
And the icing on the cake, perverse as it is, is that Jordan has a serious sexual misconduct scandal on his résumé. He is not directly guilty of any penis crimes, but he stood by while nearly 200 Ohio State wrestlers were molested by Dr. Richard Strauss. Jordan has consistently denied awareness of what Strauss was up to, but it's nearly impossible that he could actually be ignorant of abuse that rampant. Certainly, in the documentary Surviving Ohio State, wrestler after wrestler looks at the camera and says that of course Jordan knew. So, he's going to be Exhibit... what, we gotta be at something like Exhibit ZZ at this point, that the Republican Party does not take sexual misconduct seriously.
Not long after Jordan was tapped, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) was re-hired by acclimation to continue leading his party in the Senate. So, on Jan. 3, 2027, he will become Senate Minority Leader John Thune. It's not a bad gig; you get security and a luxe office, you get more money than the regular senators, and the minority party actually has some power in the Senate, unlike in the House. And Thune is nowhere near as obnoxious as Jordan is, and is not likely to say anything that aggravates half the country. Still, his re-election makes clear that the plan for the GOP is to stay the course, and not to do anything to shake things up. That should work out just peachy for them. (Z)