Same Gang, New Seats: GOP Reshuffles Its Elite in Secret

Behind closed doors, in a secret-ballot vote the public wasn't allowed to see, House Republicans picked Jim Jordan of Ohio over Steve Scalise of Louisiana to lead their minority caucus, lawmakers said. Nobody outside the room got a say. That's how the people who write the country's rules choose the people who write the country's rules.

Who Has the Power

The voters had their moment last week. Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections, and Republicans will become the minority in January. So the losers did what institutions do when they lose: they shuffled the furniture and kept the house. Both the House and Senate GOP held internal elections for their leadership teams, and CBS News reported they took place Tuesday, while NBC News's live blog described the selections as occurring Wednesday. Even the record of when the powerful met to anoint themselves is muddled.

Voting was by secret ballot, with a simple majority of the conference needed to win. Who got a ballot? Incumbents re-elected to the next Congress and newly elected Republicans. Republicans who lost their elections last week were not allowed to vote. The ones the public already dismissed got shut out of the room. The ones still holding seats picked the bosses.

Jordan's pitch, according to a source close to him, was blunt. He told colleagues he's the best investigator among the candidates, that the next Congress under a Democratic majority will be "dominated by investigations," and that Scalise has been in leadership too long. Republicans, he said, "have been calling the same plays for 20 years." The source summed it up: "We just had our worst loss in modern history. Time for a new coach."

A coach. A team. A game. The language tells you what this is.

What They're Calling New Blood

Jordan will replace outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the House GOP leader when the new Congress convenes in January. Johnson had already announced he would forgo a bid for minority leader and step down from leadership for the 120th Congress, heeding his party's call for new blood. Scalise, who has served as majority leader since 2023, lost out after three years in the post.

The new blood, it turns out, is a committee chairman already deep inside the machine. Tom Emmer of Minnesota will continue as House Republican whip, fending off a challenge from August Pfluger of Texas, the Republican Study Committee chair. Of the top three current House Republican leaders, Emmer is the only one staying on. In the minority, he'll rise to the No. 2 position. The whip's job, as described: counting votes, checking attendance, and making sure the party stays together on key legislation. Enforcement, in other words. Discipline. Candidates for conference chair were Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, the incumbent, Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana, and Rep. Greg Steube of Florida.

Over in the Senate, Republicans re-elected Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as their leader. Thune, majority leader since last year, will now lead a GOP minority. Some Senate Republicans had called to delay the leadership elections to discuss how the party would act in the face of major midterm losses. No challenger emerged. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin walked out of the election after Republicans voted 31-15 to proceed with it that day. The question of what went wrong got voted down 31-15. The leaders stayed.

The Other Side of the Same Coin

Democrats, poised to take power, aren't doing anything different. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Tuesday he won't support Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for Democratic leader. Senate Democrats will elect their leadership team in a private meeting in early December. Another closed door. On the House side, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., will "win very conclusively." NBC News's live blog noted that 17 House seats remained uncalled a week after Election Day.

One party swaps its coach. The other plans its own private vote. The only people who never get a ballot in either room are the ones whose lives these leaders will manage for the next two years.