House GOP elects Jim Jordan to serve as minority leader after sweeping midterm losses

Republicans are working furiously behind the scenes to kill a rogue GOP push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with key leadership and White House officials leaning on members to show up and oppose tonight’s procedural vote, two sources familiar with the efforts told CNN.

Some in GOP leadership believe they will have the votes tonight to effectively kill the effort — by essentially burying the Hegseth resolution in committee — and added that the White House is making calls to members, a leadership aide said.

“They are definitely working this,” the aide said of the White House.

House GOP leadership does not formally whip lawmakers on privileged resolutions such an impeachment. But many members are eager to avoid another headache for their party — especially given the widespread anger at GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who is pushing the impeachment resolution, for his various anti-Trump antics this year.

Another GOP source predicted that very few Republicans besides Massie would actually vote with Democrats on the floor. Instead, multiple sources said the main obstacle was attendance.

The battered House GOP conference is struggling with attendance in the first week back from last week’s election rout. But sources described a fierce operation to prevent an embarrassing defeat on the floor tonight.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said they won’t back Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to stay on as Democratic leader next year.

“If this campaign was about anything, it was about change, and the need for the Democratic Party, in my view, to move in a new and bold direction,” Sanders said.

While no other Democrat has announced they are running, Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday that he hasn’t shut the door on the possibility.

Slotkin called for a new generation to take on the mantle of leadership.

“I’ve been very consistent for a very long time that we need a new generation of leadership. I said it before when I served in the House, I said it about Joe Biden, and I’m saying it here,” the Michigan senator said.

Slotkin insisted she is “not actively seeking this job. I am seeking change.”

She added, “At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a radical idea to ask whoever wants to lead to come forward with a concrete plan, not just in words, but in deeds, how they’re going to govern differently.”

Several incoming and returning senators, have refused to say whether they’ll back Schumer, including Sens.-elect Annie Andrews, Adam Hamilton and Abdul El-Sayed, the latter of whom has said he’d back Van Hollen if he is an option.

Sanders acknowledged that Van Hollen was interested in the job and said the Senate Democratic Caucus had a “serious discussion” today about the possibility of a different Democratic leader.

Senate Democrats have several weeks until they vote for their leadership for the next Congress.

House Republicans picked GOP Rep. Tom Emmer to serve as party whip, the No. 2 position, for their conference next year. The vote was 103 to 76.

Emmer, an ambitious Minnesotan who’s spent years building up his standing in the conference, will serve beside Minority Leader Jim Jordan.

Rep. Jim Jordan speaks to reporters as House Republicans hold a caucus meeting on October 13, 2023.

Republicans still reeling from a midterms drubbing have made their choice: Jim Jordan, a pro-Trump, hardline conservative, will lead the GOP as House minority leader next year.

Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pitched himself to colleagues as the best-equipped to tee off an insurgent Democratic Party, which will have a robust oversight agenda targeting President Donald Trump’s White House. He’s also a high-octane former wrestling coach, with the ability to act as a political attack dog in a way that allies said his challenger, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, lacks.

The Ohio lawmaker’s ascension is a rejection of the status quo that many Republicans believe cost them the election — by choosing not to promote their current No. 2 House Republican, Scalise.

Rather than a path of moderation, the party is opting for a more hardline leader as it seeks relevance in the next two years.

More on Jordan’s background: Jordan has used his gavel and his seat on the oversight panel to probe what he has argued is the weaponization of the government against the president. He led GOP investigations into two attorneys who have prosecuted the president: former special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Jim Jordan, Republican from Ohio, is seen on a screen as former US special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on January 22.

The Ohio Republican, who was first elected to Congress in 2007, has also long been an influential voice in the GOP conference. He helped found the House Freedom Caucus in 2015, leading the right-wing bloc that rankled former Speaker John Boehner before he resigned from Congress.

CNN’s Ellis Kim contributed reporting.

Rep. Thomas Massie laid out his strategy to CNN about how he plans to advance his impeachment proposal if it survives a procedural vote tonight in the House.

Massie said that he will ask the House to divide each of the eight articles of impeachment into eight separate votes — so members can vote their conscience on each of the charges against Hegseth.

It first has to survive an effort by House GOP leaders to kill the resolution during a Tuesday evening vote series.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense hearing on President Donald Trump's FY2027 budget request for the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 12.

At least three Republican senators have expressed support for — or would not rule out — backing a full Senate trial of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the House impeaches him this week.

That means support for a trial is close to having the votes it would need, assuming all Democrats vote for it. The chamber is divided now 53-47 in favor of Republicans.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who lost his reelection primary after President Donald Trump opposed him, said, “I’d be open to a trial.”

Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also said he would support one.

Sen Joni Ernst of Iowa, who is also retiring, would not rule it out when she spoke to reporters Tuesday.

Other GOP senators who might be in play, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. John Curtis of Utah, said they wanted to see whether the impeachment effort is successful in the House before digging into the case and deciding a path forward.

If the House votes to impeach, Senate GOP leaders are expected to try to vote to dismiss the case or refer it to committee for investigation, which would likely kill the effort because the Congress will adjourn within weeks. But with these senators expressing support for a trial, such a move might not be possible.

US Rep. Jim Jordan walks to a meeting with House Republicans, where they will elect their party's leadership for the 120th Congress, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 10.

House Republicans on Tuesday picked Rep. Jim Jordan — the famously pugnacious pro-Trump fighter — to lead their party in the minority next year, according to multiple sources familiar. The vote was 106 to 73.

Republicans have chosen one of the party’s most aggressive and combative figures as the face of their party, a clear sign that they are ready for battle — not compromise — with Democrats next year.

Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pitched himself to colleagues as the best-equipped to tee off an insurgent Democratic party, which will have a robust oversight agenda targeting Trump’s White House.

Republican Ryan Elijah will win Florida’s 7th Congressional District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, keeping the seat in his party’s hands after defeating embattled GOP Rep. Cory Mills in the primary.

While Elijah, a former news anchor, was a less controversial candidate than Mills, who faces allegations of assault and possible campaign finance violations that he denies, Democrats still had hoped to flip the seat with challenger Bale Dalton.

Rep.-elect Adam Hamawy (D-NJ) arrives at the US Capitol on November 9, in Washington, DC.

Democrat Adam Hamawy, a retired US Army combat surgeon who last week became the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey, called for diplomacy with Iran as the war approaches its ninth month.

“We are pushing Iran into a fight when we have the leverage to kind of bring them to the table,” Hamawy told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Tuesday.

Hamawy, who has called for an end to military aid to Israel over the war in Gaza, declined to say whether he viewed Israel as an ally or Iran as an adversary to the US.

Pressed again on whether he viewed Iran as an adversary to the US, Hamawy said, “We pushed them into a fight, and so I think we both have to step back and say, ‘is this helping either one of us?’”

“They’ve been saying saying death to America for decades,” Brown said, noting a long-running slogan of the Iranian regime.

“We’ve been saying death to Iran for decades as well. And so what we need to do is use diplomacy,” Hamawy responded.

“They’ve killed a lot of Americans,” Brown said.

“And we’ve killed a lot of them as well,” he said.

Pressed a final time on his perception of Israel and Iran, Hamawy said that “the blame game doesn’t help” and said attention should be focused on getting out of the conflict.

He noted during the interview that he doesn’t agree with the Iranian government, which he described as “authoritarian” and a “dictatorship.”

“But going to war this way … it’s made it actually worse, it’s made it more radical, and it’s created a crisis here at home we don’t need,” he said.

Some background: Hamawy is outspoken in his support for Palestinians and has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which the country has denied. He was among the volunteer doctors stranded in Gaza in May 2024 after Israeli forces seized the Rafah crossing.

House GOP leaders will try to kill the rogue effort by anti-Trump crusader Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tonight — but it’s unclear whether they’ll have the votes to do so.

Sources from both parties told CNN today that the outcome will hang on attendance. If Speaker Mike Johnson cannot convince enough Republicans to show up, GOP sources acknowledge tonight’s procedural vote will fail — teeing up a full impeachment vote as soon as Wednesday — likely with the same attendance issues.

Last night, 22 Republicans did not show up to vote. While a small number of those Republicans have been spotted in the Capitol today, GOP leadership aides acknowledge they will not have full attendance. Democrats also had 14 absences Monday, but they believe many of them will vote on Tuesday.

Multiple GOP sources told CNN they are prepared for tonight’s vote to succeed and have begun gaming out next steps about a trial in the Senate — but that is not certain.