House republicans have elected a new leader. Representative Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha was elected as the leader of the Republicans, replacing Christopher Rants of Sioux City, who had been the leader since 1992. The change comes after the party saw its number of seats drop from 56 down to 44 .
Paulsen said earlier he has no ill will toward Rants, and says it’s larger than Rants as the Republican "brand" has been watered down. Republicans lost majority control of the House in 2006.
