Republicans tap Steve Scalise as pick for next House speaker — but vote postponed
House Republicans chose Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their pick to be speaker of the House — but an expected floor vote was put off Wednesday afternoon after more than a dozen lawmakers confirmed they would not lend their support on the first ballot.
Scalise (R-La.) edged out House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) 113-99 in the closed-door balloting, a vote that exposed still-raw feelings in the GOP conference following last week’s ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
While Jordan agreed to back Scalise when the time comes to elect a new speaker, six members – Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia; Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Thomas Massie of Kentucky; and Chip Roy, Troy Nehls, and Michael Cloud of Texas – have publicly stated they will vote for Jordan anyway.
The Judiciary chairman has been urging his loyalists to get behind Scalise as the House nears its floor vote, according to one Republican aide.
In addition, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) has said he would stand by McCarthy.
“I’ll vote for McCarthy on the floor,” Gimenez told The Post, adding that he and at least seven other lawmakers were prepared to back the California Republican.
Gimenez also said Scalise was “really short” of the votes needed to seize the speaker’s gavel, given the number of holdouts.
“You’re talking double-digit people that probably will not vote for Steve on the first round,” Gimenez went on. “I don’t believe we’re going to do something tonight [Wednesday], unless a whole bunch of people go their way.”
“The last time we had a vote on the floor, it was 210 Republicans supporting Kevin McCarthy and only eight did not,” he added. “Maybe we should have tried harder to convince the eight to reconsider their vote and reinstall Kevin McCarthy.”
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- Republicans tap Steve Scalise as pick for next House speaker — but vote postponed
The House currently has 221 Republican members and 212 Democratic members. If all members are present and vote for someone by name rather than declaring themselves “present,” Scalise must receive at least 217 votes to win the gavel — meaning he can only afford four GOP defections.
“We need to make sure we’re sending a message to people all throughout the world that the House is open and doing the people’s business,” Scalise told reporters following the vote.
Asked before the conference meeting about his intentions, the majority leader stressed the importance of restoring order to the lower chamber to support America’s allies, especially Israel as it is engulfed in a war with Hamas terrorists.
“The first order of business under Speaker Steve Scalise is to bring a strong resolution expressing support for Israel,” he said. “We have a very bipartisan bill — the McCaul-Meeks resolution — ready to go. We’ve got to get back to work. Today we’re going to do that.”
But more conservative members of the caucus were disgruntled by the outcome.
“There was a vote,” said a visibly annoyed Roy as he left the meeting room, “and there was someone who won.”
“Many members including [Ohio GOP Rep.] Max Miller and Lauren Boebert said they will vote for Jordan on the floor as they exited the conference room,” one Republican aide told The Post.
“Surprises are for little kids at birthday parties, not Congress,” Massie posted on X, formerly Twitter. “So, I let Scalise know in person that he doesn’t have my vote on the floor because he has not articulated a viable plan for avoiding an omnibus [spending bill].”
Massie later told The Post after emerging from a meeting in the speaker’s office that the list of members opposing Scalise was “large and growing.”
“I’m worried about believing that a shutdown gives us any leverage. I don’t buy that. I am worried that we get an omnibus right before Christmas,” the libertarian-minded Massie said.
“I’ve been here 11 years with this happening,” he went on. “And I feel like after sticking my neck out for nine months … the one residue that we have from all of that effort is an automatic 1% [spending] cut that would bring people to the table, where a shutdown will not bring people to the table.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who in a surprise move became one of the eight Republicans to vote out McCarthy last week, added her name to the list of those opposing Scalise.
“It’s a trust issue. We need a speaker we can trust,” she said. “I’m not voting for him.”
Greene cited Scalise’s ongoing bout with blood cancer in announcing she would vote for Jordan, at least on the first ballot.
“I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress,” she wrote on X.
Nehls put the dilemma facing House Republicans in terms of simple arithmetic.
“Steve Scalise got 113 votes — that is the majority — but how do you convince the other hundred and something?” he asked reporters.
Scalise received warm approval following the vote from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who led the charge to remove McCarthy from the speakership.
“Long live Speaker Scalise,” Gaetz said, standing next to Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who also voted for McCarthy’s ouster.
Three other Republican conference members who participated in the conference vote — Delegates Jenniffer González Colón of Puerto Rico, James Moylan of Guam and Amata Radewagen of American Samoa — will not be able to cast ballots for the floor vote, further complicating Scalise’s path to victory.
Before picking Scalise, Republicans defeated a proposed rule change that would have raised the threshold to be the party’s speaker nominee to 217, an outright majority of all current members of Congress.
The House cannot conduct any other business until it chooses a speaker, giving the vote new urgency not just in the wake of Saturday’s Hamas terror attack against Israel, but a looming Nov. 17 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
At the time of his removal, McCarthy had moved a stopgap spending bill through the House with Democratic support to avoid a shutdown at the end of September.
That riled conservative members of the House who want the chamber to follow the traditional route of parceling out government appropriations in 12 separate funding bills.
Gimenez also told The Post that he was working to fix the “glaring hole” to conduct important legislative business, which has left speaker pro tem Patrick McHenry (R-NC) with limited control over the House.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who was considering a late bid for the speakership, announced Wednesday he would run for House Majority Leader, setting up a possible three-way battle with Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who is serving his second term in the House, has also thrown his hat in the ring to be the next majority leader should Scalise win the gavel.
