House Republican members are gathering again this afternoon behind closed doors, to try to hash out a way forward as Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) is scrambling to lock down the votes to become the next House speaker, but protracted opposition to the Louisiana Republican inside the GOP conference and the numerical realities of the narrowly divided chamber could ultimately derail his bid. Several senior Republicans see little path to 217 votes, after Scalise won just 113 votes in the GOP conference, which includes three delegates who don’t have a vote on the House floor. Making up that deficit in just a matter of days is an extremely tall order – plus a number of hard-right Republicans say they are dead-set against Scalise, and he can only afford to lose four GOP votes on the floor. More than 12 GOP lawmakers have said publicly they’ll oppose Scalise’s nomination and more have expressed frustration or skepticism about his leadership, legislative history and serious health challenges- more than enough to sink his bid. So far Representatives Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado), Bob Good (R-Virginia), Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), Max Miller (R-Ohio) Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee), Chip Roy (R-Texas) Lloyd Smucker (R-Pennsylvania) and Keith Self (R-Texas) have all said they will vote for Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) has said he will vote for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and Representative George Santos (R-New York) has said he will vote for “ANYONE but Scalise.”
While there was some belief on Capitol Hill that the brutal assault on Israel over the weekend might prompt Republicans to quickly select a leader – House lawmakers were given a classified briefing on Israel Wednesday before the conference vote for speaker – the deep divisions in the conference that led to McCarthy’s removal last week have now left the vote for a new speaker at a standstill. Scalise is facing broad skepticism inside the far-right House Freedom Caucus, a key bloc of Republicans who mostly supported the Trump-backed Jordan for speaker, citing a general lack of trust with Republican leadership. Scalise has been in leadership for years, although he is more conservative than McCarthy.
Jordan, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, threw his weight behind Scalise following Wednesday’s vote, saying he was encouraging his supporters to do the same.
It is expected that Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) will not put the vote for Speaker on the House floor until someone reaches 217 votes, leaving the House rudderless and paralyzed until then.
