Republicans nominate Steve Scalise for House speaker but struggle to unite quickly and elect him

Republicans struggle to unite and elect Rep. Steve Scalise as the next House speaker following the removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

In a private balloting at the Capitol, House Republicans have nominated Rep. Steve Scalise to be the next House speaker. However, their deeply divided majority has struggled to quickly unite and elect the conservative in a public floor vote following the historic removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the job. Scalise, the current majority leader, narrowly defeated Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the firebrand Judiciary Committee chairman, in the nomination process. Scalise, who is battling blood cancer, is seen as a hero by some after surviving a shooting at a congressional baseball game practice in 2017. The House was gaveled into a brief session but then broke indefinitely, with next steps uncertain, highlighting the political chaos and uncertainty at a time of crisis both domestically and abroad. The GOP majority, which had aspired to work as a team and run the government more efficiently, has drifted far from that goal. It remains unclear whether lawmakers who supported Jordan will throw their support behind Scalise in the full House vote. Democrats have easily nominated their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, and are set to oppose the Republican nominee. The hard-right coalition of lawmakers that removed McCarthy has shown the significant influence a few lawmakers can have in choosing his successor. Scalise would need to gather votes from almost all Republicans to overcome the Democratic opposition in a floor vote. Many Republicans want to avoid a messy House floor fight like the one that occurred in January when McCarthy became speaker. Several lawmakers have already announced that they are not supporting Scalise. The speaker's office, which still bears McCarthy's name, is being cleared out, and for now, Rep. Patrick McHenry is effectively in charge as the speaker pro-tempore.

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