The fate of the House conference is so uncertain that members were openly calling into question their colleagues’ motivations for stalling the process.
One day after his colleagues nominated him by secret ballot as their speaker nominee on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has already withdrawn his nomination for the gavel.
“I just shared with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee,” Scalise told reporters late Thursday evening. He’s expected to remain in his current post as House majority leader.
The Louisiana Republican spent all day Thursday struggling to lock up enough support from detractors during closed-door meetings and quickly dropped out once it became apparent that he could not win the requisite 217 votes from his own conference to secure the gavel.
Even before Scalise dropped out, those who voiced opposition to his speaker bid said Thursday afternoon they will continue to rally behind House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who lost a head-to-head vote to Scalise on Wednesday by a 113–99 vote. “It seems more and more evident to me every minute that the only person who can get to 217 is Jordan,” Representative Dan Bishop (R., N.C.) told National Review.
But even Jordan may not be able to win 217 votes. Members say that other names to watch as potential speaker candidates are House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, though other names will surely surface soon.
Other members saw the writing on the wall ahead of Scalise’s formal decision to drop out. Earlier Thursday, members were deeply divided about how to proceed, with most of them saying the party needs to coalesce around a nominee behind closed doors and away from the cameras before the speaker vote moves to the floor. “I personally prefer we not bring it to the floor. But I think we can have roll call votes in conference and figure out who can get there,” Representative Andy Ogles, who said earlier Thursday that he is supporting Jordan and not Scalise, told National Review. “That’s what we were advocating for yesterday, and that idea was shot down.”
Morale is in the gutter. The fate of the House Republican conference is so uncertain at this point that earlier Thursday, members were openly calling into question their colleagues’ motivations for stalling the process.
“I have no idea what their endgame is,” Representative Dan Meuser tells National Review. “If you shoot for the stars, sometimes you’ve got to settle for the moon.”
This is a developing story.