House Majority Leader Steve Scalise narrowly defeated House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Wednesday in a secret-ballot speaker nomination vote, according to early reports. The House is not expected to hold a floor vote on electing a next speaker later today.
Scalise, who currently serves as House Majority Leader, was nominated to succeed Representative Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) by a 113-99 vote. To secure the gavel, he must win support from a majority of the U.S. House of Representatives, or 217 members.
The closed-door speaker nomination comes a little more than one week after eight House Republicans banded with Democrats to remove McCarthy from his post.
It’s still far from clear whether Republicans will unite behind Scalise in a floor vote this week amid mounting pressure to respond to the terrorist group Hamas’s cross-border assault on Israel. After all, McCarthy won his initial speaker nomination over Representative Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) back in January by a 188-31 vote margin before losing the gavel a mere nine months later.
Wednesday’s meeting comes on the heels of a closed-door candidate forum Tuesday evening in the Longworth House building on Capitol Hill, where the two declared candidates answered questions from members about their respective candidacies. Cell-phones were prohibited from the meeting to prevent members from leaking to reporters.
Wednesday’s Scalise nomination followed a failed effort spearheaded by Representative Chip Roy (R., Texas) to require a speaker candidate to win 217 votes in conference rather than a simple majority of the House GOP conference before they bring a speaker vote to the floor, largely to avoid a repeat of McCarthy’s drawn out 15-ballot fight for the gavel. But a majority of House Republicans supported a motion to table that proposal in Wednesday’s meeting.
Whether Scalise has the votes to secure the gavel is not yet clear, even as Jordan reportedly plans to back the Louisiana Republican’s speaker bid. In interviews Tuesday evening, House Republicans remained bitterly divided about who has what it takes to lead the now legislatively paralyzed GOP.
At least one member entertained the possibility Tuesday evening that a dark horse candidate could soon emerge out of the woodwork. “I think we may not have heard from the next speaker yet,” Representative John Rutherford (R., Fla.) told National Review Tuesday evening.
This is a developing story.