Majority Leader Steve Scalise has won the Republican nomination for speaker of the House, but his election by the full body is by no means assured.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was nominated for speaker of the House by the Republican conference at 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 11, defeating Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) 113–98.
Mr. Scalise is expected to face Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) in an election by the full House. It’s unclear when the vote will be held.
With 217 votes needed to win, there’s no guarantee that Mr. Scalise will be successful on the first ballot in the House—or at all. Some supporters of Mr. Jordan have vowed to keep fighting for his election, threatening a repeat of the drawn-out contest in January, in which Rep. Kevin McCarthy was elected after a contentious battle among Republicans lasting four days.
Neither candidate appeared to have the upper hand after a closed-door Republican meeting the previous day.
“A lot of people like Steve and a lot of people like Jim,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) said afterward. “I don’t know how you get to 218,”
The number of votes needed to win in the House is 218. However, due to a pair of vacant seats in the House, the number is now 217.
Members arrived for the conference vote expecting a long ordeal. “Brick the doors up, I’m ready to stay all day,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said before entering the conference room.
Despite the anticipated slog, Mr. Scalise prevailed on the first ballot, aided in part by the defeat of a proposed amendment to the rules that could have given Mr. Jordan an edge.
Rule Change Tabled
Also on the GOP conference agenda are possible rule changes aimed at avoiding further public displays of infighting.
Mr. McCarthy was elected in January after 15 rounds of balloting, and only after making unspecified promises to a number of holdout Republicans.
He was ousted by a motion to vacate the chair filed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and supported by seven other GOP members—plus 208 Democrats.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) proposed an amendment to the conference rules requiring any candidate to gain 217 votes among the 221 members of the Republican conference before being presented to the full House.
That would have guaranteed a speaker’s election on one ballot in the House, avoiding further GOP infighting on the House floor.
The proposal was said to favor Mr. Jordan, whom supporters believed would draw increasing support over the multiple ballots that would likely be required to reach 217 votes.
That amendment was tabled by a vote of the conference, essentially defeating it.
“I don’t think there should be any finessing of the system that puts us in a situation we have to go behind closed doors,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), who made the motion to table, told reporters. “I think it empowers a handful of people to stop the movement of a speaker election in its tracks.”
By Lawrence Wilson and Joseph Lord
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