Republicans nominated Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana for speaker of the House on Wednesday, but with the party still divided, many fear another protracted fight like the one that played out in January before Rep. Kevin McCarthy finally won the speakership.
Scalise defeated Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio by a vote of 113-99 in the GOP conference.
To secure the speaker’s chair, Scalise will need 217 votes on the House floor. With 221 Republicans in the House, he has just four GOP votes to spare.
However, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said there are “at least 20” Republicans who are not ready to back Scalise, according to CNN.
Looming over House Republicans is the shadow of former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Jordan.
After the vote, Texas Rep. Troy Nehls said, “Donald Trump is the leader of our party, make no mistake.”
“I have nothing against Steve Scalise,” Nehls added. “I was just more on the Jordan side. I’m more of a Freedom Caucus guy, and that’s who Donald Trump wanted.”
“Every decision we make as a conference should be in the best interest of getting Donald Trump, the leader of our party, who will be our nominee, into the White House in 2024,” he said.
Also voicing support for Jordan were Reps. Max Miller of Ohio, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
“It’s not over. I’m still throwing my support behind Jim Jordan for speaker. I’m not going to change my vote now or any time soon on the House floor,” Miller said.
Greene said, “I’m not supporting Steve Scalise. I’ll be voting for Jim Jordan. … Jim Jordan presented a strong plan for us, a detailed plan on how to move forward. We didn’t hear that plan from Steve Scalise.”
Greene said she personally likes Scalise and noted that he is currently battling cancer. “I would like to see him put his full efforts into defeating that,” she said.
Massie echoed Greene’s criticism of Scalise, posting on X that “he doesn’t have my vote on the floor, because he has not articulated a viable plan for avoiding an omnibus.”
Meanwhile, Scalise has managed to win over at least one holdout.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida switched her support to the majority leader after previously saying she would vote for Jordan on the floor.
“After talking to Rep. Scalise, I feel very confident he’s going to allow me to aggressively pursue justice for this country,” Luna said.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the effort to remove McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, said he was “excited” to vote for Scalise.
