With House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ousted and by his own party, the Lower Chamber is scrambling to decide upon another to take McCarthy’s place. It seems the GOP has settled on just one name: Steve Scalise of Louisiana.
The plan, of course, is to get this done as quickly as possible so that business as usual can continue. Everyone can only hope it doesn’t include the same long, drawn-out way McCarthy was chosen, in which it took a total of 15 votes to confirm him as House Speaker.
So far, things seem to be going well. Kind of.
As CNN reported, the vote for the GOP nomination for the seat took place on Wednesday, with Scalise winning with 113 votes compared to Jim Jordan of Ohio’s 99.
Rep. Steve Scalise has been selected by the GOP conference as the nominee for Speaker of the House
If he wins on the floor, he will be the first Speaker to survive a shooting by an Anti-Trump, Bernie Sanders supporter. pic.twitter.com/hXbCpMNrmR
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 11, 2023
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, who can be held responsible for the ousting of McCarthy, voted for Scalise and is proud that so far things are going his way. “Long live Speaker Scalise,” he is noted to have said after the vote was finalized, according to the New York Times.
However, while Scalise has officially won the nomination, there is no real indication that he has enough votes to actually win the speakership when the full House votes.
According to House rules, a total of 217 votes are needed, which means that most of Jordan’s supporters will have to forget their opposition to Scalise.
Currently, there are 221 Republicans in the House, with 212 Democrats on the other side, according to the House Press Gallery. And most of those Democrats won’t vote in favor of any GOP member.
So Scalise is going to need all the support he can get.
Unfortunately for him, some Jordan supporters have already announced they won’t be changing their vote. Representative Max Miller of Ohio is one, saying he will not be “switching my vote. I’m Jim Jordan all the way.”
Looks like things will remain interesting for a while longer.
