Steve Scalise has officially withdrawn his name from the Speaker of the House race. This comes after rumors on Capitol Hill of a potential mutiny over his internal nomination. An example of such internal conflict is South Carolina House Rep Nancy Mace. She appeared on television and gave a stroke rebuke against Scalise. She nearly called him a racist, which is a ridiculous thing for a conservative House Republican to do. Other Republicans quietly threatened to do something similar, invoking yet another Kevin McCarthy situation. He faced 15 rounds of voting before becoming confirmed as speaker only to be removed as speaker just nine months later.
Earlier in the week, House Republicans held a “secret” vote to put forward a nominee who would then go before the “full” House for an official vote. Steve Scalise garnered 113 votes, Jim Jordan got 99, and eight people simply voted “present” instead of voting for anyone. Since Scalise is out of contention, the logical nominee would be the runner-up, Jim Jordan. He is well-respected within the GOP and by the general public. Jordan, if he becomes Speaker, will face the uphill battle of trying to bring unity to the party. During his “exit” press conference, Scalise mentioned that there is quite a bit of self-serving behind the scenes in the House and that would need to be cleaned up in order for them to go forward.
It is not quite clear why some Republicans do not want Scalise as Speaker. He is one of the most powerful Republicans on The Hill and not much negative information has ever come out about him. The only glaring issue about Scalise is his cancer diagnosis. The Republican House Rep from Louisiana suffers from a “highly treatable” form of blood cancer. Georgia House Rep Marjorie Taylor-Greene mentioned this. The Speaker is third in line of secession after the President and Vice President.
SOURCES:
Steve Scalise drops out of GOP House speaker race : NPR
Steve Scalise drops out of Speaker’s race | The Hill
Steve Scalise drops out of speaker’s race as House GOP faces leadership crisis | CNN Politics
Steve Scalise drops out of race for House speaker – CBS New York
Republican hardliner Steve Scalise drops out of House speaker race | House of Representatives | The Guardian
BREAKING NEWS: Steve Scalise Drops Out Of Running For Next Speaker Of The House – YouTube
