GOP Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) announces his withdrawal from the contest for House Speaker and urges cooperation and new leadership.
Scalise wins the Republican nomination by a very slim margin.
Scalise defeats his opponent by a razor-thin margin in a close contest. The final voting total is 113-99, with 99 votes going to Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan intended to support Scalise in a speech, but he was unsuccessful in getting enough support for a floor vote. Although about 30 to 40 Republicans refused to vote for Scalise, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman affirmed that he would do so in a formal vote.
On Thursday night, Scalise formally announced his resignation, confirming the information that multiple House workers had already revealed.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) earlier declared that he had warmly favored Jordan in the conference vote and added that if Scalise withdrew, he would be encouraging the head of the House Judiciary Committee to run again. “If Steve Scalise can’t win the Speakership, I will be aggressively urging Jim to put his name back in the race,” Jackson said.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) requested temporary Speaker Patrick McHenry (R-NC) to promptly call legislators back to Washington so that the topic may be discussed on the floor in reaction to Scalise’s official withdrawal from the race. “I am asking members of the GOP to return to Washington so that we can nominate a Speaker. Scalise is a statesman and acted in true selfless fashion by stepping aside. This needs to happen,” The lawmaker from Florida wrote in an X post.
Jordan, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), Lee Zelin, a former congressman from New York, and U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) are prospective successor possibilities.
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Hern has previously expressed interest in the job but withdrew to preserve Republican cohesion. Since Scalise opted to stand down, Hern and Jordan are both considering running again.
This story is still developing.
