Steve Scalise Secures GOP Nod for Speaker But Fails to Win 217 Votes

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) won the Republican nomination for Speaker of the House but failed to garner enough support to win on the House floor.

The Louisianan secured 113 votes in conference, while challenger Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) garnered 99 votes. Eight Republicans voted “present.”

Scalise now somehow must gain the support of an overwhelming number of those who did not back him. At least four Republicans, Reps. Max Miller (R-OH), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Chip Roy (R-TX), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) have already said they will support Jordan on the floor regardless of Wednesday’s outcome, and more are expected.

Additionally, at least one member, Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), pledged, after the conference vote, to vote for Speaker Emeritus Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on the floor.

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U.S. House of Representatives

Those detracts alone are enough to deny Scalise the nomination on the floor.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will have 212 Democrats voting unanimously for his nomination on the House floor.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) said a floor vote is expected at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday.

Republicans voted to table an amendment to the rules offered by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) that would have raised the threshold to nominate a speaker to the 217 votes necessary to win on the floor.

However, the challenge for Scalise to gain 217 floor votes did not disappear with the Roy amendment. Republicans now must decide how they will work out this new problem.

Most Republicans have desired to avoid another January debacle, but with supporters of Jordan and McCarthy entrenched — and perhaps others unhappy with the process or harboring other grievances — an immediate floor vote seems almost sure to set down the rocky path Republicans traveled only nine months ago to nominate McCarthy.

By rushing the vote to the floor without adequate support to win, Scalise seems content to once again hash Republican division out on the floor and rely on pressure on his detractors from the mainstream media to eventually secure the nomination.

Follow Bradley Jaye on Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.