WASHINGTON — Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the majority leader of the U.S. House, narrowly received a majority of votes from his fellow Republicans to become their nominee for speaker.
But Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is among the lawmakers who say they are not ready to fall in line, making it uncertain whether Scalise can get enough support from Republicans to win a floor vote.
“I have one vote in the matter; I’m casting it for Jim Jordan, who I think is capable and willing and wants to do the job,” the Rome Republican said.
For Scalise to become speaker, he needs 217 votes. That represents a majority of all current House members. There are 221 Republicans in total, meaning Scalise can only afford to lose four votes because no Democrats are likely to support him.
Greene was among three Georgia GOP lawmakers who said they voted for Jordan, an Ohio congressman and a founder of the House Freedom Caucus, during a closed-door meeting Wednesday to select the party’s nominee for speaker. Scalise won with 113 votes in the secret ballot election, compared with Jordan’s 99. Eight votes were cast for others, and three members voted “present.”
Rep. Rick McCormick of Suwanee, who also backed Jordan, said he believes House Republicans should continue meeting privately to ensure there is widespread support for the party’s nominee before a floor vote is held.
“I have been very clear with leadership, I want a consensus before we come to the floor,” he said.
The other Georgia lawmaker who publicly backed Jordan, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Athens, has not said whether he would support Scalise or stick with Jordan.
Other members of the delegation are calling for unity, including Rep. Mike Collins. The Jackson Republican did not disclose whom he voted for initially, but he said it’s time to move forward with Scalise.
“Just like in our own races when the primary voters have spoken, we rally behind our nominee to defeat the Democrats,” Collins wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “It’s time to unite and get back to work.”
Georgia Reps. Buddy Carter, Drew Ferguson and Austin Scott were always in Scalise’s camp. Carter said there is too much on the House’s plate from funding the government to providing support for Israel to allow the top post to remain vacant much longer.
“I know we need a speaker, and I know we need to be back in session,” the Pooler Republican said.
Carter said there is a pathway for Scalise to overcome the GOP detractors if he is able to find a few Democrats willing to support him, but Carter doesn’t want it to come to that.
“I hope that we can convince our colleagues within our own conference to change their mind and to vote for who the majority of the conference voted for,” he said.
Under Republican rules, Scalise is now the party’s nominee in a floor vote with the expectation that members will vote for him even if they did not support him initially. But recent history has shown that is far from guaranteed in the deeply fractured caucus.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy needed 15 rounds of votes before he reached the threshold to become speaker in January, and that happened only after he negotiated an agreement with a group of 20 ultraconservative opponents, including Clyde.
Even after winning the post, McCarthy was dogged by criticism that he did not live up to his promises or implement changes at a fast enough pace to satisfy his hard-liner detractors. Eight Republicans, although none from Georgia, voted with Democrats last week to remove McCarthy as speaker in a maneuver called “motion to vacate.”
That only deepened the divisions within the Republican caucus going into Wednesday’s vote. And it has created uncertainty about when a floor vote with Democrats will be called to take a formal speaker vote.
Greene said she likes Scalise but feels he should focus on treatment after being diagnosed with blood cancer, not taking on the busy job of House speaker. She also prefers Jordan’s stances on policy, saying he had better and more direct answers to lawmakers’ questions on topics such as the appropriations process during a candidate forum Tuesday.
Greene said Scalise would not get to 217 votes if a floor vote had been called Wednesday. So instead, she is hoping Republicans return to the meeting room where cellphones are checked at the door and they are able to hash out their differences privately.
“We should be in there and getting unity behind one person, and we don’t have that right now,” she said. “And I do not want to just blow up things on the House floor.”
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