Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise ended his bid to become House speaker late Thursday, October 13, after hardline holdouts refused to back the party's nominee, throwing the Republican majority into deeper chaos with the chamber unable to function. Scalise told his Republican colleagues at a closed-door meeting late Thursday of his decision and pointedly declined to announce backing for anyone else, including his chief rival, Representative Jim Jordan, the hardline Judiciary Committee chairman backed by Donald Trump who had already told colleagues he no longer would seek the job.
The next steps are uncertain as the House is essentially closed while the Republican majority tries to elect a speaker after ousting Kevin McCarthy from the job. "I just shared with my colleagues that I'm withdrawing my name as a candidate for speaker-designee," Scalise said as he emerged from the closed-door meeting at the Capitol. Scalise said the Republican majority "still has to come together and is not there."
He had been working furiously to secure the votes after being nominated by a majority of his colleagues, but after hours of private meetings over two days and late into the evening at the Capitol it was clear lawmakers were not budging from their refusal to support him. "There are still some people that have their own agendas," Scalise said. "And I was very clear, we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs."
Asked if he would throw his support behind Jordan, Scalise said, "It's got to be people that aren't doing it for themselves and their own personal interest." He said he would push quickly for a resolution. "But it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't going to happen today. It wasn't going to happen tomorrow. It needs to happen soon, but I've withdrawn my name."
Frustrations have mounted as the crisis deepened and Republicans lost another day without a House speaker. Scalise was trying to peel off more than 100 votes, mostly from those who backed Jordan. But many hard-liners taking their cues from Trump have dug in for a prolonged fight to replace McCarthy after his historic ouster from the job. They argued that Majority Leader Scalise was no better choice, that he should be focusing on his health as he battles cancer and that he was not the leader they would support. No House votes were scheduled.
The House is entering its second week without a speaker and is essentially unable to function, and the political pressure increasingly is on Republicans to reverse course, reassert majority control and govern in Congress. Action is needed to fund the government or face the threat of a federal shutdown in a month. Lawmakers also want Congress to deliver a strong statement of support for Israel in the war with Hamas, but a bipartisan resolution has been sidelined by the stalemate in the House. The White House is expected to soon ask for money for Israel, Ukraine and the backfill of the US weapons stockpile.