From the NYT: G.O.P. Nominates Steve Scalise for Speaker but Postpones Full Vote

A vacancy remains on top of the U.S. House of Representatives.

- Click here for the article. 

Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana narrowly scraped together enough Republican support on Wednesday to become his party’s choice to lead the House, but deep divisions in the G.O.P. ranks threatened to complicate his election as speaker.

Mere minutes after a slim majority of Republicans voted in a closed-door party meeting to select him as the party’s candidate, Mr. Scalise’s fate was thrown into doubt. Several Republican lawmakers announced they would not back him on the House floor without concessions, complaining of a rushed process to choose a new speaker and voicing skepticism that he could unite their fractious conference.

Republicans delayed an election of the full House that had been planned for midafternoon while the party regrouped, and adjourned on Wednesday evening with no resolution. They scheduled another meeting of the House for noon on Thursday, but there was no sign that the G.O.P. was any closer to an agreement that would allow them to elect a speaker at that point.

A week and a day after the abrupt and historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the hands of a small right-wing bloc, Republicans voted behind closed doors, 113 to 99, to name Mr. Scalise, their second-ranking leader, as his successor. Mr. Scalise turned back a challenge by Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a favorite of the hard right who had the endorsement of former President Donald J. Trump.

- Steve Scalise.

. . . an American politician who has served as the House Majority Leader since 2023 and the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 1st congressional district since 2008. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the House Majority Whip from 2014 to 2019 and the House Minority Whip 2019 to 2023.

Before his election to Congress, Scalise served four months in the Louisiana State Senate and three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was the chair of the House Republican Study Committee from 2013 to 2014. On June 19, 2014, Scalise's Republican colleagues elected him majority whip of the United States House of Representatives. He assumed office on August 1. He is the first Louisianian to serve as majority whip since Hale Boggs of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971. In 2017, Scalise became the dean of the Louisiana congressional delegation upon Senator David Vitter's retirement. Scalise's district includes most of New Orleans's suburbs, such as Metairie, Kenner, and Slidell, as well as a portion of New Orleans itself.