A new report from Punchbowl News has revealed that the House Republican Conference has chosen a nominee to move forward to a vote on the full floor of the House by a slim margin of 113-99.
Jake Sherman, reporting for Punchbowl, revealed on X, “STEVE SCALISE is the House Republican’s nominee for speaker of the House. 113-99,” defeating Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the current Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
STEVE SCALISE is the House Republican's nominee for speaker of the House.
113-99
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 11, 2023
Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA) is currently the Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and has held a prominent role in House Leadership since 2014 as both House Minority Whip and House Majority Whip until 2022. He has also headed the Republican Study Committee a powerful conservative caucus within the House.
Early reports from Trending Politics News indicated Scalise could be on the fast track. These reports appear to have been confirmed.
Sherman had posted earlier in the morning, “Steve Scalise is now the clear favorite to become the GOP’s nominee for speaker. He could wrap this up today. The Scalise whip operation worked overtime over the last few days to defeat a motion to change the party’s rules to nominate a speaker. We’ve been writing about Team Scalise’s institutional advantages. They are gigantic.”
Benny Johnson of Newsmax provided the vote breakdown stating that Scalise garnered 113 votes while Jordan held 99, with eight members of the GOP Conference voting ‘present.’
NEW: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise wins GOP conference ballot for Speaker of the House
House floor vote expected sometime this afternoon pic.twitter.com/wGEYPNz4K1
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 11, 2023
If elected by the House floor, Scalise will be the first Louisiana Representative in U.S. History to rise to the role of Speaker.
It is unclear as of this report if all members of the GOP conference will abide by the decision in a floor vote that requires 217 votes or if the floor voting will play out in a similar fashion to the 2021 election of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy that saw fifteen rounds of voting before conservative holdouts relented.
Major Garrett of CBS noted, “Can Republicans coalesce at this moment? If they can, he’ll be the next speaker. If they can’t, we’re in for another protracted battle.”
BREAKING: Republican lawmakers have selected Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their nominee for House speaker.
"Can Republicans coalesce at this moment? If they can, he'll be the next speaker. If they can't, we're in for another protracted battle," @MajorCBS reports. pic.twitter.com/CEQp9TLOVD
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 11, 2023
Brian Allen reported via X, “Rep. Lauren Boebert expressed her intention to vote for Jim Jordan during the speaker election. Rep. Troy Nehls is uncertain if Republicans will unite behind the nominee and remains committed to supporting Jordan, without confirming support for Scalise if he wins internally. He calls for House floor votes on a speaker regardless of the nominee’s vote count.”
BREAKING: Scalise secured the Republican nomination for speaker with a vote tally of 113-99, announced by Rep. Darrell Issa, accompanied by applause in the meeting room.
Following Scalise's nomination, Rep. Lauren Boebert expressed her intention to vote for Jim Jordan during the… pic.twitter.com/PT1kvxIFa7
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) October 11, 2023
MSNBC’s Ryan Nobles reported from the House,
“Already there are members of the Republican Conference telling my colleague Ali Vitali that they will not vote for Steve Scalise on the floor of the House.”
The selection of Scalise by the Conference is an unexpected development following the endorsement of Jordan by former President Donald Trump and could indicate a break between the presumptive presidential nominee for 2024 and the current Republican leadership in the House.
As of this report, Trump has not offered any comment on the nomination of Scalise.