WASHINGTON DC – House Republicans met behind closed doors on Wednesday and voted to nominate Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise to be House speaker, replacing the ousted Kevin McCarthy.
According to NBC News sources, Scalise would have won 113-99. To win the nomination, a candidate needs a simple majority of the Republican conference, or 111 votes.
The two candidates vying for the most powerful position in Congress were Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Scalise will face the difficult task of uniting the party behind him. The candidate must still obtain a simple majority of all members of the House of Representatives, meaning he or she must receive the votes of at least 217 of the 221 members of the Republican Party, to become the new President of the House of Representatives of Congress.
Democrats are expected to support Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Republican representatives won the majority by claiming to function as a team and run the government more like a business, but they are far from that goal. After just 10 months in power, the historic impeachment of its president – the first in the United States – and ongoing infighting have paralyzed the U.S. House of Commons at a time of national and international crisis.