The party has been in a tailspin since a handful of hardliners forced out Kevin McCarthy eight days ago, leaving the Republican-controlled lower chamber of Congress unable to respond to mounting international and domestic challenges.
Scalise, McCarthy’s longtime deputy, pipped firebrand Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan to the nomination by 113 votes to 99 — dealing a blow to Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who had endorsed the defeated Ohioan.
“We have a lot of work to do, not just in the House for the people of this country, but we see how dangerous of a world it is and how things can change so quickly,” Scalise, 58, told reporters after the secret ballot.
“We need to make sure we’re sending a message to people all throughout the world, that the House is open and doing the people’s business.”
A gregarious lawmaker seen as a bridge between the most hardline conservatives and the party‘s mainstream, Scalise has been in the leadership for almost a decade and has enjoyed an at times strained relationship with McCarthy.
He now faces a scramble to win over almost all of Jordan’s supporters before a speaker vote by the full House, where all 212 Democrats will back their own leader, New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries.
The vote could come as early as Wednesday afternoon, although the House went into recess without scheduling any floor action as Scalise and his allies worked the halls and corridors of Congress to corral as much support as possible.
Wednesday’s victory marked a stunning turnaround for Scalise, just one month after he returned to work following a blood cancer diagnosis for which he has been undergoing chemotherapy.
The Louisiana native underwent surgery five years ago for a gunshot wound to the hip in an attack at a baseball practice near Washington.
– ‘Moral clarity’ –
Jordan, a darling of the hard right, went into Wednesday’s contest with more public support than Scalise. But Trump’s endorsement proved less effectual than it is in public votes, where he can hold dissidents’ feet to the fire.
While Scalise now has momentum, his path to victory in the full House could be rocky.
Colorado’s Ken Buck, one of the rebels who ousted McCarthy, told reporters he had declined to vote for either potential replacement after asking them if the 2020 election was stolen and getting non-committal responses.
Jordan and Scalise were among 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election despite having no evidence of significant irregularities.
“If we don’t have the moral clarity to decide whether President Biden won or not, we don’t have the moral clarity to rule,” said Buck, who spoke out against objecting to the election result at the time.
Texas lawmaker Troy Nehls told NBC he was unconvinced Republicans would unify behind any nominee while two fellow members of the far-right Freedom Caucus and Ohio’s Max Miller said they’d be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor.
The drama has been playing out against the backdrop of an escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas militants who launched a deadly attack at the weekend, with a paralyzed Congress unable to authorize new emergency aid for the US ally.
Lawmakers have until November 17 to reauthorize federal spending levels and avert a damaging government shutdown.
