WASHINGTON — Louisiana Reps. Chip Roy (R-Austin) and Michael Crowder (R-Victoria) have both vowed to vote against House Majority Leader Steve Scalise ).
Those votes, along with a handful of other far-right Republicans who have said the same thing, may be enough to prevent Scalise from receiving the gavel.
Roy and Crowder were two of three Texans who boycotted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership bid in January, leading to a stalemate that forced 15 votes to clear the way for their party. party gains more influence. U.S. Rep. Keith Self (R-McKinney), another Texas holdout during the vote, said on social media Wednesday that he voted during a closed-door Republican meeting before the full House vote. Against Scalise. He wasn’t sure how he planned to vote during the floor vote.
The House adjourned Wednesday afternoon without voting to elect a new speaker. Republicans have not set a date for the next vote.
Scalise is running against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, co-founder of the Ohio Freedom Caucus, to replace McCarthy as speaker. McCarthy was fired after an insurrection by eight members of the far right, none of whom were Texans and who had various grievances against McCarthy. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, is leading the push for the move and said Wednesday he would support Scalise.
At Wednesday’s House Republican meeting, lawmakers voted 113 to support Scalise as the party’s nominee for House speaker. Jordan received 99 votes. But whoever the Republican Party nominates as their candidate will need to win 217 votes in the House of Representatives to finalize the bill.
Roy pushed for a rule during the session that would require speaker candidates to receive at least 217 votes from the Republican conference before a House vote can be scheduled. The aim of the rule is to avoid a public brawl in January’s speaker’s race that led to a brutal public display of chaos within the party.
But despite broad support for the rule, the conference voted to approve the rule change Wednesday morning.
Roy left the meeting looking furious.He left the room refusing to talk about the election, but later Post on social media: “House Republicans should not be voting at 300 p.m. after they finished voting in session at 130 p.m. This is unacceptable and purposeful.” He vowed to continue voting against Scalise.
After meeting with Scalise on Wednesday night, Roy said he was mainly angry that his rule change was rejected even though members of different ideologies supported it, preventing the party from appearing more united. He would not say whether he would ultimately support Scalise if more rule changes were made, saying he did not want to disclose private discussions. He said the meeting was still working out differences before the House vote.
“There’s a tendency in this town to maintain the status quo and be able to crush people who try to work across ideologies,” Roy said.
cloud also posted He believes holding a floor vote when “almost half the conference supports” their primary candidate is a “very, very bad idea,” especially since Congress must pass government funding legislation to avoid the federal government having to wait for about a month closed within. time.
“While I respect Steve Scalise, the improper act of rushing into a vote without the full support of the conference is highly unwise and I will not be there to support it without further discussion.” Nominated,” Crowder said in his post.
The Texas delegation was divided ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, with roughly even numbers supporting the two top candidates. Members of the House Freedom Caucus, a deeply conservative body, tend to be more supportive of Jordan, who also has the backing of former President Donald Trump.
Scalise, meanwhile, has the support of McCarthy’s top allies. Scalise rose through the ranks of the House Republican Conference’s traditional ranks, becoming the more natural heir apparent with his lengthy resume and strong fundraising campaign.
Not everyone is supportive. Some members kept their votes secret until election day. Others said there was no problem with either candidate and they were waiting to see who could get the most support and end the whole sordid affair.
“The most important thing to me is that someone has to get enough votes to become speaker. Whoever that person is, I don’t know much about it,” said U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunter, R-Houston. Hunt, who declined to say who he voted for at Wednesday’s party meeting.
Rep. Troy Niles, R-Richmond, also said he hopes more can be done to unite the Republican Party behind one candidate. Niles, a major supporter of Jordan, cited Trump’s support of Ohioans. Niels had previously nominated Trump for speaker, but that nomination effort quickly disappeared.
“I think it’s very difficult to achieve that right now. I think there should be more dialogue,” Niles said. “I just want to make sure we don’t embarrass ourselves like we did in January because it was a clown show.”
Niles did not specify who he would support in the House, suggesting a third candidate such as Trump or another McCarthy could unify the party.
Despite their differences, interest across the party in a long-running speakership battle like the one in January is low. Unlike lawmakers who voted against McCarthy in January, insisting on specific changes to House rules, several Texas Republicans said there were few policy differences between the two candidates.
U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, said he believes more lawmakers will switch to Scalise’s side once he sees support from a majority of Republicans.
“He’s going to get elected,” Gooden said of Scalise. “I don’t see the chaos that we had in January.”
