Who are Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, the candidates for House speaker?

The House of Representatives is moving toward nominating a speaker this week, with two front-runners emerging in the battle for the chamber’s top role.

Hoping to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who was ousted as speaker last week in a historic vote, the Republican conference will hear pitches from its two declared candidates, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), on Tuesday. House members will vote on a nominee in a secret ballot election on Wednesday, yet it’s unclear when a vote for a new speaker will take place on the House floor.

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Jordan is currently ahead of Scalise in the race. He has also managed to obtain an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, moving some hard-line conservatives to support his nomination. As of Tuesday, Jordan has about 40 committed votes, with dozens from the Freedom Caucus. Scalise has gathered about 30 committed votes. Whoever seeks the nomination will need at least 217 votes on the House floor to become speaker, with House Republicans eyeing a threshold change needed to nominate a speaker.

Here is everything the public needs to know about the two men vying for House speaker.

Jim Jordan

Jordan has represented Ohio’s 4th Congressional District since 2007, a popular incumbent gliding through every reelection bid in the Buckeye State.

Jordan attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison, for undergrad, earning a master’s degree from the University of Ohio before obtaining a juris doctor degree from the Capital University Law School. He has four children with his wife, Polly Jordan, raising his family in his hometown of Urbana, Ohio.

The Ohio Republican served as the first chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus from 2015 to 2017, with much of his support for the speaker nomination coming from its members as a founding member himself.

His ties run deep in the Republican conference, sitting as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. He’s a member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and remains the longest-serving Freedom Caucus member.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman was the first lawmaker to announce a bid for speaker of the House following McCarthy’s ousting. Jordan was not one of the eight Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy and has avoided speaking on his willingness to try to return as House speaker. In January, Jordan gathered 19 GOP votes in the early rounds of holdouts of those trying to block McCarthy from becoming speaker; Jordan voted McCarthy through during all 15 rounds.

The high-ranking conservative has led investigations into the alleged Biden administration’s weaponization of government agencies and Hunter Biden inquiries about his position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, while his father was vice president, working alongside House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) for months to uncover Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes.

During the first impeachment inquiry into Biden in September, Jordan was called out for making alleged unsubstantiated claims about the Justice Department’s investigation.

Jordan has been widely criticized by Democrats and others for being a staunch Trump defender and pushing to investigate the 2020 election, refusing to denounce voter fraud claims peddled by Trump.

“Over 50 million Americans think this election was stolen. That’s more than one-third of the electorate. For that reason alone, we owe it to the country to investigate election integrity,” Jordan said in December 2020.

In January 2021, following the Capitol riot, Jordan was pressed during a House Rules Committee debate in which he admitted Biden won the 2020 election but did not admit he won “fair and square.” Jordan denied that he said the 2020 election was stolen, despite speaking at a “Stop the Steal” rally on Trump’s behalf in Pennsylvania two days after Election Day.

Jordan has raised about $2.9 million this cycle and has $7.9 million on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Steve Scalise

Scalise, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, has represented Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District since 2008.

He graduated from Louisiana State University, where he studied computer science. Scalise married Jennifer Ann Letulle nearly 20 years ago and has two children.

Scalise served as the House majority whip from 2014-2018 and as House minority whip from 2019-2022. In 2023, he was elected House majority leader by his Republican conference, serving as the second-highest-ranking House Republican under the speaker. He has the powerful role of overseeing the House floor and scheduling legislation for votes.

The Louisiana Republican serves on a number of caucuses, including the House Republican Israel Caucus, Republican Study Committee, Pro-Life Caucus, Second Amendment Task Force, and others.

Scalise is currently behind Jordan in terms of committed voters for speakeship, with Jordan having a large advantage as a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus. Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) threw his support behind Scalise after eyeing a path to the speakership himself.

He was not among the eight Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy and, like Jordan, voted for him on all 15 ballots in January. One of McCarthy’s closest allies, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), backed Scalise for speakership, saying he is the “only candidate who would unite the conference.”

In August, Scalise announced he was diagnosed with “very treatable blood cancer” known as multiple myeloma and had begun treatment.

“The results uncovered some irregularities and after undergoing additional tests, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a very treatable blood cancer,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I have now begun treatment, which will continue for the next several months.”

Scalise is a survivor of a shooting in which he was critically injured during a Congressional Baseball Game practice in 2017. The gunman shot Scalise in the hip, and he has undergone surgeries.

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Like Jordan, Scalise has accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted Trump on charges of abusing his power, echoing calls from his fellow Republicans that the government is being weaponized against the former president. Speaking on Fox News in October 2021, Scalise refused to say that the 2020 election was stolen; he admitted Biden’s presidency is legitimate.

According to the most recent financial filings, he raised $5.6 million this cycle and has over $6 million in cash on hand.