Support for Scalise speakership waning as more House Republicans come out in opposition

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) chances at becoming speaker are dwindling with every passing hour as more members come out against him, adding to the chaos the House is in as it enters its ninth day without a speaker.

Scalise was nominated as the GOP speaker candidate after a closed-door meeting on Tuesday afternoon, emerging victorious in a 113-99 vote over Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). Despite his win, several GOP lawmakers have come out in opposition to a Scalise speakership, vowing not to support the Louisiana Republican when the matter comes to the full floor for a vote.

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“Through one lens, it’s sort of the messy nature of democracy and will emerge stronger. I guess the worry is that this extends for multiple weeks and we just can’t do anything,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI). “This branch of government has just grown so weak when you think about the perversity of it. … The reason you see members deposing a speaker doing all this nonsense is because in a weak institution, members feel no allegiance to the institution.”

Republicans are set to meet for another closed-door meeting on Thursday afternoon, where Scalise is expected to speak with GOP lawmakers ahead of the speaker election. It remains unclear when the House will reconvene for votes.

After losing the vote, Jordan said he would vote for Scalise and even offered to make a nominating speech for him on the floor, according to a source familiar. One of the main architects of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) ouster, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), also came out in support of Scalise and urged his colleagues to get behind him as well.

But absent those two bright spots, it has become increasingly clear that Scalise faces an uphill climb to secure the 217 votes needed to secure the speaker’s gavel. More than a dozen House Republicans have come out in opposition to Scalise, vowing instead to vote for Jordan when the matter comes to the House floor.

“If Jim Jordan does not get the majority within that room, I will go down to the House floor and continue to vote for Jim Jordan,” freshman Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) said before the vote had been tallied.

Scalise can only afford to lose four votes as Democrats are expected to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), setting the stage for a multi-round election similar to the one lawmakers experienced in January when it took Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) 15 rounds to secure the leadership position. House Republicans have cited a number of reasons for their opposition to Scalise, with a handful pointing to his health as a major concern.

“I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “I lost my father to cancer and it’s a very serious battle. We need a Speaker who is able to put their full efforts into defeating the communist democrats and save America.”

Scalise announced last month that he had been diagnosed with a blood cancer known as multiple myeloma. The Louisiana Republican has since begun chemotherapy treatments while still serving as majority leader but is now often seen wearing a mask and taking other precautions because of his health.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) also said she’d vote against Scalise, citing concern with his alleged past remarks. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) said he’s against Scalise because the “House GOP Conference is broken” and that members shouldn’t go from ousting McCarthy to having other leaders “rewarded with promotions.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) has also come out in staunch opposition to Scalise, taking issue with how the conference chose its nominee with only a simple majority vote less than two hours before the full House was scheduled to elect its new leader. Instead, the Texas Republican sought to change conference rules to require its nominee to receive 217 votes before bringing it to the full House floor.

Roy proposed an amendment to implement that rule change, but it was shot down during Republicans’ election meeting on Tuesday.

“As I said earlier, I was not happy with the way things unfolded,” Roy said. “I thought we should figure this out behind closed doors, as a conference before we started moving towards the floor.”

Now, Roy has vowed to continue supporting Jordan for the nomination, telling conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Thursday he would continue working to get Jordan enough votes to secure the speakership.

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The House is scheduled to reconvene at noon on Thursday, although it remains unclear whether lawmakers will hold votes.

“Like every part of the speaker-elect Scalise’s reign so far, I have no idea what is going to happen this afternoon,” one GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.