Speaker vote: Scalise and House Republicans could be facing another floor fiasco

House Republicans could face another crisis if House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) fails to garner enough votes to win the speakership.

Scalise was chosen as the Republican nominee for speaker on Wednesday in a conference vote, defeating Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in a simple majority vote. However, shortly after, multiple House Republicans came out against Scalise becoming the next House speaker — suggesting that Scalise may not have the required 217 votes to win the speaker’s gavel.

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If Scalise fails to win the speakership, House Republicans will face another crisis, as no clear candidate capable of seizing the required number of votes has emerged. The party has been embroiled in infighting following the passage of a short-term continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded and the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Scalise’s difficulties stem from some House Republicans being upset that their picks, McCarthy and Jordan, lost their bids for the speakership and that Scalise’s team was behind the shooting down of a proposed rule change that would increase the threshold for winning the speakership nomination in the conference, according to Politico.

The possibility of the speakership remaining vacant has led to outrage from some centrist Republicans, who blame GOP hard-liners for the chaos.

“The majority of the majority has been disregarded by a handful of members repeatedly and flagrantly, and as a result, we deposed … our speaker a week ago with 208 Democrats,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told CNN, demanding retaliation against the eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy. “The idea that somehow rearranging the deck chairs here is going to fix the problem or somehow that Kevin McCarthy was the problem is laughable.”

Scalise believes he can still quench the nomination, though he acknowledged it would be an uphill battle.

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“We still have work to do,” Scalise told reporters.

Only two of the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy have definitively ruled out voting for Scalise, with hard-liners more sympathetic to him than the former House speaker.