Washington Examiner’s Byron York says House ‘could be headed’ for repeated speaker voting event

The Washington Examiner’s Byron York predicts that the House of Representatives may repeat history with its upcoming House speaker vote, as the recent nomination of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) could lead to a similar event that happened in the House earlier this year.

Scalise beat out Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in a simple majority vote to be the Republican Party’s nominee for House speaker on Wednesday. The Louisiana Republican will need a total of 217 votes from the House to become the House speaker, though York, the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, notes that Scalise may have trouble reaching that threshold.

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“That is the question, Chad was saying that Republicans really, really want to avoid a replay of what happened in January in which the party was just in disarray going through 15 ballots to choose speaker,” York said during an appearance on Fox News. “But it appears they could be headed toward something like that right now. If you look at the vote that Scalise won, 113-99, I’m not good at math, but that does not add up to 217.”

In January, the House went through 15 rounds of voting before finally voting to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). York noted that Scalise becoming House speaker could be strongly unlikely if the 99 people who voted for Jordan decide not to vote for Scalise, instead insisting on Jordan or another candidate.

York stated that the issue plaguing this House speaker vote is a common one for House Republicans, as they only managed to get a House majority in the 2022 midterm elections by a slim margin. Going forward, York said that House Republicans will have to be “almost unanimous” in whatever legislation they attempt to pass.

Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) has stated he will not vote for anyone but Jordan on the floor and that until Jordan takes himself out of the race, he will not even consider voting for Scalise or any other candidate. Scalise can only afford to lose four votes in the vote for House Speaker.

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The upcoming speaker vote comes after McCarthy was ousted from the position last week after eight House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to vacate the speaker’s chair. The Republicans who voted to oust McCarty include Gaetz and Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Ken Buck (R-CO), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Bob Good (R-VA), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Nancy Mace (R-SC).

McCarthy has stated he would not run for the role of House speaker again and has asked members not to nominate him.