A week after then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a historic vote, the Republican conference he used to lead took a step Wednesday afternoon toward ending some of the chaos they created. That’s the good news. The bad news is the next step is likely to be tricky.
NBC News reported:
House Republicans on Wednesday voted to nominate Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., to be the next speaker of the House after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from power in an internal GOP revolt just a week ago. Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in leadership, defeated Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, 113-99 in a secret ballot vote behind closed doors to win the party’s nomination.
In theory, the process could unfold rather smoothly on Wednesday afternoon. The House has already scheduled a floor vote to elect a new speaker; the GOP majority has chosen Scalise as the party’s nominee; and it’s certainly possible that the incumbent House majority leader will have the gavel in his hands before day’s end.
In practice, however, there’s still a chance for additional chaos.
The overarching question is whether Scalise will have 217 votes when members vote on the floor Wednesday afternoon. The Louisiana Republican appears to start with 113 — the total he received from the intraparty process Wednesday morning — and it’s likely that he’ll pick up many of the GOP members who supported Jordan.
But how many?
A handful of House Republicans said after the balloting that they’re still not prepared to vote for Scalise, and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky told NBC News that Scalise “doesn’t have the votes.”
Whether he’s correct is unclear. What’s more, let’s also pause to take another look at the final tally: Scalise received 113 votes to Jordan’s 99, but that adds up to 212. There are 221 House Republicans, which means several members (a) didn’t vote; (b) voted “present”; or (c) voted for someone other than Scalise or Jordan. What those GOP lawmakers plan to do on the floor also remains unclear. The arithmetic is relatively straightforward: On the House floor, each member will vote for speaker. If Scalise loses four Republicans or fewer, he’ll get the gavel. If he loses five Republicans or more, he’ll still be his party’s choice, but the drama will continue. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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