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Republicans in Washington were struggling to chart a path forward on Friday, after Steve Scalise withdrew his candidacy for Speaker of the House in a shock move that left his party without a clear alternative to succeed Kevin McCarthy.
Scalise, a representative from Louisiana and the current House majority leader, halted his campaign for the role late on Thursday, just one day after he won the backing of a narrow majority of House Republicans in a secret ballot against Jim Jordan, the congressman from Ohio and chair of the House judiciary committee.
But Scalise failed to unite the party behind him, making it all but impossible for him to win a final vote on the floor of the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority over Democrats.
House Republicans could hold another secret ballot as soon as Friday afternoon to try and select a new nominee. Jordan is understood to be in contention again, though it remains unclear how many colleagues will challenge him for the post.
Austin Scott, the Republican congressman from Georgia, also entered the race on Friday, saying in a statement on X, formerly Twitter: “We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people.”
Scott told CNN late on Thursday that there were “people” in his party who were “not necessarily negotiating for anything other than TV time”, adding that the party’s inability to pick a leader “makes us look like a bunch of idiots”.
Scalise’s withdrawal marked the latest chapter in a dramatic two weeks in Washington that saw lawmakers narrowly avert a costly government shutdown before a small group of Republican hardliners staged a rebellion to unseat McCarthy.
House Republicans huddled again on Friday morning, and Jordan was expected to relaunch a bid, but it remained unclear whether he would face any challengers — or meet the same difficulties Scalise faced.
The impasse threatens American leadership at home and abroad, given the House cannot legislate until a Speaker is selected. The lack of leadership stands in the way of a government funding deal ahead of a looming deadline next month, and jeopardises more US aid to Ukraine or Israel.
Under the US Constitution, the Speaker must be elected by a simple majority of the House. Because Republicans control the lower chamber by the slimmest of margins, Scalise could not afford to lose more than a handful of votes from within his own party, given Democrats indicated they had no inclination to support him.
Scalise blamed fellow Republicans for putting their self interests ahead of the good of the country.
“There are some folks that really need to look in the mirror over the next couple of days and decide: are we going to get it back on track?” he said after announcing his withdrawal. “Or are they going to try to pursue their own agenda? You can’t do both.”
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