A faction of House Republicans wants a backroom deal on speaker

House Republicans, frustrated with the lack of consensus on who should be the next speaker, want the two contenders — Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan — to hash out which one of them should drop out.

Lawmakers are up against the clock to elect a new speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by eight Republicans and the entire Democratic caucus last week, leaving the House unable to conduct legislative business. 

Republicans are deciding between Mr. Jordan and Mr. Scalise, but so far there is no consensus ahead of a floor vote planned for Wednesday.

One solution floated by lawmakers, one Republican said, involves either Mr. Scalise or Mr. Jordan quitting the race and lining up behind his opponent.

“Some Republicans just want [Mr. Jordan and Mr. Scalise] to get into a room and figure it out,” a Republican lawmaker told The Washington Times.

Another lawmaker, a supporter of Mr. Jordan, said his GOP colleagues are discussing a plan to elect Mr. Jordan as speaker and keep Mr. Scalise as majority leader.

“That would be widely supported,” the congressman said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

The Times reached out to Mr. Scalise’s offices for comment but did not hear back.

A lawmaker backing Mr. Scalise said the effort to get a backroom deal was likely intended to benefit Mr. Jordan, and it was among myriad machinations happening in the GOP conference.

“I’ve heard there’s all kinds of things going. There’s people sabotaging everyone,” the lawmaker said.

Sources close to the Jordan team say they are picking up significant support and are “feeling very good” about the race for the gavel. 

Some Republicans said despite the tight time frame, they believe the conference can unify behind one candidate by Wednesday.

Republicans need roughly 217 votes to elect a Republican speaker on the House floor, which means nearly the entire conference will have to agree on one member because Democrats, who also vote for speaker, will choose their own candidate, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. 

Neither Mr. Jordan nor Mr. Scalise, who remained silent during a two-hour GOP huddle in the basement Monday night, has been able to garner 217 votes.

While many GOP lawmakers have publicly thrown their support behind either Mr. Jordan or Mr. Scalise, others are more interested in establishing the speakership as quickly as possible to face the next looming government shutdown deadline on Nov. 17 and to provide aid to Israel, which declared war against Hamas over the weekend. 

Both Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan served under Speaker John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican who stepped down and quit Congress in 2015. Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan have a long and friendly working relationship.

Some Republicans scoffed at the idea that one of the two GOP contenders for the speaker job would step aside for the other. Both Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan have a loyal base of supporters in the conference. 

“I don’t recall giving up my vote,” a Republican lawmaker said. 

Another said some lawmakers are backing Mr. Scalise because if he’s elected speaker, it creates more room for advancement in the top leadership.

“There’s certain support for Scalise in leadership because if he moves up, then they all want to move up, and I’m not for that. That’s self-motivated,” another congressman told The Times.

Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican who is supporting Mr. Jordan, said there is ample support for Mr. Scalise to keep his No. 2 leadership spot.

“There’s no contest there,” he said.