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House Republican leaders looking to fill the speaker’s chair left empty after the stunning ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy quickly maneuvered Wednesday to fill the position with their next-in-line, Majority Leader Steve Scalise.
Not so fast, Rep. Jim Jordan said.
In a letter to rank-and-file lawmakers, Mr. Jordan, a founder of the Republicans’ ultraconservative Freedom Caucus who has spent much of his time in Congress attacking the Republican leadership from the right, threw a bomb into the race by declaring his run for speaker.
Mr. Jordan’s candidacy is likely to split the House Republican Conference and could throw the battle for the speaker’s gavel into prolonged uncertainty, even as lawmakers scramble to hold an election to fill the position next week.
The House is essentially paralyzed until lawmakers elect someone to replace Mr. McCarthy.
SEE ALSO: Hurry up and wait: Republican says no chance in ‘hell’ new speaker will be selected soon
The chamber adjourned Tuesday after designating Rep. Patrick McHenry, North Carolina Republican, to serve as temporary speaker. Mr. McHenry could be filling in for a while, Republicans said as uncertainty grew over finding consensus for a new speaker.
“There are scenarios where Patrick McHenry could be in this job for an extended period of time,” said Rep. Garret Graves, Louisiana Republican.
Under the House rules, Mr. McHenry cannot conduct legislative business beyond the speaker’s election, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.
When he wields the gavel for that vote, Mr. McHenry will oversee a battle between two House veterans, Mr. Scalise of Louisiana and Mr. Jordan of Ohio, and potentially a third candidate. Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma has expressed interest in the House’s top job.
“What I’m listening to from people is they want a different face. They want somebody to put policies over personalities,” Mr. Hern said.
All three are staunch conservatives.
Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan are the prohibitive favorites.
Mr. Scalise, who turns 58 on Friday, has been entrenched in House Republican leadership for more than a decade, much of it as the No. 3 or No. 2 Republican.
He served as majority leader under Mr. McCarthy of California and as majority whip under Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio. Mr. Scalise earned the admiration and respect of rank-and-file Republicans as he twisted arms to pass legislation and built a strong support base in the conference.
His miraculous recovery from a near-fatal assassination attempt by a left-wing gunman in 2017 elevated him to hero status in the conference.
Mr. Jordan, 59, has his own loyal following after co-founding the House Freedom Caucus in 2015 and serving as its first chairman. The Freedom Caucus, under his leadership, leveraged its numbers to secure conservative wins in legislation and thwart bills put forward by Republican leaders that did not include members’ conservative priorities or spending cuts.
He later worked his way up the leadership ladder and is now using his perch as chairman of the Judiciary Committee to aggressively scrutinize the Biden administration over the alleged weaponization of the Justice Department, censorship of conservatives on social media and other issues. He is also playing a key role in the impeachment inquiry into allegations of corruption involving Mr. Biden and his son’s foreign business deals.
Mr. Jordan wrote to Republicans saying he has “helped deliver the most significant legislative accomplishments this Congress,” including an immigration and border security measure.
“And I have been among the leaders in pushing for fiscal discipline my entire career,” Mr. Jordan wrote.
As he walked into a meeting at the Capitol with fellow Republicans, he told reporters that he could unite a Republican conference shattered by a band of eight rogue conservatives.
“We are a conservative center-right party. I’m the guy who can unite that. My politics are entirely consistent with where conservatives and Republicans are across the country,” Mr. Jordan said.
Mr. Scalise, who began shoring up support for the speaker’s gavel almost as soon as Mr. McCarthy announced late Tuesday that he would not try to win it back, said he, too, can unite fractured House Republicans.
“You know my leadership style I’ve displayed as majority leader and whip,” he wrote to fellow Republicans. “I have a proven record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our conference to build consensus where others thought it impossible.”
Mr. Scalise is undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that he said was detected early. He said he is responding well to treatment.
His heartfelt letter recalled his time recovering from gunshot wounds in the hospital and longing to return to Congress.
“When I was in the hospital for nearly 15 weeks, it was the possibility of getting back to work with all of you that kept me motivated to get better,” Mr. Scalise wrote.
Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan are among former President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress.
Mr. Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the race, and at least one House Republican plans to nominate the former president for the speakership.
The faction of eight Republican lawmakers who voted with Democrats to force out Mr. McCarthy has no clear preference between Mr. Jordan or Mr. Scalise.
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, the ringleader of the eight, said either candidate would be an improvement over Mr. McCarthy, whom he accused of backing down on pledges to enforce fiscal discipline and other conservative priorities when dealing with the Democratic-run Senate and White House.
The vast majority of the Republican conference supported Mr. McCarthy.
“I know this: If it’s Speaker Jim Jordan or Speaker Steve Scalise, there will be very few conservatives in the country who don’t see that as a monumental upgrade over Speaker McCarthy,” Mr. Gaetz told Newsmax.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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