(Cupventi.com) – Following a closed-door meeting that lasted for over two hours on Wednesday, House Republicans have selected Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a representative from Louisiana, as their candidate for the position of speaker.
The selection process involved a secret ballot, with Scalise securing 113 votes, surpassing Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who received 99 votes. Prior to this, House Republicans had voted to table a motion aimed at raising the threshold for electing a speaker to 217, which constitutes a majority within the conference.
This development follows the recent ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a representative from California, who was removed in a vote by eight members of his own party, alongside all House Democrats, last week.
This marked a historic moment as it was the first time in U.S. House of Representatives history that the chamber voted to remove its own leader. The ensuing competition to fill the vacancy narrowed down to a two-person race between Scalise and Jordan, a representative from Ohio.
Scalise, previously serving as McCarthy’s longtime deputy, emerged as the primary candidate despite a longstanding rivalry between the two.