SPEAKER SCALISE? Louisiana Rep. Wins Secret GOP Ballot, Says Israel Aid Top Priority; Report

After a secret ballot at a GOP conference on Wednesday, Steve Scalise appears to be the frontrunner to grab the gavel as House Speaker. According to a Newsmax report, the House Conference rejected a motion to require 217 Republican votes for a candidate before the ballot goes to the House floor.

It is not yet known if he will have the votes —but the GOP is trying to avoid another McCarthy situation.

“I’m looking forward to going in there,” Scalise said ahead of the Republican conference meeting. “Obviously we have a very important vote. It’s really, really important that this Congress get back to work, we select a speaker, go to the House floor, get to 218 and then get the House working again.

“The first order of business under Speaker Steve Scalise is going to be bringing a strong resolution expressing support for Israel,” he continued. “We’ve got a very bipartisan bill — the McCaul-Meeks resolution — ready to go right away to express our support for Israel. We’ve got to get back to work — today we’re going to do that.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke to reporters about his candidacy for new speaker ahead of the GOP Conference meeting. He continued to share that his first order of business under his potential speakership is a bipartisan resolution in support for Israel. pic.twitter.com/c7Vn6qzlwV

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 11, 2023