"I have just shared with my colleagues that I will be withdrawing my candidacy for Speaker of the House... If you look at the last few weeks, if you look at where our party stands, there is still a lot of work to be done… There are still some people with their own agendas," Scalise told reporters on October 12, according to Reuters.
Congressman Steve Scalise
Republican House members held closed-door talks for hours on October 12 but failed to resolve the divisions that have hampered efforts to make Scalise Speaker. The position has been vacant for nine days after Republican Kevin McCarthy was removed from office in a rebellion by far-right members of his party.
Scalise, the second-highest ranking Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, was nominated by his party to replace McCarthy. Because they control the House with a slim 221-212 majority, the Republicans cannot afford to lose more than four votes within their own party if they want Scalise to win the general election in this legislative body.
Scalise decided to withdraw after failing to secure the minimum 217 votes required, as some Republican members indicated they would not support him.
Several Republican House members had previously indicated they would support Scalise's opponent, Jim Jordan, who lost the party's caucus on October 11 to choose the nominee. Jordan encouraged his supporters to vote for Scalise, according to an anonymous source.
Internal Republican infighting has prevented the U.S. House of Representatives from taking action to support Israel in its current conflict with Hamas and passing government spending bills before the temporary budget expires on November 17.
The Republican Party hopes to avoid a repeat of what happened in January, when the far-right within the party forced McCarthy to go through 15 rounds of voting in four days before he could be elected Speaker of the House.
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