House Republicans choose Scalise as their candidate for speaker after McCarthy’s ouster

House Republicans have chosen Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., as their nominee for speaker after huddling behind closed doors for over two hours on Wednesday.

GOP lawmakers voted via secret ballot. Scalise won 113 votes, while Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan won 99. House Republicans voted minutes earlier to table a motion to raise the threshold for electing a speaker to 217 — a majority of the conference.

It comes after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted in a vote by eight members of his own party and all House Democrats last week. That moment marked the first time in history the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove its own leader.

The contest to replace him quickly became a two-man race between Scalise and Jordan, R-Ohio.

Scalise has been McCarthy’s longtime No. 2, despite a yearslong rivalry between the two.

Jordan, who is closer to McCarthy, nabbed early support from top conservatives in the GOP conference like House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas. 

Jordan himself is one of the original cofounders of the group.