Speaker Candidate Expresses Confidence In Bid As Republicans Deliberate

Who will be the next Speaker of the House?

Rep. Steve Scalise (La.) told reporters that he's confident his bid will succeed and he will ultimately become the next Speaker as House Republicans engage in ongoing closed-door deliberations.

The Louisiana Congressman made his argument to fellow Republicans to become the next House speaker on Wednesday as he faces off against Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio) who has the support of former President Trump.

“One of the things I've been talking about as Speaker Steve Scalise is I will be challenging Joe Biden on day one to focus on securing the border,” Scalise said when asked about the U.S.-Mexico border.

Scalise went on to say that Kevin McCarthy has chosen not to enter the speaker race for a second time, and he asserted that he has the votes necessary to secure the position.

“Our momentum has been growing. I feel like we have the votes to do it – and not only do it today, but to go up on the House floor and get 218 votes, and then get back to work for the American people that elected us,” he said.

However, some lawmakers told reporters they doubt the House will elect a new Speaker on Wednesday before adding the unfolding crisis in Israel has added a sense to urgency to proceedings.

“I don't know if by the end of this week we will have a speaker. If you were to ask me a couple days ago, pre-Israel being horrifically attacked by Hamas, I would have told you that it would have been a month before we had a speaker,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) told reporters after a closed-door GOP meeting Tuesday night.

Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) also was hesitant to say a House Speaker would be chosen by the end of the day.

“I think there's some [lawmakers] that have some problems with past behavior and each other, and so I think it's going to take more than one day to get this done,” Murphy told Fox News Digital.

The conference plans to hold a secret vote on Wednesday to see who it wants to nominate for speaker on the floor. It is possible in this meeting the conference could also vote on internal rules changes ahead of a speaker vote.

The nomination will go to whichever candidate secures a majority of the GOP conference. That figure could be as low as 113, including the three nonvoting GOP delegates to the House. If all 435 House members participate, a successful candidate will need 217 votes to become speaker.

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