Following the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, chaos continues to reign in the U.S. House of Representatives, as angry Republicans try to figure out what comes next. Ousted Speaker McCarthy said yesterday that he wouldn’t seek to become Speaker again and is going home to California to be with his family. Politico’s prediction yesterday that the fight for a new Speaker is likely to get “dirty and dragged-out” is probably accurate.
Two people have announced their bids for Speaker: Majority Leader Steve Scalese of Louisiana, and the very conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a member of the Freedom Caucus. Scalese began sounding out Republicans as soon as McCarthy was ousted and had made clear earlier that he aspired to the Speaker job. Politico described the fight between Scalese and Jordan as a “bare-knuckle” one.
Other Congressmen are positioning themselves to take up leadership positions that might become vacant, depending on who is elected Speaker. The plan is to reach a consensus by next week so a new Speaker can be chosen, but there’s no guarantee that will happen.