Race for House Speaker heats up: Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are jockeying for power – but a comeback bid from Kevin McCarthy could complicate the vote

Republicans will hear the final word from the two announced nominees for speaker on Tuesday before voting on Wednesday – but now face a wrench in the plans with allies of Kevin McCarthy gunning for his return.

McCarthy’s supporters are expected to nominate him for Speaker – although the ousted House leader has not formally announced his name as a candidate.

This could further delay the plans as loyalists could back McCarthy – despite not having the votes to reach 217 – a majority in the lower house.

The path for either Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the powerful Judiciary Committee, or the number two House Republican, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, is also unclear.

Republicans will hear the final word from the two announced nominees for speaker on Tuesday before voting on Wednesday – but now face a wrench in the plans with allies of Kevin McCarthy gunning for his return.

They will address a candidate forum in front of their colleagues on Tuesday afternoon before an internal vote on Wednesday morning.

Republicans must first vote in convention on a nominee for speaker. Currently only a simple majority is required to become the GOP nominee.

But then this candidate must be elected on the floor of the Parliament. To win a majority on the House floor, Republicans can only afford four defectors, provided all Democrats vote against their nominee.

Without an elected Speaker of the House, the lower house cannot move on to other legislative priorities — namely passing spending legislation to avert a government shutdown next month and taking aid to replenish Israel’s defense capabilities amid attacks from Hamas.

DailyMail.com has learned that some Scalise supporters believe throwing McCarthy into the race is a tactic designed to get McCarthy’s former deputy out of the job.

McCarthy loyalists are more likely to support Scalise than the conservative Jordan. If McCarthy is in the race to split the vote between himself and Scalise, Jordan may come out on top with a majority of the vote — at least in the context of the Republican conference. Then it could still have trouble reaching 217 on the House floor.

Tensions between McCarthy and Scalise are an open secret in Washington.

They first came to the fore when conservatives angry at the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling deal paralyzed the House floor, voting against advancing the far-right gas stove and regulatory rollback bills in protest.

“The majority leader is running the gamut,” McCarthy told reporters, blaming Scalise for an embarrassing failed rules vote.

And instead of involving Scalise in the debt ceiling discussions, McCarthy had relied on his close friends, Rep. Garrett Graves, R-La., and Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, RN.C., to negotiate with the White House.

But McCarthy could also believe he has a real path to getting his old job back – the former speaker refused to rule out a comeback as he held a press conference and made the rounds of television appearances on Monday.

The ousted speaker repeatedly said it would depend on the conference whether he is reinstated as speaker during a news conference where he touted his foreign affairs amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“This is a decision for the conference. I will allow the convention to make any decision,” he told reporters of a possible speech nomination. “Whether I am speaker or not, I am a member of this body.

The path of either Representative Jim Jordan, who chairs the powerful Judiciary Committee, above, or the number two House Republican, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both candidates in the race, is also unclear.

DailyMail.com has learned that some supporters of Scalise, above, believe throwing McCarthy into the race is a tactic designed to get McCarthy’s former deputy out of the job

“Look, whatever the convention wants, I’ll do it,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday morning.

“There are a lot of people who believe that Kevin McCarthy is the right person to lead us,” GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York told reporters Monday.

“Many people” < 218," he wrote in X. "The math is true." Time to move forward.'

McCarthy’s opponent, Nancy Mace, RSC., added: “It’s no wonder the people who vote for trillion dollar deficits, massive omnibus bills and CRs can’t count.”

California Republican John Duarte insisted that Democrats should allow McCarthy to be re-elected to the speech.

“What we do know is that there is no greater friend of Israel than Kevin McCarthy,” Duarte said.