Backstabbing in the Speaker race: Steve Scalise ‘s team is working behind the scenes to get colleagues to go AGAINST Jim Jordan – even though he voted for him on the floor – in another twist in House chaos

By William On Oct 19, 2023

House Republican No. 2 Steve Scalise’s team is quietly making behind-the-scenes calls urging members to vote against Jim Jordan for speaker despite having him in the House of Representatives voted.

Tensions between the leaders have entered the public spotlight since the historic impeachment of Kevin McCarthy more than two weeks ago.

DailyMail.com heard from three members who were contacted by allies of Scalise, urging them not to vote for the Judiciary Chairman, who was running for speaker when Scalise dropped out last week.

Two sources familiar told DailyMail.com that Scalise had strategically spread members of his team around the chamber during the two failed votes on Jordan’s bid for speaker this week. When the vote was over, “they said things to the members like, ‘Hey, we need to talk after this.’

No. 2 Republican Steve Scalise’s team in the House of Representatives is quietly calling behind the scenes, urging members to vote against Jim Jordan for speaker — despite voting for him on the House floor

DailyMail.com heard from three members who were contacted by allies of Scalise, urging them not to vote for the Judiciary Chairman, who was running for speaker when Scalise dropped out last week.

Scalise himself did not ask members to vote one way or the other, and he voted for Jordan in both the first and second rounds of voting. The Republican lost 20 Republican votes on his first ballot and 22 on his second.

An expected third vote Thursday will no longer take place after a source familiar confirmed to DailyMail.com that Jordan supports House Speaker Pro-Tempore Patrick McHenry’s temporary elevation until January while he receives more GOP support.

Jordan will not drop out and will remain the ‘speaker designee’ in the meantime.

Members of the House of Representatives are now expected to introduce a resolution to temporarily authorize Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry until January 3 so they can immediately resume legislative work.

However, the resolution could attract an odd coalition of staunch Jordan supporters and moderate Republicans who support it, while Scalise supporters and other conservatives oppose it.

And giving McHenry the power to amend legislation would remove pressure from the House to immediately find a new speaker and give Jordan more time to vote for the court.

Behind the scenes, Scalise’s staff will likely continue to work against Jordan.

“Scalise is a nice guy who surrounds himself with killers so he doesn’t have to leave fingerprints on the murder weapon,” a source told DailyMail.com.

“I think his team is probably quietly hitting hard, he has a complex operation.”

Another well-known source said of why Scalise is voting for Jordan and has his allies whipping him behind the scenes: “It’s also to save political face – he’s the majority leader, I don’t think he’ll end his career I don’t want to jeopardize the line either.’

The source continued, “I think if he starts turning on Jordan, people might think we’re going after your position in leadership.”

People familiar with the conversations say it appears more like Scalise is upset with Jordan’s handling of the race than he wants to throw his own name in the hat again.

But some believe Scalise is directly responsible for maintaining Jordan’s speakership.

“The blockage right now is that of Scalise’s allies, that is the delay. Once they move, Jordan will be speaker,” a senior GOP aide told DailyMail.com.

The aide recalled longstanding tensions between Scalise and former Chairman Kevin McCarthy. “We’ve seen this before, where the majority leader supports the conference nominee on the floor, but doesn’t do the work to get them across the finish line. That happened in January with McCarthy, and we’re seeing it again now.”

After McCarthy, Scalise won an internal Republican vote to become the Republican nominee for chairman. But Jordan’s supporters, mainly members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus, remained stubborn; they would even continue to support Jordan in the House of Representatives.

McCarthy offered Scalise his support, but the support seemed lukewarm. Asked about his relationship with Scalise now that he was looking to replace him, McCarthy told DailyMail.com, “I just want to help everyone get to the speaker.”

Jordan said he would support Scalise and offered to give a nomination speech for him — but DailyMail.com spoke to more than half a dozen Jordan supporters and none had been asked by the Ohio Republican not to vote for him and instead to support Scalise. .

Scalise abruptly quit the fight after one day, realizing he was making no progress against his right-wing opponents.

Jordan then jumped into the running and is now struggling to win over the conference’s moderates and pragmatists.

On Wednesday, he asked Scalise for help at a meeting and Scalise turned him down, a source familiar told DailyMail.com.

“Jim Jordan isn’t going to get the job done and doesn’t have our support,” one moderate Republican member told DailyMail.com, insisting someone like Jordan wouldn’t get the top job.

‘Chip Roy would be a different story. He is principled,” he added of Roy, an outspoken member of the House Freedom Caucus – which Jordan founded.