Hours before they are supposed to move forward with a presidential nominee, House Republicans have no idea who will emerge as their next leader.
They heard from the two men who sought to replace Kevin McCarthy as speaker Tuesday afternoon in a question-and-answer forum.
Both Jim Jordan, who chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee, and Steve Scalise, the number two House Republican, have garnered rank-and-file endorsements.
The candidates breathed a sigh of relief after Kevin McCarthy discouraged his allies from throwing his name in the hat – which would have further complicated the race.
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., confirmed to DailyMail.com that he had heard from the former speaker asking him not to nominate McCarthy.
“He wanted to let this process unfold without him, to see if any of these candidates could come to a consensus,” he said. “I don’t think they will.”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the number two Republican in the House, is running for president
Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, is running against Scalise for the speech
He said he didn’t think either candidate would become the next speaker. “I don’t think we’ve heard from the speaker yet.”
Republicans must first vote in a secret ballot among themselves. This will be on Wednesday morning at 10am
Whichever candidate wins the majority in the convention must then oppose the Democratic nominee, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, on the floor of the House to be elected president.
With only a four-vote majority, Republicans must be nearly unanimous to advance their nominee to the House.
Rep. Greg Murphy, RN.C., also left the meeting unsure that the House will have a speaker tomorrow. “It will take more than a day to do that.”
But Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., one of eight Republicans who voted with McCarthy to oust Democrats last week, had a more optimistic outlook.
“I think so,” he told DailyMail.com when asked if he thought either candidate could get a majority on the floor of the House tomorrow. He declined to say who he supports.
Scalise, who is battling blood cancer in addition to running for speaker, left the meeting and said he appeared as a “unifier” at the conference. “People want to see us get back on track,” he said.
Scalise, as a current member of the GOP leadership team, has seemingly garnered more traction among establishment Republicans, while Jordan is popular on the right wing of the convention.
A sizable number of Jordan’s supporters have not committed to supporting Scalise if he ends up being the top vote-getter at the convention.
Rep. Dan Bishop, a McCarthy foe who threatened to support his ouster but ultimately did not, now supports Jordan. He didn’t rule out supporting Scalise, but said he didn’t think the majority leader had a “crystal clear plan” to lead the conference into a tough spending battle.
“Some of my concerns with Scalise are so obvious that I’m not going to say it,” Bishop told DailyMail.com. “But do we really think this institution is working so well that we should just move up the next one?”
“If you think that Congress and the Republicans in Congress have done a fantastic job over 20 years, then it would make sense,” Bishop said. “If you think there are shortages, then maybe not.”
Both Scalise and Jordan have admitted they will have to file a continuing resolution (CR) — a bill to extend state funding to 2023 levels and avert a government shutdown while scrapping a longer-term spending plan.
CRs are widely disliked – particularly by the right wing and it was what prompted McCarthy’s ouster.
Kevin McCarthy told allies not to nominate him for the speech
But an emerging consensus among Republicans was that they wanted to fix the lack of transparency and honesty they found under McCarthy’s leadership.
“We’ve heard nothing but backroom deals and promises made then supposedly broken,” said Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla. He said Jordan was the only candidate who said he wouldn’t keep any backroom promises.
He also predicted that the speaker’s race could last indefinitely.
“I don’t know if by the end of tomorrow we’ll have a speaker – I don’t know if by the end of the week we’ll have a speaker,” he told reporters. “I just don’t think there’s a candidate right now that has the lion’s share of support.”
And 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 helping to replenish Israel’s defense capabilities amid attacks from Hamas.
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