Earlier this month, on October 3rd, Representative Kevin McCarthy’s term as Speaker of the US House of Representatives came to a close after his fellow Republican Matt Gaetz successfully moved to ‘vacate the Chair’. Gaetz’s ability to do this was the result of the [agreement from January](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/speaker-of-the-house-ousted-motion-to-vacate-rcna64902) struck between a faction within the far-right House Freedom Caucus, of which Gaetz is a member, and McCarthy’s much more numerous supporters in the House Republican Caucus.

Earlier today, in a closed-to-the-public meeting, the House Republican Caucus voted via secret ballot 113 to 99 to nominate Steve Scalise over Jim Jordan to be the next Speaker. This afternoon the full House is expected to have another vote (or votes) to chose the Speaker, without whom the House can conduct essentially no business. Some Republican Representatives are indicating that they will not back Scalise for Speaker despite his informal nomination within the caucus; what happens next remains to be seen. The House Democratic Caucus is expected to remain consolidated behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

**Selected Reporting:**

– AP: [Republicans nominate Steve Scalise to be House speaker and will try to unite before a floor vote](https://apnews.com/article/kevin-mccarthy-ousted-speaker-jordan-scalise-b90b887d079a4b58e35da7b213916457)

– AP: [Republicans are divided on far-right move to remove McCarthy as House speaker, an AP-NORC poll shows](https://apnews.com/article/poll-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-removal-motion-vacate-72ec3c28d2987e90b3fe032a6ff97d87)

– NBC: [How the House will elect a new speaker: What to know ahead of the vote | Here’s how the process to elect a new speaker will look after the House recently voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the chamber’s top job.](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-speaker-vote-elect-explained-rcna119893)

**Live Updates:**

– NBC: [House speaker live updates: Republicans nominate Scalise to be the next speaker](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/house-speaker-live-updates-rcna119455)

– The New York Times (metered paywall): [Speaker Election: G.O.P. Nominates Steve Scalise for Speaker Amid Bitter Party Divisions | The choice is a vote of confidence for the party’s No. 2 House leader, but the rifts in his conference could still make for a chaotic election in the full chamber.](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/11/us/house-speaker-vote-news)

– CNN: [The latest on the House speaker race](https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-speaker-race-10-11-23/index.html)

– BBC: [Republicans nominate Steve Scalise as next US Speaker](https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-67072934)
**Where to Watch:**

– The Washington Post via YouTube: [Watch: House votes on new speaker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPANodJBUk4) (Scheduled to go live at 2:50 p.m.)

– C-SPAN: [House Session | The House meets and may hold a vote to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who was removed from the position last week.](https://www.c-span.org/video/?531027-1/house-session) (Scheduled to go live at 3 p.m.)

by PoliticsModeratorBot

39 comments

  1. Republicans are divided on who should be the next Speaker of the House. The party’s factionalism is evident and it’s unclear if they can unite before the floor vote.

  2. This is going to be an entertaining shitshow and I am here for it

  3. The truly interesting thing here is whether the next Speaker can beat McCarthy’s record. 25 ballots?

  5. How many votes will it take for ~~David Duke~~ Scalise to get it?

  7. Not sure if this will be some 15+ round clown show or fairly straightforward.

    Initial comments suggest several of the 8 that voted to oust McCarthy will vote for Scalise, and several that voted for Jordan for the nom will also back Scalise.

    A few have said they won’t vote for Scalise/anyone but Jordan, and all they need is a few to tank the process. We’ll see I guess.

  10. I have better chance of winning the powerball than Stevie winning

  11. There were a total of 212 votes in the conference this morning. Do we know who the missing votes were? And how did the nihilist wing of the GOP vote?

  12. It was 119 – 93 in a secret ballot. Neither were close to getting the whole party behind them.

    Whatever leadership R has for the vote basically went fuck it, we’ll do it live.

    Let the shit show begin. I wonder how the Dems are going to get blamed this time.

  13. Well, at least it isn’t Jordan. Good sign for Ukraine as well.

  14. I’m sure this will be a calm and reasonable session of voting, with constructive, level-headed discussions.

  15. I’m feeling like we ain’t going to have a new speaker anytime soon. Any off chance that some random republicans vote for the Dem candidate, just to end this farce and move on?

  17. When do the votes start? Wanna knock off work and get my cspan on

  18. I’m not sure what’s going to happen but I’m feeling pretty good about George Santos’s chances of being the next speaker of the house

  19. Gonna have the Phillies on one screen and C-SPAN on the other!

  20. With Jordan apparently throwing his support behind Scalise, I think the only question is how many of the Nihilists will vote for Scalise?

  21. The blue check squad is revolting against Gaetz for supporting Scalise. Leopards are eating his face.

  23. I was naive and thought this was a done deal for ~~David Duke~~The_SS…

  24. Does anyone know if they got rid of the “1 can start to vacate vote” rule? Hard to keep up with the train wreck that is the Republican house, ya know?

  25. Oh, I hope this works out. Another Trump endorsement goes in the “L” column.

  26. >With neither Scalise nor Jordan able to reach a majority in the full house, after 623 votes taking place across 44 days, the Republicans finally united behind a Speaker – just in time to put all the blame for the upcoming shutdown on him alone.
    >
    >Speaker Buddy McFluffyface had this to say: “Woof! Woof woof woof! Arooo!”
    >
    >Translation: Ain’t no rule that a dog can’t play speakership.

    – Future History Textbook

  27. So Scalise gets the nod by a thin margin and Jordan turns around and says “I’ll support you if you can get to 217.”

    There isn’t enough popcorn in the world for this circus we’re watching.

  28. So what’s the over/under for number of votes? Is it higher or lower than the record set last time?

  30. CNN is reporting that there will be no vote for House Speaker today.

  31. Scalice got the nod. I did nazi that coming.

    Jordan and the treason caucus will sink him out of spite. The 3pm vote is gonna be a hoot.

  32. Oh, that’s one way of not showing your dysfunction on camera: “No vote today”.

    Boo! We want ballots in the double-digits!

  33. lol several Republicans on C-Span earlier said they believed we’ll have a speaker by the end of today. Welp.

  36. Good old Steve “I’m David Duke without the baggage” Scalise.

    Keep it up, conservatives. I bet your embarrassing losing streak is going to end any day now.

  38. Wow, how pathetic is this Republican Conference? One meeting and a secret vote, and they call it a day without going to the floor to vote on a Speaker. This is not what ‘working for the people’ looks like, at all. Get your shit together!

  39. > I have nothing against Steve Scalise, I was just more on the Jordan side. I’m more of, you know, that Freedom Caucus guy and that’s who Donald Trump wanted.
    >
    > …
    >
    > You got some people in the conference who obviously have some issues with Donald Trump, but I would probably say to those in the Republican conference that have problems with Donald Trump: Get over yourself! Cause Donald Trump’s the leader of our party. Make no mistake.

    [Rep Troy Nehls](https://www.c-span.org/video/?531052-10/rep-troy-nehls-rep-scalise-winning-speaker-nomination)

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