House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced Thursday he’s withdrawing his candidacy to become the next Speaker of the House, only a day after his Republican colleagues decided to nominate him for the position.
“If you look over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there’s still work to be done,” he told reporters. “Our conference has to come together and is not there. There are still some people that have their own agenda.”
The Majority Leader and Louisiana congressman defeated Donald Trump-endorsed Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio on Wednesday to narrowly win the Republican Party’s nomination in a 113-99 vote to replace Kevin McCarthy.
Before backing out, Mr Scalise could only afford to lose four Republican votes as he sought the backing of 217 members of the full chamber to become speaker in the face of a Democratic Party steadfastly unified behind Rep Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Several Republicans including far-right MAGA lawmakers Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene had said that they would not back Mr Scalise, despite his party nomination.