US House Scalise, Jordan locked in two-way speaker race, for now
In Washington, two Republicans are competing to become the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their names are Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan. They want to take over this important job because the previous leader, Kevin McCarthy, was removed from his position. But it's not clear who will win.
Steve Scalise is a politician from Louisiana. He's taken the usual path to try and become the leader. He's been raising money and making friends in the Republican party. On the other hand, Jim Jordan is known for being very conservative. He's a big supporter of former President Donald Trump, who is still very important in the Republican party.
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Donald Trump, who might run for president again in 2024, said he supports Jim Jordan for House speaker. But it's not certain how much this endorsement will help because some Republicans didn't follow Trump's advice during the previous speaker election.
As of now, both Scalise and Jordan have around twenty endorsements from the 221 Republicans in the House. The Republicans will decide on their leader in a private meeting on Wednesday. But it might take some time to pick a winner. Kevin Hern, the leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee, might also join the race, and there could be other candidates too. For now, Representative Patrick McHenry is temporarily in charge.
The person who becomes the leader will need to make deals to keep the government running after November 17th. They'll also have to oversee an investigation into President Joe Biden, which Democrats say is baseless. The leader will also need to decide whether to support more aid for Ukraine, which many regular Republicans don't like.
To become the speaker, the full House has to vote. Republicans have more members than Democrats, with 221 to 212. But they can only lose four votes if all Democrats vote against them.
Steve Scalise is 57 years old. He's been in House leadership roles since 2014 and was expected to be the next leader after Kevin McCarthy. He raised a lot of money for the Republicans last year, which could help him in this race. In 2017, he was seriously hurt when someone who didn't like Republicans shot him and other lawmakers. But he came back to work after a few months. He also recently announced that he's getting treatment for blood cancer but says he's healthy enough to be the leader.
Scalise did face criticism for giving a speech to a group connected to a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan in 2002. He has said he regrets that decision. An aide to Scalise said he's been talking to other members a lot since he announced his run.
Jim Jordan is a strong competitor for Scalise. He's a lawmaker from Ohio and leads the House Judiciary Committee, which is involved in the Biden impeachment inquiry. Jordan supported Trump's efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. He's also one of the founders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and has had disagreements with his own party in the past, like when he pushed the previous Republican speaker, John Boehner, to resign in 2015.
Jordan is 59 years old and used to be a college wrestling coach. In 2018, some wrestlers he coached said he knew about a doctor who was mistreating them, but Jordan denies knowing about it. Please Share This News Thank You
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