Here Are the Republicans Vying to Replace McCarthy as House Speaker

WASHINGTON — Within hours of Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s removal as speaker of the House, the race among Republicans to succeed him was on.

The No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, has begun working the phones to shore up support for the job, as has a well-known conservative, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, the chair of the Republican Study Committee, has also been making calls expressing interest in the post.

There are several other names in the mix, including Rep. Patrick McHenry, the bow tie-wearing policy wonk from North Carolina who is serving as the interim speaker, whom some Republicans are trying to draft. And some far-right lawmakers have promised to nominate former President Donald Trump, as a speaker does not have to be a member of the House of Representatives.

Here’s a look at the current top contenders:

<b>Scalise</b>

As the House majority leader, Scalise, 57, is the favorite among many House Republicans to succeed McCarthy.

Scalise, the former leader of the Republican Study Committee, is considered more conservative than McCarthy, with whom he had a somewhat icy relationship. And he is already lining up some powerful support. Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the Republican whip, has thrown his backing behind Scalise, according to people familiar with the matter, and is hoping to take the No. 2 spot himself.

But Scalise, who has served in Congress since 2008, faces some challenges. He was diagnosed with blood cancer over the summer and is now undergoing intense treatment, which has prompted him to wear a mask to vote on the House floor and attend news conferences. And in 2017, during a practice for a congressional baseball game, an anti-Trump extremist shot and seriously wounded Scalise. He still walks with a limp from the incident.

He also apologized in 2014 for having spoken in 2002 at a gathering of white nationalists, saying he would not have attended had he been better informed about the group. A Louisiana-based political reporter later said Scalise had once described himself to her as “like David Duke without the baggage,” referring to the former Klansman and white supremacist who was also a Louisiana politician.

Still, Scalise has support from some mainstream Republicans. Hours after McCarthy’s ouster, Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas posted a statement on social media in favor of Scalise.

“For a time such as this…Steve is the right man to lead our country,” he wrote.

<b>Jordan</b>

Jordan, 59, is considered one of the original hard-line conservative members of Congress. A thorn in the side of previous speakers, Jordan is a co-founder of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and mentored many of its younger, rowdier members.

But Jordan, who has been in Congress since 2007, has also risen in the leadership ranks in recent years, becoming allies with McCarthy and being named the chair of the Judiciary Committee.

Jordan is a close ally of Trump, with whom he speaks frequently. He has been Trump’s leading defender on Capitol Hill, using his committee to attempt to intervene in the various legal cases against the former president.

A wrestling champion in his younger days, Jordan has also been dogged by accusations that he turned a blind eye to complaints of sexual abuse by a doctor at Ohio State University decades ago. Jordan has denied those accusations.

Right-wing members of Congress quickly announced their support for Jordan.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican with a libertarian streak, called Jordan his “first choice.” Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who led the campaign to oust McCarthy, wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, “My mentor Jim Jordan would be great!”

Jordan attended a lunch with several members of the Texas GOP delegation Wednesday morning, where he pitched them on his candidacy.

“I think I can unite the conservative base and the party and the conference,” he said. “That’s why I’m running.”

<b>Hern</b>

Hern, 61, has been in Congress since 2018 and is the chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

A wealthy businessperson, he started his career by running several McDonald’s franchises.

He quickly began making calls to gauge support for his candidacy after McCarthy’s ouster and made a case for himself on Newsmax. He said the American people “want real results, and I believe I could deliver those if the people up here want to put me in that place.”

He could face an uphill race, however, against better-known contenders such as Scalise and Jordan.

Hern would not definitively confirm Wednesday that he was running, but he said that “people have been asking me about a different face, somebody that’s got a different set of experiences” than the others who have already thrown themselves into the race.

“So we’re going to speak to that and see how that resonates,” he said.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/us/politics/house-speaker-replacement-jordan-scalise.html">The New York Times</a>.