Chip Roy, Michael Cloud say they’re still against Scalise after he wins party nomination for U.S. House speaker

WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Chip Roy, R-Austin, and Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, both vowed to vote against House Majority Leader Steve Scalise shortly after the Louisiana Republican won the party’s nomination to be the next House speaker.

Those votes, combined with a handful of other hard-right Republicans who have said the same, could be enough to stall Scalise from getting the gavel.

Roy and Cloud were two of the three Texans who resisted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership bid in January — contributing to gridlock that forced 15 votes to take place — in order to garner more influence for their wing of the party. U.S. Rep. Keith Self, R-McKinney, the other Texas holdout during those votes, said Wednesday on social media that he voted against Scalise during a closed-door Republican conference meeting before the House-wide vote. He was unclear about how he planned to vote during a floor vote.

The House recessed Wednesday afternoon without voting on a new speaker. Republicans did not set a date for when they will vote next.

Scalise is running against House Judiciary Chair and Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan of Ohio to replace McCarthy as speaker. McCarthy was removed from his perch following a rebellion by eight far-right members, none of them Texans, who had various grievances with McCarthy. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida led the push and said Wednesday he would support Scalise.

During the House Republican Conference meeting on Wednesday, members voted for Scalise to be their party’s nominee for the House-wide speaker election with 113 votes. Jordan received 99 votes. But whoever Republicans put up to be their candidate needs to win 217 votes in the full House to clinch the gavel.

Roy had pushed for a rule during the meeting that would require a speaker candidate to get at least 217 votes in the Republican conference before scheduling a House-wide vote. The rule was intended to avoid the public fracas that stained the January speaker race and led to a brutally public display of the party’s disarray.

But despite wide support for the rule, the conference voted to table that rule change Wednesday morning.

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