The House GOP’s pick for speaker, Steve Scalise, announced Thursday night that he will no longer seek the gavel as he confronted a likely insurmountable vote shortage.
While Scalise had won a majority of votes in an internal GOP ballot on Wednesday, he faced more than a half-dozen Republicans who vowed to support only his defeated opponent — Rep. Jim Jordan — on the floor. Jordan is now expected to make another run for the position, though it’s unclear if he can line up the votes either.
