U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is the GOP’s freshest contender for Speaker of the House after lawmakers chose to vacate Rep. Kevin McCarthy of the pivotal Congressional seat he only held for less than a year.
McCarthy was ousted from his post last week through an effort initiated by several hard-right Republican representatives who were unhappy with the lack of priority he gave to their political agendas.
Now, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scrambling to install a new congressional member to a key congressional seat. Democrats are boldly putting their weight behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, but it won’t be an easy play since they don’t hold the House majority.
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Republicans have worked to come to a consensus on who would best promote and execute their agenda to the fullest while they hold the majority, especially hardline conservatives and Trump loyalists who desire an intensive effort to help the former embattled president fight off the 2020 election interference indictments in Washington, D.C., and Georgia.
And Scalise just might be their guy.
For those who aren’t abreast of Scalise’s public office record, Scalise has been the House Majority Whip for the past eight years. He’s represented Louisiana’s first congressional district since 2008, which comprises a small area in New Orleans and eight parishes surrounding the city.
Scalise gained national name recognition after he was shot — nearly fatally — during a congressional baseball practice outside of Washington in 2017.
He’s a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights, strict immigration policies, and government spending cuts. However, he’s not a diehard Trumpist like Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, he did back Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and publicly challenged the Electoral College results, declaring President Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.
GOP House members have already voted 113-98 to nominate Scalise for U.S. House Speaker.
Still, Scalise has made headlines in the past for rubbing elbows with white supremacists and embracing the hard-right extremist movement. He attended a white supremacist conference in 2002 organized by a group founded by the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, a move he later called “a mistake.” He stated he was there to gain support for a bill he was pushing but that he “wholeheartedly condemn[ed]” the group’s views.
Other Republicans publicly defended Scalise after his conference appearance made headlines in 2015.
He also kicked off his congressional career by reportedly likening himself to Duke. A New York Times piece quoted an excerpt of an interview he had with a Louisiana reporter who recalled Scalise saying, “He was like David Duke, but without the baggage.” That apparently was supposed to signify that he was complimenting Duke’s “policy ideas” but not his personal opinions about “certain people.”
Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a Black House member, isn’t taking this history with a grain of salt. In a press release, she urged Republican House members to withdraw their support for him as Speaker of the House, calling him a “white supremacist antisemite.”
“Every Republican who votes for his Speakership will vote in support of rising anti-semitism, white supremacy, and islamophobia,” Lee added. She said she would vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York “and continue my work building bridges between marginalized communities to dismantle the systems of white supremacy enabling violence against our communities.”
