Most of Wisconsin's Elected Officials Supported Potential Speaker of the House Until His Withdrawal

Friday, October 13th, 2023 -- 1:00 PM

(Lawrence Andrea, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise Thursday night withdrew his name from the race for speaker after struggling over the past two days to rally the support of his fractured caucus, keeping the House's top spot vacant and business stalled, according to Lawrence Andrea with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"I just shared with my colleagues that I'm withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker-designee," Scalise said Thursday evening. "If you look at where our conference is, there’s still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together, and it’s not there."

Just hours earlier, five of Wisconsin's six House Republicans signaled their support for Scalise after he was narrowly nominated for the post in a secret ballot vote Wednesday. But Rep. Scott Fitzgerald remained non-committal early Thursday afternoon as Scalise fell well short of the 217 votes he needed to be elected on the floor.

"My problem is, if you don't have the votes, we ain't going to the floor," Fitzgerald said after an hours-long, closed-door conference meeting earlier in the afternoon. "So there's no reason for me to necessarily commit if it's going to be somebody else that's going to be on the floor." "The people that aren't there are never going to get there," Fitzgerald told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Scalise's withdrawal from the race emphasizes the uncertainty surrounding who will lead Congress' lower chamber, which has remained leaderless after eight Republicans led an effort to oust California Rep. Kevin McCarthy after nine months in the speakership.

Within Wisconsin's Republican delegation, members who previously supported Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, early Thursday appeared to step in line with many in their conference in supporting Scalise.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, who sits on Jordan's committee with Fitzgerald, endorsed Jordan earlier this week but later said that his "intention at this point" was to back Scalise. He stopped short, however, of giving Scalise his full support.

"It's really a dynamic time," Tiffany said. "I want to see what comes out of the conference... before saying exactly what I'm going to do because I don't know."

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