Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., announced Friday that he will run for House speaker.
"I have filed to be Speaker of the House. We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people," Scott posted on social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, had been the only announced candidate after Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., withdrew from the race on Thursday night. Scalise had defeated Jordan 113-99 in a closed-door Republican vote on Wednesday.
Scalise, though, failed to garner the 217 GOP votes needed to become speaker, since every House Democrat is backing Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Jordan and Scott were expected to address members of the House Republican conference at 1 p.m. Friday.
Politico reported that some people believe Scott's entry was designed to attract Jordan critics and give the House GOP conference another choice.
"Translation: The number of people who vote for Austin will be a slightly overstated proxy for the 'never Jordan' people. … Others are keeping their powder dry until Jordan realizes he has no path to 217," one House Republican told Politico.
Earlier Friday, GOP members again rejected a proposal that their speaker candidate receive 217 votes in conference before holding a floor vote, Politico reported.
Scott, in his seventh term, criticized the eight Republicans who voted Oct. 3 with all House Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from the office.
"The eight Republicans who supported [President] Joe Biden and the Democrats' desire to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker are nothing more than grifters who have handed control of the House to the Democratic Party in the name of their own glory and fundraising," Scott said in a statement last week.
"There is nothing principled about what they did, and Republican leadership will have to decide to either hold these members accountable or lose the faith of the rest of the conference."
Scott, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and an ally of Scalise, has said he would vote against Jordan if the Judiciary Committee chair ran for speaker. Roll Call reported that some defense hawks are concerned about potential Pentagon budget cuts if Jordan were speaker.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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