Steve Scalise has dropped out of the speaker race.
Here is the report from Politico:
The House GOP’s pick for speaker, Steve Scalise, announced Thursday 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 a day earlier, he faced staunch resistance from multiple Republicans who vowed to support only his opponent, Rep. Jim Jordan, on the floor.
Politico further notes that Jordan is expected to make another run for the position.
As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier today, Scalise was expected to make this move. Now we wait to see what the GOP will do next.
Here is the video of Scalise speaking about dropping out and detailing his reasons for doing so. :
Transcript:
It’s been quite a journey, and there’s still a long way to go. I just shared with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee. If you look at over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there’s still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together and is not there. There are still some people that have their own agendas.
I was very clear: we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. This country is counting on us to come back together. This House of Representatives needs a speaker, and we need to open up the House again. But clearly not everybody is there, and there’s still schisms that have to get resolved.
I never came here for a title. I’ve had some great titles. I’m the Majority Leader of the House and I love the job I have. I’ve had big challenges in my life. I’ve been tested in ways that really put perspective on life, really. The 2017 shooting, when I didn’t know if I was going to make it out alive, taught me what’s important in life, and that’s my family, my faith, and I’m blessed beyond belief. I have absolutely all the right perspective, and I still have a deep, deep passion for making sure we get our country back on track and get our conference fixed again.
But there are some folks that really need to look in the mirror over the next couple of days and decide, are we going to get it back on track? Are they going to try to pursue their own agenda? You can’t do both. And I think we’re going to get there. I was very clear in that room that ultimately we have to come together for the country.
But I never came here for titles, and it’s much bigger than me, and it’s much bigger than anybody else, and nobody’s going to use me as an excuse to hold back our ability to get the House opened again. We still need to get a speaker, and I’m going to continue to push as hard as we can to make that happen as quickly as it has to happen.
But it wasn’t going to happen. Wasn’t going to happen today, wasn’t going to happen tomorrow. It needs to happen soon. But I withdrawn my name and I appreciate the interest you all have had along the way. We still have work to do. We have to get this done, cut no deals with anybody. I’m sure there will be a lot of people that look at it, but it’s got to be people that aren’t doing it for themselves and their own personal interests. And the folks that have their own personal interests in mind shouldn’t be interested in Democrats.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
