Congress
Steve Scalise launches minority leader run, promising ‘consensus-driven’ approach
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said he will run for the top GOP leadership post in the aftermath of his party’s devastating midterm losses.
In a letter sent to fellow House Republicans, Scalise highlighted the need for unity and a “clear vision and agenda.”
“I am ready to lead on day one and chart our path back to the majority,” he wrote.
The Louisianan, who has served as the GOP’s No. 2 or No. 3 leader for more than a decade, was long expected to jump into the race, given his longtime ambitions and robust campaigning and fundraising for fellow GOP lawmakers and candidates.
He made his announcement after Speaker Mike Johnson, whom Scalise helped propel from back-bench obscurity, said Wendesday morning he would not seek a leadership position in the upcoming Congress.
Scalise will face Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chair who announced his bid for the position earlier Wednesday, arguing he was a “battle-tested” leader ready to take on the new Democratic majority.
Scalise has been House majority leader since 2023. In 2017, during his time as House majority whip, he was seriously wounded by a would-be assassin who attacked Republican lawmakers who were practicing for the annual congressional baseball game.
After then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in 2023, Scalise made a bid for the gavel but faced skepticism from the hard right and was ultimately unable to secure enough votes.
He won a majority in an internal GOP conference vote, but a group of holdouts refused to support him during the public floor vote in a bid to elevate Jordan. This time, Scalise would only need a majority vote in the GOP conference to be elected minority leader.
Scalise pointed to his past leadership and played up his credibility — after some members criticized Johnson for seeming to make contradictory promises to different blocs of the conference.
“I am always honest about our challenges but work to solve them in the most conservative and consensus-driven way possible,” he said. “That’s what you’ve come to expect from me and that will be more important than ever in the next two years.”