by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan both jumped into the race Wednesday to become the next House speaker, setting up a fight to replace Kevin McCarthy after his historic ouster.
House Republicans are even more bitterly divided in the aftermath of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster and his decision not to run again. It remains to be seen whether the conference can coalesce around a viable successor to the California Republican.
The stakes are extremely high as Congress faces down a looming shutdown deadline in mid-November. The House is essentially paralyzed while it lacks a speaker.
Republicans are slated to hear from speaker candidates at a forum next Tuesday, setting up the next possible House-wide speaker vote next Wednesday, October 11.
Jordan and Scalise are on a growing list of possible McCarthy successors. Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who chairs a conservative group known as the Republican Study Committee said Wednesday he is still looking at running for speaker and has not made a decision yet.
He said he wants the conference to “move forward” and they need to “be pointing our guns outward not at each other.”
With Scalise in the race for speaker, Rep. Tom Emmer, the current GOP whip is running for majority leader and he has endorsed Scalise for speaker.
That would open up the whip’s spot. Potential contenders who are said to be interested for whip: Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia, who lost and ran last time, or Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania, Emmer’s deputy. Reschenthaler confirmed on Wednesday he’s running for majority whip.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik is also calling colleagues and allies about potentially moving up the chain in leadership, a source familiar said.
Jordan made a pitch for unity in a letter to House GOP colleagues obtained by CNN.
“Now is the time for our Republican conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans,” Jordan wrote, saying, “No matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference.”
The Ohio Republican chairs the House Judiciary Committee, an important body for pursuing Republicans’ investigative priorities – including one of three committees behind the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Jordan downplayed concerns on Wednesday that he may be too conservative for some of the more moderate members of the GOP.
“I think we are a conservative-center-right party. I think I’m the guy who can help unite that. My politics are entirely consistent with where conservatives and Republicans are across the country,” Jordan told CNN’s Manu Raju.
The race for speaker abruptly got underway late Tuesday evening after McCarthy stunned Washington by announcing he would not run again after the House ousted him from the top leadership post in a historic vote that has left the House in uncharted territory.
As speaker, McCarthy presided over a narrow majority and had to confront criticism from hardline conservatives, who threw up roadblocks to the leadership agenda and protested legislation that passed with Democratic support. His ouster, led by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, came soon after he averted a government shutdown by passing a bipartisan stopgap funding bill.
Rep. Garret Graves, a McCarthy ally, criticized the move by Gaetz.
“Yesterday, effectively, someone threw a grenade right in the middle of the House floor,” Graves said. “There is a reason this has not been done in well over 100 years. This is not something that ever should have happened. I think it was done for narcissistic, for selfish reasons, for fundraising reasons. I don’t think it has anything to do with actually advancing conservative causes.”
With the House awaiting a new speaker, Graves also warned that there can only be limited action. “The House is frozen,” he said.
This story and headline have been updated with additional information.
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis returned to South Carolina on Wednesday to reengage with Republican voters who last saw the GOP presidential candidate in mid-July.
In the nearly three months since his last visit, DeSantis has filled his calendar with appearances all across Iowa, a strategic shift to salvage his chances in the party’s first nominating contest on January 15 and ensure his campaign will survive to South Carolina’s primary more than a month later.
The risks of a near Iowa-or-bust approach have become increasingly apparent in the Palmetto State and elsewhere.
The campaigns of South Carolina’s homegrown candidates, former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, have matured to become formidable contenders and serious obstacles for DeSantis to overcome as he seeks to convince Republicans he is the only candidate who poses a threat to former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination. Haley, in particular, has seen a surge of interest and is ahead of DeSantis in early surveys of South Carolina.
Meanwhile, DeSantis has seen his support fall in New Hampshire, home to the nation’s first primary and another state the Florida governor has put on the backburner as he works to shore up support in Iowa. His last visit to the Granite State was more than a month ago, and New Hampshire voters have responded by considering other alternatives to Trump.
Still, the DeSantis campaign says New Hampshire and South Carolina are a priority. The governor will return to New Hampshire in the middle of October and he will make more stops in South Carolina this month as well. Spokesman Andrew Romeo said the campaign has maintained an “aggressive schedule” and “has been building solid support and unmatched infrastructure on the ground in South Carolina.” He noted the support DeSantis has received from local officials and members of the faith community from across the state.
“We look forward to building on this grassroots momentum in the weeks and months to come,” Romeo said.
DeSantis’ political operation announced Wednesday that it had raised $15 million over the three months ended September 30, though only $5 million of that haul was available to spend during the primary, according to a senior campaign official.
DeSantis allies insist there is time to make up for lost ground. Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting him, remains active in both states and has reserved airtime in New Hampshire media markets for the fall. DeSantis’ wife, Casey, was well received when she replaced her husband in late August at a South Carolina dinner as Hurricane Idalia barreled toward Florida.
“We had a little thing called the hurricane that hit us,” DeSantis said Wednesday in Spartanburg, South Carolina. “Duty calls on that. My better half came up.”
New Hampshire House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, who is supporting DeSantis, said he was not worried about the governor’s numbers.
“He’s the only candidate with a day job and the only one who has to fundraise because he’s focused on a full, to-the-end campaign. Meanwhile, the single state-focused people aren’t doing that right now,” Osborne said.
But veteran political operatives in New Hampshire and South Carolina have warned of the potential pitfalls of neglecting their states for too long. More GOP presidential nominees have won New Hampshire than Iowa in the most recent election cycles, and 10 of the last 11 nominees finished atop South Carolina’s primary.
“All the candidates will be well advised not to take South Carolina Republicans for granted,” said Drew McKissick, chairman of the South Carolina GOP and co-chairman of the Republican National Committee. “South Carolina Republicans take their job of choosing the nominee very seriously, and the candidates should too.”
Jim Merrill, an adviser in New Hampshire to past Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, said his state “demands a level of intimacy from the candidates” – something many Republicans in the state have yet to see from DeSantis.
“You gotta embrace New Hampshire and run a campaign here like you’re running for governor,” Merrill said.
DeSantis appeared prepared to commit considerable time to courting voters in South Carolina. He made a handful of early trips there, and, during his last visit, became the first candidate to file for the state’s primary. To Republicans there, he emphasized that Casey DeSantis had attended the College of Charleston and noted that his in-laws had put down roots in the state as well. He joked that he might temporarily move the family to South Carolina next year after New Hampshire votes.
“We spent a lot of time here over the years,” DeSantis said. “So I think it’s a great, great state for us.”
Those appeals, however, came just before a reckoning at DeSantis’ Tallahassee headquarters over early campaign cost overruns and messaging concerns. A week later, DeSantis slashed his staff by a third; and by the end of summer, he had replaced his campaign manager and reset his White House bid to focus on Iowa.
He has since made a half dozen trips to Iowa as he marches toward a goal of hitting all 99 counties. In another sign that the Hawkeye State is rarely far from DeSantis’ mind, he spent parts of Monday and Tuesday chatting with media there even as he made preparations to travel to South Carolina. And his campaign is also moving a third of its staff from Tallahassee, Florida, to Des Moines, Iowa, according to the senior campaign official.
Perhaps most concerning to DeSantis backers is that the shift toward Iowa at the expense of other early nominating states has so far not produced a noticeable spike of support for him in the Hawkeye State. DeSantis trails Trump there by some 30 points – a margin that remains virtually unchanged since he promised to visit all 99 counties. DeSantis has stopped in 58 so far.
DeSantis said Tuesday that the work he is putting into the state will pay dividends in the long run.
“We’re going to a lot of places that are more rural, that a lot, pretty much every other candidate is going to ignore,” DeSantis said. “Those are things that I think that, you know, may not necessarily wrap up, show a big difference overnight in a poll or something.”
Meanwhile, the latest CNN/University of New Hampshire poll showed he is going the wrong direction in the Granite State – a 13-point drop from the prior UNH survey in July. Trump continues to lead the pack., while DeSantis is running about even with tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Christie, all of whom have spent far more time in the state lately.
The decline stems from a sharp drop-off with New Hampshire moderates; 26% backed him in July, but that fell to 6% in the most recent poll. And it comes as DeSantis has attempted to run to the right of Trump, particularly on abortion. DeSantis has forcefully defended his state’s six-week abortion ban as well as one recently signed by Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds amid criticism from Trump. He recently promised to support restricting the procedure after 15 weeks if elected president, a position that puts him at odds with many moderate Republicans in New Hampshire
South Carolina state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, whose district DeSantis will visit Wednesday, said the makeup of his state is closer to Iowa’s than New Hampshire’s. Like in Iowa, evangelical voters are an influential voice in choosing the nominee, but Kimbrell said he expected DeSantis to draw support from fiscal conservatives and those close to the military community.
“He may not win New Hampshire, but no big deal,” Kimbrell said. “He’ll come down here. I think he wins here, if he wins in Iowa, so I think he gets two out of the early three, and then I’m looking forward to Super Tuesday.”
Though South Carolina has not received the same attention from candidates as New Hampshire and Iowa, DeSantis faces a unique challenge in the home state of Haley and Scott. Both have received renewed attention from donors as the Florida governor has attempted to find his footing. Trump, meanwhile, has begun taunting Haley with a new nickname and has claimed his former United Nations ambassador doesn’t have the “talent or temperament” to be the next president – which Haley has taken as a sign that she is a growing threat to the field.
DeSantis said Friday he was “not at all” concerned with Haley’s campaign.
But Dave Wilson, a South Carolina political strategist close to the state’s evangelical community, cautioned that all 2024 contenders should be.
“Never underestimate Nikki Haley, because she has an ability to pull out a win when you least expect it,” Wilson said. “She is gaining momentum. And momentum begets momentum. And she has historically built on momentum that she gains.”
Other wild-card candidates have the potential to alter the landscape in the states that immediately follow Iowa. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has signaled he intends to endorse in the primary, which would given him the opportunity to add an influential voice before voting begins there. Sununu has often touted the work of governors, leaving some to believe DeSantis or Haley might have an edge.
In a statement to CNN, Sununu stressed the importance of candidates making their presence felt in his state.
“Every candidate has to decide the strategy best for them, but New Hampshire will play a critical role in this nominating process as the First in the Nation presidential primary state,” Sununu said. “Granite Staters reward those who spend time here and connect with them one-by-one.”
Another unknown is how the race will change over the nearly monthlong gap between when New Hampshire is expected to hold its primary and when South Carolina Republicans vote on February 24. Haley’s or Scott’s movements will be closely watched to see how the outlook there changes if one or both drop out. Regardless, the political universe is likely to descend on the state during that period. DeSantis’ campaign has made no secret that it sees the later primary date as an advantage for him.
McKissick, the South Carolina GOP chairman, called the placement of his state’s primary on the Republican calendar the “last shot of adrenaline” before Super Tuesday.
“It’s the last stop on the one-state-at-a-time merry-go-round,” he said.
This story has been updated with additional information.
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday said the newly named interim speaker, GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, has ordered her to vacate her office in the Capitol building.
She does maintain her regular office in the Cannon House office building.
An email sent from McHenry’s office to Pelosi’s office just after 6 p.m. Tuesday evening that was viewed by CNN, stated, “Going to reassign h-132 for speaker office use. Please vacate the space tomorrow.”
Pelosi said in a statement that she was not in Washington, DC, to immediately move her belongings.
“With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol,” the California Democrat said. “Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time.”
Feinstein, whose three decades in the Senate made her the longest-serving female US senator in history, died last week at age 90 following months of declining health. She will lie in state at San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday ahead of funeral services Thursday.
Pelosi added in her statement that the “eviction is a sharp departure from tradition,” saying: “As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
“Office space doesn’t matter to me, but it seems to be important to them,” she said. “Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get to work on what’s truly important for the American people.”
CNN has reached out to McHenry for comment.
House Republican leadership also kicked Rep. Steny Hoyer out of his Capitol hideaway office, his office confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.
A Republican aide for the House Administration Committee, which oversees office spaces, told CNN this was not a request made by the committee.
As speaker pro tempore, McHenry’s official title, the congressman will preside over the vote and selection of the House’s next speaker, with the ability to recess the chamber, adjourn it and recognize speaker nominations.
Kevin McCarthy as speaker was required to submit a confidential list to the clerk of people “in the order in which each shall act as Speaker pro tempore in the case of a vacancy,” according to House rules. McHenry, a strong ally of McCarthy, was the top name on that list.
This story has been updated with additional information.
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
Hunter Biden has racked up more than $10 million in legal bills over the past five years and could spend millions more as he confronts federal charges and the possibility of a costly trial.
The legal bills – which have not been previously reported – are a combination of fees incurred during a yearslong federal investigation of him, his divorce and his custody dispute in Arkansas, along with an aggressive new approach of filing lawsuits against his political detractors, according to people familiar with the figure.
Hunter Biden’s allies had hoped that fundraising help would have come by now from top supporters of his father, President Joe Biden, but that hasn’t happened.
And although people close to Hunter’s legal team were discussing the idea of establishing a legal defense fund earlier this year, that hasn’t materialized either, according to sources familiar with the effort.
“Nobody will help him financially,” one person close to Hunter told CNN.
The financial burden is raising worry among friends about who’ll foot the bill if he goes to trial on the gun charges, to which he pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
But any debt would be a complicating political factor for his father’s White House, already dealing with federal and congressional investigations into Hunter Biden’s businesses. Hunter Biden’s past attempts to raise money by selling high-priced pieces of artwork have stirred conflict-of-interest concerns, and the solicitation of more outside donations could be another target for scrutiny. The White House declined to comment for this story.
For Hunter Biden, the financial straits are tightening just weeks after he was hit with federal indictments on gun charges, and as he faces possible additional charges for alleged tax crimes. He had been expected to plead guilty in July to two misdemeanor charges in order to avoid a felony gun charge, but that deal collapsed under the scrutiny of a federal judge.
Special counsel David Weiss recently indicted him in connection with the purchase of a gun while he was addicted to drugs. The charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person, for which he could face fines and time in prison.
Some members of Hunter Biden’s team still hope the gun case can be resolved with a settlement, but there are currently no meaningful settlement discussions between his team and the special counsel, according to a source on Hunter’s legal team.
“His legal bills are only going to grow as this gets closer to trial,” said a second person familiar with the matter.
So far, a close friend of Hunter Biden, Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, has covered many of his legal bills, a source close to Hunter Biden says. Morris has also spearheaded the more aggressive approach the Hunter team is taking against Republican adversaries – a strategy they continue to employ despite mounting legal costs.
Over the past year, Hunter Biden has hired high-profile lawyer Abbe Lowell, who has helped him sue several of his detractors – including Rudy Giuliani and attorney Robert Costello for allegedly hacking into his personal data, resulting in what he claims is the “total annihilation” of his digital privacy.
The more forward-leaning strategy represented a break with the White House, which had preferred that the president’s son stay quiet amid ongoing investigations.
With House Republicans now opening a formal impeachment inquiry into his father, though, the White House is ramping up its own efforts to rebuke the idea Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business dealings over the years.
That recalibration in approach has closed the chasm between the two camps, who now appear more aligned in their strategy, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. That person described the current approach by the White House as “all hands on deck.”
In recent months, some supporters of Hunter Biden discussed setting up a legal defense fund, originally envisioned as a blind trust run by an ethics attorney who could closely monitor funds going in and out, according to people familiar with the matter.
Presented with that possibility, the White House bristled at the suggestion of a legal defense fund, leery of the idea they might be seen as breaching campaign finance laws, according to the sources. Those talks have gone quiet in recent weeks, those sources said.
With his lobbying and advisory business under the microscope, some of Hunter’s income now comes from selling paintings for six-figure totals through a relationship with the Georges Bergès Gallery in New York City. (Sources told CNN two years ago the White House was involved in forming an agreement between him and Bergès to address any ethics concerns. The purchasers of his artwork were to be kept anonymous, with neither Hunter Biden nor the public knowing who purchased the work.)
But even there, debt figures in. In June, Hunter Biden reached a settlement to provide some of those paintings as financial compensation to Navy Lunden Roberts, the four-year-old daughter he fathered with an Arkansas woman, as part of a revised child support agreement. He had been paying $20,000 a month in child support – totaling roughly $750,000 – under a 2020 deal his attorneys argued he could no longer afford.
Hunter and his dad
Despite the public pains taken by the White House to distance the president from his son’s lawsuits, father and son remain close – speaking regularly by phone, traveling together, and appearing at official White House events together.
The politics are complicated. In a CNN survey conducted in late August by SSRS, 61% of US adults say they think Biden had at least some involvement in Hunter Biden’s business dealings during his vice presidency, with 42% saying Joe Biden acted illegally, and 18% saying that his actions were unethical but not illegal. A 55% majority of the public says the president has acted inappropriately regarding the investigation into Hunter Biden over potential crimes, while 44% say that he has acted appropriately.
But with a year to go before the election, Biden’s orbit worries most about the emotional impact the ordeal is having on the president.
“They’re more worried about the toll it takes on the president,” said one outside adviser. “You have to feel sorry for the guy – he’s been kicked in the teeth with family matters over and over.”
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Wednesday became the first Republican to officially jump into the race to become the next House speaker.
House Republicans are even more bitterly divided in the aftermath of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster and his decision not to run again – and it remains to be seen whether the conference can coalesce around a viable successor to the California Republican.
The stakes are extremely high as Congress faces down a looming shutdown deadline in mid-November and the House is essentially paralyzed while it lacks a speaker.
Republicans are slated to hear from speaker candidates at a forum next Tuesday, setting up the next possible House-wide speaker vote next Wednesday, October 11.
Jordan is on a growing list of possible McCarthy successors, which also includes Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who chairs a conservative group known as the Republican Study Committee, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota.
Jordan made a pitch for unity in a letter to House GOP colleagues obtained by CNN.
“Now is the time for our Republican conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans,” Jordan wrote, saying, “No matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference.”
The Ohio Republican chairs the House Judiciary Committee, an important body for pursuing Republicans’ investigative priorities – including one of three committees behind the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Jordan downplayed concerns on Wednesday that he may be too conservative for some of the more moderate members of the GOP.
“I think we are a conservative-center-right party. I think I’m the guy who can help unite that. My politics are entirely consistent with where conservatives and Republicans are across the country,” Jordan told CNN’s Manu Raju.
The race for speaker abruptly got underway late Tuesday evening after McCarthy stunned Washington by announcing he would not run again after the House ousted him from the top leadership post in a historic vote that has left the House in uncharted territory.
As speaker, McCarthy presided over a narrow majority and had to confront criticism from hardline conservatives, who threw up roadblocks to the leadership agenda and protested legislation that passed with Democratic support. His ouster, led by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, came soon after he averted a government shutdown by passing a bipartisan stopgap funding bill.
This story has been updated with additional information.
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
Following Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster as House speaker, names have started to emerge as possible successors to take over the gavel.
With McCarthy announcing Tuesday night he will not be running for the speakership, the race is already underway.
There is no clear alternative to McCarthy who would have the support needed to win – any speaker hopefuls will need to find 218 votes, or the majority of lawmakers present and voting.
Some of the names being floated for the open role also emerged in January as hardline conservatives looked to block McCarthy from taking the gavel after the GOP won the House. While McCarthy ultimately won the fight, Tuesday’s ouster offers the opportunity for fresh consideration of candidates.
Here’s a look at his potential replacements:
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Wednesday became the first Republican to publicly say he’ll run to be the next House speaker, aiming to replace McCarthy.
Jordan replied “yes,” when asked if he is running for speaker and said he had just talked to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the No. 2 Republican, who he is likely to face.
His announcement comes after he kept the option of running for speaker open Tuesday when he told CNN it was a “conference decision.”
Some conservative Republicans encouraged Jordan to run and a GOP lawmaker previously told CNN that he was open to doing so. The chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee was previously nominated by conservative hardliners in January during the GOP fight for the speakership.
Once a thorn in the side of party leadership, known for his ultra-partisan rhetoric during the investigation into the Benghazi attacks and both impeachments of Trump, Jordan became a key ally to McCarthy and looked to position himself earlier this year as a serious committee chairman. He has used his perch on the Judiciary Committee to probe Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for their indictments of Trump earlier this year as well as the Justice Department for its investigation into Hunter Biden.
Jordan, who is a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, supported lawsuits to invalidate the 2020 presidential election results and voted not to certify the Electoral College results.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is one of the lawmakers to watch as GOP lawmakers scramble to elect a new speaker, with some members floating the Minnesota Republican as a top contender for the job.
Emmer, however, appeared to signal support for Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise on Tuesday night. As he exited a GOP meeting, he told reporters, “Steve Scalise has been a friend for a long time. He would be a great speaker.” Asked if he would nominate Scalise for speaker, Emmer said, “I think I made it clear.”
The Minnesota lawmaker was first elected to Congress in 2014 and became majority whip earlier this year. Emmer, who lost a race for Minnesota governor in 2010, was a state representative from 2004-2008. He sits on the House Financial Services Committee.
Oklahoma Republican Rep. Kevin Hern told CNN Wednesday he is considering a run for leadership – suggesting a speaker’s run is on the table while not ruling out a run for majority leader, either
”I’m doing what I’ve always been doing. I’ve had a lot of conversations about leadership. So I’m going to go listen to the Texas delegation,” Hern said when asked if he would run for speaker.
Hern chairs the conservative group known as the Republican Study Committee.
Republicans hardliners in the House Freedom Caucus have floated Hern’s name as a possible nominee for speaker in meetings and other private conversations over the past weeks. During the deadlocked race for speaker in January, Hern, whose committee wields a large bloc of GOP members, received a couple of anti-McCarthy protest votes in the eighth round of voting.
Hern was sworn-in to the House in 2018 after a career working in various leadership position at McDonalds, according to his House biography. He also worked as an aerospace engineer. Hern is a member of the House Ways and Means committee and co-chairs the Small Business and Franchise caucuses.
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who serves as House majority leader, has emerged as a possible candidate for House speaker with a source familiar telling CNN that he has started reaching out to members about a potential bid.
While the No. 2 House Republican rejected calls from hardliners to challenge McCarthy for the speakership in January, it had been widely expected he would run for the position in the case that McCarthy dropped out.
“No matter who’s gonna be the next speaker, the challenges still remain but I think the opportunity is there to continue moving forward and we set a precedent last week for how to start coming together to get appropriations bills done,” he said Tuesday.
Scalise has experienced some serious health issues in recent years. In August, he revealed that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and began chemotherapy treatment. He was also seriously wounded in the 2017 congressional baseball practice shooting in Alexandria, Virginia. When asked if he would be up for the job Tuesday, Scalise said, “I feel great.”
The former computer systems engineer, first elected to Congress in May 2008, represents a ruby red district that covers most of New Orleans’ suburbs. He faced backlash in 2014 for giving a speech to a White supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke in 2002. Scalise later apologized, explaining in a statement that it was a mistake he regretted.
This story has been updated with additional information.
