Meet the candidates for speaker of the House of Representatives

House Republicans held a candidate forum discussing the next House speaker Tuesday night, according to House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik on X. House Republicans said they hope to vote on a speaker this week.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted last week in a historic 216-210 vote led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who filed a motion to vacate the chair.

Stefanik was announced as host of the candidate forum. Each declared candidate made a five-minute opening statement, participated in a Q&A session with House Republicans, and ended with a two-minute conclusion. The forum was held behind closed doors and representatives were not allowed to bring their phones.

Here are the candidates:

Jim Jordan

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan was elected to the Senate in 2006, and has served nine terms since then. He co-founded the House Freedom Caucus and served as its first president from 2015 to 2017. Jordan currently serves as the House Judiciary Committee chairman and is a member of the House Oversight Committee, per the House.

Jordan calls himself an advocate for taxpayers and supports reducing “waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.”

Former President Donald Trump awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, after serving on Trump’s defense team “during his first Senate impeachment trial,” according to The Washington Post.

In 2015, Jordan served as a leader of the House hearings on the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks, questioning Hillary Clinton about her emails and involvement in responding to the attack, per NPR.

Jordan has also called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. A compilation of his public pro-life addresses and proposed acts can be seen here.

Steve Scalise

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise served in the Louisiana State Legislature from 1996-2008 and has served in the U.S. Congress since then. While serving in the U.S. House, he has held the positions of House majority whip (2014-2018) and House minority whip (2019-2022). Currently Scalise serves as House majority leader.

Scalise calls himself an advocate of “fiscal discipline, lower taxes, a robust national defense, strong border security, freedom, and conservative values,” according to his website.

After the 2020 presidential election, Scalise proposed a motion to recertify President Joe Biden’s Arizona and Pennsylvania victories.

Scalise is an advocate for the right to bear arms even though he was a victim of a shooting at a baseball game in 2017, per Politico. He told NBC, “Don’t try to put new laws in place that don’t fix these problems. They only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own a gun.”

The Associated Press reported that Scalise is currently receiving chemotherapy treatments in Washington, D.C., for a form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. He told AP the “treatments are going well so far.”

Kevin McCarthy

Over dissatisfaction in approving continuing resolution bills to avoid a government shutdown, McCarthy was ousted out of his role as House speaker last week.

McCarthy was elected to Congress in 2006 after becoming a California representative. In 2009 he earned the role of House Republican chief deputy, and in 2011 moved up to House majority whip until 2014. Congress then elected McCarthy as majority leader until 2019, when he was elected house minority leader.

McCarthy recently endorsed an impeachment inquiry into Biden and his potential involvement with his son’s foreign business dealings in Ukraine.

He has also been outspoken about the conflict in Israel, posting to X on Oct. 8, “Just spoke with some friends in Israel—their kids are being called up to defend their nation. The United States must unequivocally stand with our ally Israel and their right to defend themselves from terrorism.”

Hugh Hewitt had McCarthy on his radio show on Monday, and asked him if he would be open to resuming his position as House speaker. He asked, “Would you be willing to go back if those eight (who voted to oust you) retreated?”

McCarthy responded, “Whatever the conference wants, I will do.”