House GOP picks Steve Scalise as speaker nominee, but unclear if he can get the votes to win gavel

House Republicans voted behind closed doors to select Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana as their nominee for speaker, but it's unclear if he can lock down the votes needed to win the gavel following Kevin McCarthy's abrupt ouster.

As of now, Scalise, who currently serves as House majority leader, lacks the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker in a floor vote and multiple Republicans have not committed to supporting him, signaling the potential for a drawn-out fight for the gavel. It's not yet clear when the House will hold a speaker vote.

Until a speaker is elected, the House remains effectively paralyzed following McCarthy's removal, an unprecedented situation that has taken on new urgency amid Israel's war against Hamas. Raising the stakes further, the longer it takes Republicans to elect a new speaker, the less time lawmakers will have to try to avert a government shutdown with a funding deadline looming in mid-November.

Scalise won out over Rep. Jim Jordan in a vote by the House GOP conference on Wednesday to pick their speaker nominee. The outcome of the nomination vote was a blow to former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who has made a name for himself as a staunch Trump ally.

The question now is whether Scalise will be able to win over Republican holdouts, a major obstacle in his path to the gavel. House Republicans hold a narrow majority and Scalise can only afford to lose four GOP votes on the floor and still win the speakership.

McCarthy's ouster, which was driven by a group of hardline conservatives, has intensified deep divisions within the House GOP conference and escalated tensions. That threatens to make it even more challenging for Republicans to unite behind a new speaker.

A number of Republicans would not commit to voting for Scalise for speaker on the floor following the vote on Wednesday to nominate him for the post. The swift opposition made clear that the GOP party fight over who will be speaker was not going to be quickly resolved.