The worst job in Washington is within Steve Scalise’s grasp
It is difficult to predict exactly when the vacancy for the worst job in Washington will be filled. However, Steve Scalise, a congressman from Louisiana, seemed likely to replace Kevin McCarthy as speaker of America’s House of Representatives at the time this issue went to press. It also remained unclear how much humiliation he might have to endure to secure the job, which will be a challenging one, regardless of who holds the speaker’s gavel next.
On October 11th, Mr. Scalise defeated Jim Jordan, a congressman from Ohio endorsed by Donald Trump, for the Republican nomination, with a vote of 113-99. Mr. Jordan then endorsed his rival, but enough McCarthy allies and hard-right Republicans resisted to prevent a swift victory for Mr. Scalise in the full House. His predecessor faced 15 embarrassing rounds of voting, and undoubtedly Mr. Scalise would prefer to avoid that. If he becomes speaker, Mr. Scalise will certainly have to make concessions to various factions of his divided party.
Mr. Scalise, aged 58, is a survivor—both politically and physically. He has spent the past decade climbing the ranks of the House Republican leadership. In 2017, a left-wing activist shot and nearly killed Mr. Scalise while he was playing baseball with other Republicans. Now he is undergoing chemotherapy for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, although he returned to the Capitol last month and has been working.
2023-10-12 04:56:38
Post from www.economist.com
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