Majority Whip Steve Scalise was not notified by House Speaker Paul Ryan that he is endorsing Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to be the next speaker in Congress.
According to GOP sources familiar with the issue, Ryan’s move upset most of the Republican leadership.
Several allies of Scalise expressed frustration and criticized Ryan for not telling the majority whip that he told NBC’s Chuck Todd for a pre-taped segment on “Meet the Press” last week that both he and Scalise felt McCarthy was the “heir apparent” and “the right guy to step up” to the position.
The Hill reported that other members of Republican leadership were also in the dark ahead of Ryan’s high-profile endorsement of McCarthy.
“That’s not the way to run things, especially with a member of your leadership team,” one GOP lawmaker told The Hill. “I would hope that there’s better communication in the future.”
According to The Hill, the unfair endorsement was a play by Ryan to remain functional in his leadership role through January and quell the palace intrigue surrounding a potentially messy and protracted leadership battle. However, Ryan’s move doesn’t look like it has shut down the race for Speaker between McCarthy and Scalise.
Although McCarthy still hasn’t officially nominated himself for the Speaker chair, he has the best chances of taking over the position.
But the Number 2 Republican is still faced with difficulty to lock down the conservative votes needed to reach 218, despite Ryan’s endorsement and his close relationship with the President.
Meanwhile, Scalise released a statement that he won’t challenge McCarthy in the race, but said that he will be interested in the role if the majority leader doesn’t get the needed votes or decides not to go for the position.
Experts say that Ryan’s move backed the majority whip into a corner.
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