Republicans gathered to pick their candidate for speaker of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday as war in the Middle East and a looming government shutdown underscored the urgent need to end the leadership vacuum.
The party has been in a tailspin since a handful of hardliners forced out Kevin McCarthy eight days ago, leaving the Republican-controlled lower chamber of Congress unable to respond to mounting international and domestic challenges.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, the two congressman vying to replace McCarthy, are both popular and share similar policy platforms -- but neither has emerged as a clear frontrunner.
"I think we've got two great choices though," Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, the ringleader in McCarthy's dismissal, told reporters as the two hopefuls made their pitches at a "candidate forum" on Tuesday.
"And whichever of these in these great men get a majority of the conference, I'll be really proud to vote for on the floor."
As the meeting got underway, Republicans rejected a proposal to raise the threshold for the party's endorsement to 217 -- the number of votes needed to succeed in the 433-member full House, which includes 212 Democrats.
Current rules require only a simple majority of the party's 221 House members for the internal vote.
Some Republicans -- who pick their nominee by secret ballot -- wanted to ensure they do their fighting in private and are able present a united front when their nominee comes to the floor.
But Scalise came out against the motion, and the fact that he prevailed was touted by allies behind the scenes as a positive sign of his prospects as well for a more straightforward nomination process.
- 'Not thrilled with either' -
McCarthy's truncated term began in chaos and public bickering in January, as Republicans almost came to blows over 15 bitter rounds of voting that played out on national television.
Jordan, a darling of the right, went into Wednesday with more endorsements than Scalise -- including the coveted backing of former president Donald Trump. But the majority of lawmakers had not made their preferences public.
Kentucky's Thomas Massie estimated there was a "two percent" chance that the party would have its nominee by the end of the day.
Failure by Scalise or Jordan to garner decisive support would open the door to a wild-card candidate.
McCarthy had spent days flirting with the idea of a comeback, but ultimately backed down, telling reporters he had asked colleagues not to nominate him.
"I'm not thrilled with either candidate," Colorado's Ken Buck, another of the rebels who voted to oust McCarthy, told Politico.
He said he expected up to 30 Republicans not to cast a ballot for either in the first round of internal voting.
The drama has been playing out against the backdrop of an escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas militants who launched a deadly attack at the weekend, with a paralyzed Congress unable to authorize new emergency aid for the US ally.
And lawmakers have until November 17 to reauthorize federal spending levels and avert a damaging government shutdown.
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