Who will become the new House speaker?

In what marked a historic day for Congress, Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his role as speaker of the House of Representatives on 3 October – after less than nine months in the role.

The California congressman’s fate was sealed by his own warring party, as eight Republicans joined Democrats to vote to remove him from the speakership.

Mr McCarthy had grown increasingly at odds with the far-right wing of the party – notably lead rebel and MAGA Republican Matt Gaetz, who filed a motion to vacate the speaker in outrage that Mr McCarthy struck a deal with Democrats to avert a government shutdown (one that could have temporarily shuttered key services for American people and furloughed federal workers).

After Democrats declined to bail out the speaker and members of his own party turned on him, Mr McCarthy was removed in a 216-210 vote to vacate – marking the first time in American history that a speaker has been ousted by other lawmakers.

The House was plunged into turmoil – with no leader at a time when the US is once again careening towards a government shutdown.

So who will be the next speaker?

Here’s a look at some of the possible contenders:

Jim Jordan

Jim Jordan confirmed on 4 October that he was running for the role of speaker of the House, setting up a two-man race with Mr Scalise.

As one of the staunchest members of the far-right, MAGA arm of the Republican party, Mr Jordan is known for founding the right-wing Freedom Caucus in 2015.

When asked by reporters if he is entering the race, the Donald Trump ally who has spent over 500 days ignoring a subpoena to testify about his actions on the day of the January 6 Capitol riot responded with a firm “YES”.

Initially, Mr Jordan lost to Mr Scalise in a closed-door Republican session. After, he said he would support Mr Scalise as speaker – but several MAGA Republicans including Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos continued to support Mr Jordan and refused to get on board with the party’s nominee.

Mr Trump – who has no vote in the House – also endorsed Mr Jordan as the next speaker.

But after Mr Scalise failed to obtain enough support in his own party, Mr Jordan stepped up as the new House GOP-backed nominee.

Mr Jordan serves as chairman of what has become known as the most right-wing caucus in the GOP party, with a record that includes trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act multiple times.

Following Mr Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, Mr Jordan played a key role in efforts to overturn the results – and for the former president to stay in power against the will of the American people.

Despite his controversies, he has risen up the GOP ranks in recent years with Mr McCarthy making him chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee back in February. While he has a history of vehemently opposing bipartisanship, Mr Jordan was unable to secure enough votes from within his own party to win the speakership.

One prominent example of his standing in Republican circles comes from former House Speaker John Boehner, who labelled Mr Jordan a “legislative terrorist”.

He lost his bid for speaker three times before the House Republicans voted to stop supporting him.

Steve Scalise

Steve Scalise currently serves as House majority leader and is the number two among House Republicans. He announced his bid for speakership after Mr McCarthy was ousted.

He initially emerged as the frontrunner of the speaker race as the Louisiana congressman was tipped as a possible challenger to Mr McCarthy back in January, but he refused to compete against him at the time.

But in a bombshell move on 12 October, he announced that he was dropping out of the race, hitting out at the “agenda” of members of his own party.

“If you look over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there’s still work to be done,” he told reporters.

“Our conference has to come together and is not there. There are still some people that have their own agenda.”

After securing the nomination, the party failed to rally around him and it became clear that he wasn’t going to secure the votes to take the gavel. Ms Greene claimed that she wouldn’t vote for Mr Scalise due to his health issues.

Mr Scalise is not without his controversies, having come under fire after it emerged he gave a speech to a white supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke in 2002.

Kevin Hern

Kevin Hern, the leader of the Republican Study Committee – the largest conservative caucus in the House – announced he would be in the running for speakership on 22 October after Mr Scalise and Mr Jordan failed to obtain support.

Mr Hern is only in his third term in Congress making him a much less experienced politician than his competitors.

However, he has touted this short tenure in politics but long successful career in the business world as an advantage over the rest.

“I think you have to have a different set of skill sets,” Mr Hern told reporters this week.

“Strife is something that’s common when you have people working together and finding common solutions for it takes experience.”

Before being elected to Congress in 2018, the 61-year-old made millions as a McDonald’s franchisee and was part of its national leadership team

During the last race for House speaker in January, he gained some votes from Republicans rebelling against Mr McCarthy.

Tom Emmer

Tom Emmer, a Representative from Minnesota and the House majority whip, has also announced his bid.

Mr Emmer served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for two cycles. In the first cycle, he successfully defeated numerous Democratic incumbents, giving then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi a much slimmer majority with which to govern.

He stayed in the job for the 2022 cycle when Republicans won the House, meaning he knows many of the freshmen incumbents and funneled money to them when needed. His time in the post also gave him significant facetime with Republican donors – a skill that would benefit him in a speaker’s race.

After Mr McCarthy’s ousting, Mr Emmer said he didn’t plan to run – but would instead back Mr Scalise. When Mr Scalise’s vote failed, he then backed Mr Jordan.

But after Mr Jordan’s attempt at the speakership failed, Mr Emmer formally announced he would run saying: “I will always be honest and direct with all of you, even if we disagree. I will never make a promise I cannot fulfill. I expect to be held accountable and you can expect that we will also keep you to your word.”

Patrick McHenry

Following Mr McCarthy’s removal, North Carolina Rep Patrick McHenry instantly became speaker pro tempore.

He is now the temporary leader of the House until the party nominates and successfully elects Mr McCarthy’s replacement.

As a close ally of Mr McCarthy, he has often served as a liaison between conservatives and leadership.

He also has a strong enough relationship with Democrats both on the committee he leads and with the White House, recently playing a key role in negotiations with the Biden administration on raising the debt ceiling.

He is also one of only a handful of House Republicans who did not vote to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

While this might make him a possible favourite to Democrats and some moderate Republicans, this bipartisanship could make him an unlikely choice for hardline Republicans.

As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Mr McHenry also has significant contacts with the financial industry and top donors.

Austin Scott

In a surprise move, Austin Scott a representative from Georgia, said he would throw his hat into the ring to succeed Mr McCarthy after Mr Jordan lost three times.

Mr Scott, who was elected to the House in 2011, is an ally of Mr McCarthy and supported him through his tense election and defended him when he was ousted.

He is a staunch conservative who opposes same-sex marriage, abortion and gun control. He also voted against bringing articles of impeachment against the former president after the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

However, unlike his far-right colleagues, he did not support Mr Trump’s attempt to overturn 2020 election results and voted to certify Electoral College results on 7 January 2021.

Byron Donalds

Florida Rep Byron Donalds joined the running for Speaker of the House on 20 October after Mr Jordan failed to obtain support.

Though Mr Donalds was only elected to the House in 2020, he has already made his stance clear by joining the far-right group the House Freedom Caucus.

Mr Donalds is a loyal Trump supporter and voted to object election certification results in Arizona and Pennsylvania in 2020.

In January, Mr Donalds was nominated by his colleague Chip Roy to take on Mr McCarthy in his speaker race. Mr Donalds received support from 20 other House GOP members but ultimately supported Mr McCarthy when he made concessions to the House Freedom Caucus.

Gary Palmer

Rep Gary Palmer of Alabama is the number five Republican in the House and announced he too would try for the speakership after Mr Jordan’s final vote failed.

Mr Palmer is a member of the House Freedom Caucus and the longtime chairman of the Republican Policy Committee.

He was elected to Congress in 2014.

Though he shares similar political stances as his far-right colleagues, Mr Palmer tends to keep a lower profile making him a potential candidate to appeal to both far-right and more moderate factions.

Mr Palmer was at the Capitol on January 6 and condemned rioters for their actions. However, he still voted against certifying election results.

He is a supporter of Mr Trump and has released statements defending the former president after his indictments.

Jack Bergman

Jack Bergman, a representative of Michigan said he would try and unite the GOP party by making a bid for the speakership after Mr Jordan withdrew from the race.

Mr Bergman, 76, was first elected to the House in 2017. He’s a veteran of the US Marines who sits on the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

He appeals to more mainstream conservatives as an experienced lawmaker with a low tolerance for big egos.

Though he may appeal to far-right conservatives with his record of supporting Mr Trump. He voted against certifying 2020 election results and bringing articles of impeachment against Mr Trump for inciting an insurrection.

Mr Bergman voted for Mr McCarthy in each of his votes earlier this year and Mr Jordan in all three of his vote rounds. He said he was prepared to vote for Mr Scalise when he was Speaker Designate.

Mike Johnson

Louisiana Rep Mike Johnson announced on 21 October that he too would seek the speaker position after Mr Jordan dropped out.

He was first elected to Congress in 2016. For two years he was chair of the Republican Study Committee and in 2021 year became the vice chair of the House Republican Conference.

Mr Johnson is a member of the House Freedom Caucus and on the Committee of the Judiciary.

Prior to joining Congress, Mr Johnson may be remembered for proposing a controversial bill in Louisiana that could have allowed the state to withhold a bevy of state benefits from a person based on their views on the institution of marriage.

When announcing his bid for the speakership, Mr Johnson laid out a seven-step plan on key commitments he believes are part of being Speaker of the House.

Pete Sessions

Texas Rep Pete Sessions announced on 21 October that he was officially seeking the speakership.

Mr Sessions is currently the speaker candidate with the most experience in Congress. He was first elected in 1997 and held a seat in the House until 2018 when he was defeated by a Democrat.

He then ran to represent another district in 2020 and won.

He sits on the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Oversight and Reform

Mr Sessions has stirred controversy throughout his career, notably by his alleged connection to the Trump-Ukraine scandal in 2018 when he was identified in an indictment.

Dan Meuser

Dan Meuser, a representative of Pennsylvania said he would attempt to make a bid for the Speaker of the House after Mr Jordan failed to obtain support from the House GOP.

Mr Meuser was elected to Congress in 2018. Prior to his election, he served as the Secretary of Revenue in Pennsylvania.

He has a business-heavy background having been the president of a motorised wheelchair manufacturer company and indicated he would use this to his advantage if he were elected to speaker.

“I come from the business world, and I plan to bring, if I run, a business perspective to things and gain consensus,” Mr Meuser told reporters after Mr Jordan dropped out of the race.

He voted to reject 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and against bringing articles of impeachment against Mr Trump.

Kevin McCarthy

While he has been ousted, there is nothing stopping Mr McCarthy from making another bid for his old job.

However, this seems unlikely based on his comments after he was voted out of the speakership.

Speaking at a press conference after he was voted out, Mr McCarthy said that he would not run for his old job again – and cast doubts on his future within the House of Representatives at all.

“I will not run for speaker again. I’ll have the [Republican] conference pick somebody else,” he said, adding that Mr Gaetz’s plot to oust him “was personal”.

Despite this, several allies indicated that they would seek his reelection.

On Wednesday, as members of the GOP gathered behind closed doors to discuss a nomination, Mr McCarthy urged his Republican allies not to vote for him to retake the role.

Instead, he read aloud the poem “Anyway” by Mother Teresa – curiously on the topic of forgiveness – and led the party members in a prayer before quickly exiting the forum.

Speaking to CNN after, he said: “I know a lot of them want to nominate me, I told them ‘please do not nominate me’.”

However, he also refused to endorse either of the two candidates on the table at the time: Mr Scalise and Mr Jordan.

“I haven’t endorsed anyone. I’ll let the conference decide,” he said, before taking a thinly veiled jab at the lawmakers who led to his ouster. “It’s more than selecting a speaker. If this conference continues to allow four per cent of the conference to partner with Democrats when 96 per cent of the conference wants something else, they will never lead,” he said.

Donald Trump

When Mr McCarthy was ousted, a growing number of far-right Republican lawmakers including Ms Greene began calling for Donald Trump to become the next House speaker.

MAGA Republican Ms Greene took to X, formerly Twitter, that night to claim that the former president is the “only candidate” she will back to take the gavel.

“The only candidate for Speaker I am currently supporting is President Donald J. Trump. He will end the war in Ukraine. He will secure the border,” she said.

She was joined by a handful of other Republican representatives – including Texas lawmaker Troy Nehls and Florida Rep Greg Steube – who also said they were throwing their support behind the former president.

Mr Trump could be elected as the next speaker as, under the rules of Congress, the speaker does not have to be a current sitting member in the House.

That said, every speaker in the history of the US so far has been.

Back in January, when Mr McCarthy was struggling to get enough votes from his own party to secure his speakership, Mr Gaetz touted the former president as a possible candidate and cast his vote for Mr Trump.

Mr Trump has revelled in the calls for him to take the gavel, sharing the endorsements on his Truth Social platform. He then told Fox News on Thursday that he would become speaker temporarily to act as a “unifier” to the GOP party.

“If they don’t get the vote, they have asked me if I would consider taking the Speakership until they get somebody longer-term because I am running for president,” Mr Trump said.

“They have asked me if I would take it for a short period of time for the party until they come to a conclusion – I’m not doing it because I want to – I will do it if necessary, should they not be able to make their decision,” the former president told the outlet.

He also suggested that he could travel to the US Capitol to help in the process – a visit that would mark his first time back there since the January 6 riot.

But hours later, he seemed to walk back the idea – giving his full endorsement to MAGA Republican Mr Jordan.

Hakeem Jeffries

As the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries is the top Democrat in the House.

Back in February, Mr Jeffries gained more votes during 11 rounds of voting in the speaker’s election than Mr McCarthy.

But, as Democrats hold the minority in the lower chamber, he would need Republican support to take the helm.

While this may seem unlikely, it’s possible that – if Republican infighting continues, the majority party can’t agree on a candidate and a government shutdown looms – some moderate Republicans might find Mr Jeffries a more suitable choice.

Eric Garcia and Ariana Baio contributed to this report

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