If not Kevin McCarthy then who? Other possible candidates for US House speaker

With Kevin McCarthy repeatedly failing to win his bid for US House speaker, even some of his Republican allies are looking for a possible successor.

The most obvious contenders have disclaimed interest, but that didn’t stop former Speaker Paul Ryan, who didn’t want the job either at first. In 2015, Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, ultimately took the post after McCarthy withdrew his candidacy under pressure from conservatives.

A handful of House Republicans are in position to step in should McCarthy throw in the towel this time around.

Here’s a look at some potential fallback candidates for speaker.

Congressman Steve Scalise

The No 2 House Republican is a supporter of McCarthy who could get support from moderates in the caucus, while also appealing to hardline conservatives. However some moderate Republicans have suggested there would be no point in tossing McCarthy only to nominate someone so ideologically similar to him. For his part, Scalise, of Louisiana, has said that he supports McCarthy and has repeatedly voted for him.

Congressman Jim Jordan

The Ohio congressman is leader of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of the most hardline House conservatives. Jordan has repeatedly supported McCarthy in speaker votes, but all 20 holdouts voted for him on Tuesday.

Congressman Byron Donalds

Donalds will be sworn in for only his second term in Congress once the speaker is chosen, but his far-right views have endeared him to the group of holdouts. During the third vote on Tuesday he joined their ranks in supporting Jordan, rather than McCarthy. On Wednesday he was nominated for speaker three times, winning all 20 holdout votes each time.

Former congressman Fred Upton

The long-time Republican was first elected in 1986 and did not seek re-election to Congress in 2022. He could get support from Democrats as a moderate who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021. He signalled his openness to running for speaker to The Detroit News on Tuesday, calling the suggestion “intriguing”. The speaker is usually a lawmaker from the majority party, but it could be an outsider.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik

The youngest Republican woman ever elected to Congress, Stefanik, 38, has quickly risen through the ranks by moving with the political tides. After being elected in 2014 by the voters of a northern New York district as a moderate conservative who had worked for President George W. Bush and Paul Ryan, she became an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, especially during his first impeachment. Stefanik’s loyalty helped position her to win the No 3 spot in the House Republican conference in 2021, replacing Trump critic Liz Cheney.

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Former congressman Justin Amash

A former Republican lawmaker from Michigan, Amash was both a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus and the first Republican to call for Trump’s impeachment. He left his party in 2020 to join the Libertarian Party and did not seek re-election that year. He has been a vocal critic of the bureaucracy and back room politics in Washington, and was at the Capitol on Wednesday putting himself forward as potential speaker.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries

Jeffries was unanimously elected to lead his party in November, and has held all 212 Democratic votes during each of the six ballots. However it is extremely unlikely that any Republican would agree to support his bid for speaker regardless of any power-sharing agreement, given the political fallout from doing so.

Reuters and Bloomberg