House speaker race: How the election might work

House Republicans are scheduled to hold a “candidate forum” on Tuesday afternoon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., where the only two members vying for the position — Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana — will each make their case behind closed doors.

Who are the candidates?

Scalise is the current House majority leader who served as the second-ranking Republican behind Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California before McCarthy was ousted from the speakership last week. Scalise is undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, and has been wearing a protective mask on Capitol Hill.

Jordan, a co-founder of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who had briefly teased the idea of serving as House speaker himself if Republicans were deadlocked between the two candidates.

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And after previously ruling himself out, McCarthy reversed course Monday and said he would be willing to return in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The candidate forum comes one day after House Republicans held what was described as “an emotional” meeting Monday, during which several members reportedly aired their grievances at GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida firebrand who antagonized McCarthy for months and eventually engineered his ouster.

So what happens next?

Following the forum, an internal vote by the Republican conference to select the party’s nominee for speaker is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday.

A full floor vote will eventually follow.

To win the speakership, a candidate first needs to secure a majority of the 221-member House GOP conference in a secret-ballot election, followed by a majority of the full House.

Gaetz said Thursday that either Jordan or Scalise would “represent a monumental step forward for the Republican conference.”

But neither Scalise nor Jordan has anywhere near the support at the moment to win a majority inside the Republican conference or on the House floor.

What is the voting process?

The process is the same as it was in January, when McCarthy was elected House speaker on the 15th ballot.

During a full House session, lawmakers call out the name of their choice for speaker inside the chamber, which is then followed by a floor vote.

If all 433 current members of the House — including Democrats — choose to take part in the vote, the speakership will go to whoever gets 217 votes. If any of the members choose to vote present, that would lower the threshold needed for a majority.

McCarthy himself got 216 votes when he was elected speaker, with six members voting present.