House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) told members in a conference call that he has a more than 140 committed votes in the race to become House majority leader, according to a Sunday report from the Roll Call.
Scalise’s vote count far outpaces the 50 or so supporting votes for his only announced opponent, Rep. Tom Price (R-MI), according to Roll Call.
However, the matter could be complicated by race for House Speaker, which now includes Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (UT).
Scalise told members on the conference call that he wasn’t taking his support for granted, according to the report.
Scalise has survived at least one problem that brought his role in House leadership into question. Late last year, news reports surfaced showing he spoke in 2002 before a white nationalist group tied to former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise responded by saying white supremacist groups are usually “vehemently opposed to my own personal faith and I reject that kind of hateful bigotry.”
