Steve Scalise thinks he knows who'll be the next House Speaker - a podcast by POLITICO

Steve Scalise was nearly killed last summer when a gunman opened fire at
the Republican congressional baseball team’s practice. Last September,
after months of surgeries and intensive rehabilitation, the Louisiana
congressman was met with a thunderous ovation when he returned to work
at the Capitol. The emotional scene—cathartic for Scalise and so many
colleagues who were on the baseball field with him—might have obscured
just how far he has to go. He’s still undergoing regular physical
therapy and walks with the assistance of a cane; the wounds to his
pelvis, hip and left leg were so severe that Scalise still doesn’t know
whether he will ever be able to run again.

Mentally, however, he claims to have fully recovered. Scalise says he
was able to process the incident and put the trauma behind him, by
reconstructing the events of the day with the help of his teammates and
security detail. That included a trip back to the baseball diamond with
David Bailey, one of the two U.S. Capitol Police officers who saved his
life.

“We went back to second base, and he showed me where the shooter was,”
Scalise told me in an interview for Politico’s “Off Message” podcast.
“We’re looking at first base, where [U.S. Capitol Police officer Dave
Bailey was] in a gunfight with the shooter. And he [was] standing just
kind of isolated on an island at first base with no protection, and the
shooter is kind of hiding, pigeonholed behind this cinderblock dugout
behind third base.”

Of course, Scalise doesn’t want to be defined by that event. And he’s a
fascinating character for other reasons.

Control of the House of Representatives isn’t the only thing at stake in
the Nov. 6 midterm elections—it’s the future of the House speakership.
Paul Ryan is retiring, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi faces an uprising
among younger Democrats and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not
demonstrated the ability to collect the requisite 218 votes needed to
become speaker. That makes Scalise, the House majority whip, a popular
dark-horse pick to become speaker of the House—that is, if Republicans
hold the majority.

Scalise, one of Washington’s most reliably on-message lawmakers, is even
more cautious than usual these days. He’s spending the home stretch of
the election season traveling the country with his House Republican
colleagues, raising money and collecting favors while hugging President
Donald Trump at every turn. Right now, with a career-climaxing promotion
potentially awaiting him next month, Scalise can’t afford to alienate
Republicans on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The internal dynamics are fragile: McCarthy’s allies have eyed Scalise
warily for months, worried that he is undermining his superior’s bid for
speaker. Scalise, for his part, promises not to run against McCarthy for
the top spot if Republicans hold the House, and moreover, he tells me,
“I think Kevin would have the votes.”

Politico's "Off Message" podcast is hosted by Tim Alberta. Zack Stanton
is producer. Dave Shaw is executive producer. Intro/outro music by
Podington Bear.

 

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