KEY FACTS
Scalise, who has served as House majority leader since January following a more than eight-year stint as Republican House whip, announced he was running for speaker last week following the ousting of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and became the party’s formal nominee for the role Wednesday.
The congressman has represented Louisiana’s 1st congressional district—which includes eight parishes that surround New Orleans and a small sliver of the city itself—since 2008, and has steadily worked his way up in Republican leadership since then.
He gained national name recognition in 2017 when he was among four people shot during a congressional baseball practice outside Washington, D.C.; Scalise was seriously wounded, but survived and still walks with a cane due to the injuries he suffered.
Despite his experience with gun violence, Scalise has been an ardent supporter of Second Amendment rights, earning the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, and saying that the attack that nearly took his life reinforced his position on gun rights as he “was saved by people who had guns.”
Scalise has a history of being a staunch conservative who supports cutting government spending and implementing strict immigration policies, and has long been a supporter of former President Donald Trump, though he is generally not considered a hard-right firebrand like more recent prominent Republican additions to the House, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.).