WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday to name a new speaker, after an insurrection by a small group of Republicans toppled Kevin McCarthy and left the chamber unable to take action for two weeks.
Here are some of the candidates the House could consider:
JIM JORDAN
Jim Jordan, one of the most prominent members of the Republican right flank, will be nominated by Republicans to serve as speaker. As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan is a driving force in the impeachment investigation of Democratic President Joe Biden and has tormented his administration with other probes as well.
Jordan won the Republican speaker nomination on Friday and has since been consolidating support from lawmakers in the party, though it is not clear whether he has locked up the 217 votes needed to win the speaker's gavel.
Since he was first elected in 2006, the Ohio lawmaker has clashed with past Republican House leaders as a founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus and helped amplify former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud. Trump has endorsed his speaker's bid.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES
Democrats are expected to vote unanimously for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, though, as the minority party in a chamber controlled 221-212 by Republicans, they do not have enough votes to elect him speaker. The New Yorker has said he is open to a bipartisan compromise if Republicans cannot muster enough votes on their own to elect Jordan or another one of their members.
POSSIBLE: PATRICK MCHENRY
Republican Representative Patrick McHenry was named to serve as speaker temporarily following McCarthy's ouster. Some Republicans have suggested he could stay on in the job if they cannot elect Jordan, though the extent of his powers as a seat-warmer is unclear.
McHenry, from North Carolina, has said he does not want the job, but supporters may push him toward it if other candidates lose support.
POSSIBLE: TOM EMMER
Minnesota Republican Representative Tom Emmer currently serves as his party's chief vote counter and No. 3 leader overall. He has been floated as a possible candidate should Jordan fall short.
POSSIBLE: KEVIN HERN
Kevin Hern is chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative Republicans. He told reporters that he was considering a speaker bid last week, but later abandoned it. Still, his name has come up as a possible Jordan alternative since then.
POSSIBLE: KEVIN MCCARTHY
The former speaker, McCarthy, has sent conflicting signals on whether he would seek a return, should other candidates lose a speaker vote.
POSSIBLE: TOM COLE
Powerful Rules Committee chair Tom Cole has served since 2003, representing Oklahoma as one of only five Native Americans in Congress. He is widely considered a steady hand at the wheel and could gain support from Democrats if nominated.
However he has repeatedly tamped down talk of putting his name forward.
OUT: AUSTIN SCOTT
Austin Scott, a low-profile Republican from Georgia, put his name forward as a speaker candidate last week, but lost the nomination to Jordan.
OUT: STEVE SCALISE
The Louisiana lawmaker currently serves as the No. 2 House Republican and was widely seen as McCarthy's heir apparent. He was nominated as speaker last week but withdrew after he was unable to unify Republicans -- a development some of his colleagues blamed on Jordan.
Scalise was severely wounded in a shooting during practice for a charity baseball game in 2017. He faced questions about his health, as he has been in treatment for multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, since August.