PERSON: Steve Scalise

U.S. House of Representatives

House Majority Whip

Stephen Joseph Scalise (/skəˈliːs/ skə-LEESS; born October 6, 1965) is an American politician who has served as the House majority leader since 2023 and the U.S. representative for Louisiana’s 1st congressional district since 2008. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the House majority whip from 2014 to 2019 and the House minority whip 2019 to 2023.

Before his election to Congress, Scalise served four months in the Louisiana State Senate and three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives. He was the chair of the House Republican Study Committee from 2013 to 2014. On June 19, 2014, Scalise’s Republican colleagues elected him majority whip of the United States House of Representatives. He assumed office on August 1. He is the first Louisianian to serve as majority whip since Hale Boggs of Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971. In 2017, Scalise became the Dean of the Louisiana congressional delegation upon Senator David Vitter’s retirement. Scalise’s district includes most of New Orleans’s suburbs, such as Metairie, Kenner, and Slidell, as well as a portion of New Orleans itself.

On June 14, 2017, during practice for that year’s Congressional Baseball Game, Scalise was shot and seriously wounded by an anti-Trump domestic terrorist who was targeting Republicans. Scalise underwent treatment for several months, returning to Congress on September 28.

On October 11, Scalise defeated Jim Jordan to win the Republican nomination for the October 2023 speaker of the House election following the removal of Kevin McCarthy. However, he withdrew a day later after failing to consolidate the necessary votes.

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