Scalise Nominated For Speaker; Oklahoma Congressman Hern Eyes House Majority Leader Spot

Congressman Kevin Hern (Oklahoma) announced that he will run to be the Majority Leader for Republicans in anticipation of current leader Rep. Steve Scalise (Louisana) being elected Speaker of the House.

Scalise was chosen during Wednesday's Republican conference as their nomination to be Speaker beating Jim Jordan (Ohio) by 14 votes. Scalise will look to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (California) after he was removed from his position as Speaker of the House on October 3. It was the first time a House Speaker was removed in a no-confidence vote.

While Scalise is the Republican's nominated choice, votes can be cast for anyone during the floor vote. A vote of the whole House is not expected until Thursday at the earliest. The House met on Wednesday but quickly went into recess.

If Scalise wins the Speaker role, his position as Majority Leader will be vacant and Congressman Hern is confident that he is the person for the job.

"When my dear friend Steve is sworn in as Speaker, our Conference can finally get back to the work our constituents sent us here to do. We need a Majority Leader who will work alongside our Speaker to help move this Conference past the events of the last ten days.

I believe that my experience outside of Congress makes me uniquely qualified to lead our Majority. We need leaders who listen twice as much as they speak, who are conservative because they've seen the impact of Democrat policies firsthand, and who aren't afraid to change the way things have been done around here." - said Hern in an offcial statement.

Hern's name was thrown around as a potential candidate for Speaker of the House but he withdrew his name from contention on Saturday.

Related Story: Rep. Hern Announces He Will Not Run For Speaker, Calling For GOP Unity

If selected as House Majority Leader, Hern would be the second Oklahoma Representative to hold the position after Carl Albert served as Majority Leader from 1961 to 1971. Albert went on to become Speaker of the House.

Do you have to be in Congress to become Speaker?

The Constitution does not explicitly state that the speaker must be a current member of the House or even a past member. While every person elected speaker has been a member of the House, in theory, anyone in America can be nominated or elected to the role. The only real requirement is that they are nominated by members of the House.

However, the premise of a non-elected official remains a topic of debate with many questioning the protocols of a Speaker who is bound by oath to the constitution. According to PBS, recent non-house members who received votes to become House Speaker include then-former Vice President Joe Biden, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky.

Ultimately, you need a majority vote to become Speaker. In recent history, the number to reach has been 218 votes out of the 435 members of the House.

Has there ever been a Speaker from Oklahoma?

Yes, as previously mentioned Representative Carl Albert (D-Oklahoma) served three terms as the 46th Speaker of the House from 1971 to 1977. All in all, 55 people from 23 states have served as Speaker of the House. Massachusetts has had the most representatives hold the role with eight.