Scalise chosen as House Majority Leader

On 15 November 2022 House Republicans chose Steve Scalise of Louisiana as their nominee for majority leader after winning control of the chamber in the midterm elections. He took up the post in January 2023, moving up from minority whip, the number two position in the Republican leadership.

Republicans select their prospective House majority leader

After U.S. midterm voting on 8 November 2022, Republicans were on course to regain a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. On 15 November, Republican lawmakers elected Steve Scalise to be majority leader for the 118th Congress, which would convene in January 2023. Scalise had served as Republican whip for eight years, giving him experience gathering votes and negotiating the conference's internal divisions. The announcement was made before the new House had formally organised, so the election was an internal party leadership decision rather than a full House vote.

Scalise's statement named lower inflation, energy prices, border policy and law enforcement as legislative priorities. Republican leaders also nominated Kevin McCarthy to be speaker, but McCarthy encountered opposition from a faction of his own conference in January 2023. The eventual prolonged speaker election made the party's tight majority and political competition within it unusually visible. Scalise held the majority leader role after McCarthy won the speakership; House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries became minority leader when Democrats lost control.

The events anticipate the later 2023 House speaker crisis, but the internal Scalise election itself took place on 15 November 2022. The leadership office gave Scalise responsibility for scheduling and advancing the majority's legislative agenda, subject to speaker authority and conference votes. A press release declaring priorities cannot establish that subsequent bills passed or delivered promised economic effects. What was decided that November day was the person who would coordinate a new, exceptionally narrow House majority.