Consensus remains elusive as Republicans try to elect a House speaker

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who along with Rep. Jim Jordan is vying for the speakership, talks to the media Tuesday.

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A week after Kevin McCarthy’s unprecedented ouster, Republicans are slated to begin the process of choosing his replacement as speaker of the House on Wednesday.

The conference will meet behind closed doors and is expected to cast an initial vote for a nominee. Republicans seem determined to avoid another marathon of public votes – like the 15 rounds it took for McCarthy to secure the gavel in January – and instead come to a consensus privately. Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan are both vying for the job, but heading into Wednesday’s meeting, neither had enough support to win a majority on the House floor.

Whoever becomes House speaker will take office facing a new war in the Middle East and another looming government funding deadline. And they will still be working with a razor-thin majority to pass any major legislation.

While the dueling crises may add urgency to the situation, Republicans were not confident the process would conclude quickly.

“I don’t know if by the end of tomorrow we will have a speaker. I don’t know if by the end of this week we will have a speaker,” Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla, said Tuesday after a conference candidate forum. “If you were to ask me a couple of days ago, pre-Israel being horrifically attacked by Hamas, I would have told you that it would have been a month before we had a speaker.”

Rep. Thomas Massie told reporters he put the odds of Republicans electing a speaker Wednesday at 2%.

“There may be people who are dug in” on their preferred candidates, he said.

The conference may…