The race is on to elect a new House speaker showdown following the historic ouster of Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday.
Two Republicans have officially thrown their hats into the ring ahead of the party hoping to choose a new leader next week.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, the new speaker pro tempore, is currently occupying the speaker of the House's office in the Capitol. Notably, the sign still reads "Speaker Of The House Kevin McCarthy."
-ABC's Arthur Jones
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has started making the rounds, calling members to see if they would support him if he formally threw his hat in the ring, sources told ABC News.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has previously dismissed the idea of wanting to be speaker -- would not rule it out on Tuesday night. Republicans sources close to Jordan say he has started to have conversations about a potential bid.
Another name being floated for the position: Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, the head of the Republican Study Committee.
The House has canceled votes and all remaining legislative business for the week. Republicans plan to gather behind closed doors Tuesday for a candidate forum -- eyeing a vote for speaker as early as Wednesday, sources said.
Republicans have also ordered Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., to vacate his Capitol hideaway office, a source familiar with the communication confirmed to ABC News. Hoyer served for two decades in House Democratic leadership but stepped away after the 2022 midterm elections, stating it was time for a new generation to take over.
Along with the move to push former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of her office, it’s the latest sign of how much hostility exists between Republicans and Democrats following the removal of McCarthy as House speaker.
In one of Rep. Patrick McHenry’s first moves as speaker pro tempore, he ordered former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to immediately vacate her hideaway office in the Capitol by Wednesday, sources tell ABC News.
Most lawmakers have offices in the buildings surrounding the Capitol -- not in the Capitol itself.
Hideaway offices are private unmarked spaces in the Capitol, typically reserved for members of House leadership. But as a former speaker, Pelosi was allowed to keep one.
Pelosi was informed of this news as she was in San Francisco attending a memorial service for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
In a statement to ABC News, Pelosi criticized the move, “With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol. Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time.”
Pelosi continued, “This eviction is a sharp departure from tradition. As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
Politico was the first to report the news.
