Steve Scalise was nominated by a majority of the conference, but did not have the support of 217 lawmakers needed to claim the gavel on the House floor.
Actually, the main thing that would block this at this point is that there is a Speaker Pro Tempore, and while he can’t do much one of the few things he can do is keep the House in recess until a Republican has enough Republican votes to win the election.
So, even in the hypothetical case where there is a centrist Republican who can pull this off, that person will have to get Patrick to agree to open the House to hold the vote in the first place.
Actually, the main thing that would block this at this point is that there is a Speaker Pro Tempore, and while he can’t do much one of the few things he can do is keep the House in recess until a Republican has enough Republican votes to win the election.
So, even in the hypothetical case where there is a centrist Republican who can pull this off, that person will have to get Patrick to agree to open the House to hold the vote in the first place.