Scalise jumps into Republican minority leader race after midterm drubbing

Steve Scalise is making his move. The House majority leader announced Wednesday he's running to become Republican minority leader, days after his party got walloped at the polls. In a letter to House Republicans, he vowed to "chart our path back to the majority."

Scalise didn't sugarcoat the result. "Last night's election was far worse than any of us expected," he wrote, according to Breaking The News. He also warned that "the socialists are coming to Washington with a radical agenda that threatens the America we hold dear."

The Louisiana Republican laid the blame at Democrats' feet, saying they'll "stop at nothing" to roll back the last two years of progress under President Donald Trump. That framing sets up the fight ahead as a two-year resistance operation from the minority benches.

His pitch to colleagues leans hard on unity. "To succeed in this fight, we will need to stand united as one team," Scalise wrote, calling for a "clear vision" and an agenda sharp enough to win voters back. The target date he's naming: 2028.

The bid puts Scalise in the middle of a leadership scramble as Republicans sort out who steers them through life in the minority. Whoever lands the job inherits a conference nursing a bruising defeat and hunting for a message that sticks.