Steve Scalise says drops out of race for U.S. House speaker

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is pursued by reporters after he won a majority of votes in the House Republican caucus to become their nominee for next Speaker of the House during a Republican meeting held behind closed doors in the Longworth House office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 11, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

(Reuters) - Steve Scalise, who had secured the Republican Party's nomination to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives but was short of the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor, has dropped out of the race, he said on Thursday.

"I just shared with my colleagues that I was withdrawing my name as a candidate that our speaker designee," he told reporters.