1. Stephen Joseph Scalise is an American politician who has been the House majority leader since 2023 and the US representative for since 2008.
50 Facts About Steve Scalise
1. 2.
Steve Scalise was the chair of the House Republican Study Committee from 2013 to 2014.
3.
Steve Scalise is the first Louisianian to serve as majority whip since Hale Boggs of Louisiana's 2nd congressional district held the position from 1962 to 1971.
4.
In 2017, Steve Scalise became the dean of the Louisiana congressional delegation upon Senator David Vitter's retirement.
5.
Steve Scalise's district includes most of New Orleans's suburbs, such as Metairie, Kenner, and Slidell, as well as a portion of New Orleans itself.
6.
On June 14,2017, during practice for that year's Congressional Baseball Game, Steve Scalise was shot and seriously wounded by an anti-Trump domestic terrorist who was targeting Republicans.
7.
On October 11, Steve Scalise defeated Jim Jordan to win the Republican nomination for the October 2023 Speaker of the House election following the removal of Kevin McCarthy.
8.
Steve Scalise was born in New Orleans, one of three children of Alfred Joseph Steve Scalise, a real estate broker who died on October 8,2015, at the age of 77, and Carol Schilleci.
9.
Steve Scalise's great-grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy in the late 1800s.
10.
Steve Scalise graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie in Jefferson Parish and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge with a major in computer science and a minor in political science.
11.
At LSU, Steve Scalise was a member of the Acacia Fraternity.
12.
Steve Scalise serves on the board of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation, servicing the American Italian Cultural Center.
13.
In 1995, Steve Scalise was recruited by Louisiana Republicans to run for Republican state representative Quentin Dastugue's District 82 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives after Dastague made an unsuccessful bid for governor of Louisiana.
14.
Steve Scalise won the seat and was re-elected in 1999 and 2003.
15.
On October 20,2007, Steve Scalise was elected in a nonpartisan blanket primary to the District 9 seat in the Louisiana Senate vacated by the term-limited Ken Hollis of Metairie.
16.
Steve Scalise received 19,154 votes in a three-way contest.
17.
Steve Scalise, who was term-limited out of the House, was succeeded in the state House by his aide, Cameron Henry of Metairie.
18.
In 2004, Steve Scalise announced that he would run for the 1st congressional district, but deferred to the preference of party leaders and supported Bobby Jindal, who won the position vacated by the successful US senatorial candidate, David Vitter.
19.
In 2007, when Jindal was elected to the governorship of Louisiana, Steve Scalise announced his intentions to seek the House seat again.
20.
Steve Scalise defeated the Democratic nominee, Myron Katz, and an Independent, Arden Wells, in his 2010 bid for reelection.
21.
In 2013, Steve Scalise voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
22.
Also in 2013, Steve Scalise sponsored a bill called the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act.
23.
In December 2017, Steve Scalise voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
24.
Eric Cantor's unexpected defeat by Dave Brat on June 10,2014, Steve Scalise launched a campaign to replace Rep.
25.
Steve Scalise subsequently won a three-way race for whip, winning on the first ballot despite the efforts of fellow candidates Peter Roskam and Marlin Stutzman.
26.
Steve Scalise came under fire for using the assistance of a federal lobbyist, John Feehery, when hiring staff for the Majority Leader's Press Office.
27.
Steve Scalise was hit by a single rifle bullet that "travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs, and causing severe bleeding".
28.
Steve Scalise is listed in fair condition and is beginning an extended period of healing and rehabilitation.
29.
On July 5,2017, Steve Scalise returned to the intensive care unit after becoming ill with an infection related to the shooting.
30.
On July 13,2017, it was reported that Steve Scalise had undergone additional surgery and that his condition had been upgraded to fair.
31.
Steve Scalise was married and lived in Belleville, Illinois, where he owned a small business doing home inspections, mold testing, and air-quality testing.
32.
Steve Scalise had encounters with police involving violence or firearms in 2006 and 2017; he was registered as a firearms owner in Illinois.
33.
Steve Scalise was a Bernie Sanders supporter and volunteer, and a fierce critic of Trump and the Republican Party on social media, in letters to the editor, and in phone calls to his representative.
34.
The Republicans lost their majority in the 2018 House of Representatives elections, and Steve Scalise was elected as House minority whip, with Kevin McCarthy of California as Minority Leader.
35.
On January 6,2021, Steve Scalise voted to de-certify President-elect Biden's victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
36.
Steve Scalise condemned the Capitol attack as terrorism and compared it to the Congressional baseball shooting.
37.
In February 2021, more than a month after Joe Biden's inauguration, Steve Scalise refused to acknowledge that the election was not stolen or fraudulent.
38.
The House Republican Conference elected Steve Scalise to serve as Majority Leader during the 118th Congress.
39.
Steve Scalise applauded a Texas district court ruling the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional in its entirety.
40.
Steve Scalise has been an opponent of gun control and was given an "A+ rating" and endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund.
41.
In 2018, Steve Scalise co-sponsored a bill to "strengthen school safety and security", which required a two-thirds vote for passage given that it was brought up under an expedited process known as Suspension of the Rules.
42.
Steve Scalise opposes the legalization of marijuana, which he deems a gateway drug for other drugs.
43.
Steve Scalise was given a "D" rating from National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes.
44.
Steve Scalise opposes same-sex marriage, having praised the 2014 Robicheaux v Caldwell ruling.
45.
Steve Scalise has on multiple occasions stated that scientists predicted global cooling in the 1970s.
46.
In 2002, Steve Scalise was a speaker at a convention for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, a group which was founded by David Duke.
47.
Steve Scalise confirmed that he had spoken at the EURO conference in 2002 and stated at the time he did not know of the "racist nature of the group".
48.
In 2020, Steve Scalise spread a video that was doctored to depict the political activist Ady Barkan, who is disabled and uses a speech-generating device, asking 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden whether he supported defunding police, to which Biden appeared to reply in the affirmative.
49.
Barkan asked Steve Scalise to delete the video, which was flagged by Twitter as manipulated media, and apologize.
50.
Steve Scalise said the cancer was detected early and was "very treatable".