WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� With his walker positioned on the mound, Rep. threw out the at Washington Nationals ballpark in the fall of 2017, a breathtaking comeback for the Republican congressman who just months earlier was fighting for his life after a gunman had opened fire on lawmakers at their own charity baseball game practice.
An 鈥淎merican hero,鈥� is how GOP colleagues described Scalise after as well as on Wednesday, when a narrow majority of them nominated him as their after the unprecedented , Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Scalise, 58, and recently , spent the rest of the day holed up at the Capitol, vigorously working to secure the support he will need from his detractors to lead the divided Republican majority before an eventual House vote to take the gavel.
鈥淎s we鈥檝e all witnessed, he is a fighter,鈥� said Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky. 鈥淗e has proven against all odds he can get the job done and come back from adversity.鈥�
An affable Louisianan, Scalise was first elected to Congress in 2008, after more than a decade in the Legislature, and swiftly rose through the ranks in Washington.
Early on he positioned himself as a conservative, part of a new generation of younger Republicans who came of political age during the Ronald Reagan era, many intent on changing Washington.
Once Republicans took majority control in the 2010 election 鈥渢ea party鈥� wave of hardline lawmakers to Congress, Scalise soon became part of the House leadership team alongside and others under then-Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
An early rivalry developed between Scalise and McCarthy that punctuated their rise, and continues to this day as the Louisianan is about to take the gavel after the Californian was pushed out.
Scalise has long drawn his support from the 麻豆传媒AVern states, and he fell outside of the triumvirate of McCarthy, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia and eventual Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin who called themselves the 鈥淵oung Guns鈥� and penned a book about their vision for the Republican Party in Congress.
When a right-wing challenger toppled Cantor in a GOP primary election for his congressional seat in Virginia in summer of 2014, it also set off a domino effect in the House leadership ladder.
McCarthy rose to become majority leader, and Scalise the majority whip.
One early morning three years later, Scalise and other Republican lawmakers gathered at a grassy park in the suburbs outside of Washington to practice for the upcoming congressional baseball game.
A rifleman with grievances over then-President Donald Trump started shooting, gravely wounding Scalise, and hitting several people and U.S. Capitol Police, who also fired back. Lawmakers dove for cover.
During an interview later on C-SPAN, Scalise described asking the medic as he was being airlifted to the hospital to call his wife in Louisiana.
鈥淚 just felt like things were fading away,鈥� Scalise recalled.
No one picked up the phone but his wife saved the voice mail message he left her that day, and listening back to it, he said, is tough.
But Scalise said: 鈥淚t's hard to focus on the negative when I know how close I was to not making it, and to know that I'm here alive and I get to do all the things I love doing,鈥�
When Scalise returned to the House three months later he was .
鈥淵ou have no idea how great this feels to be back here at work in the people鈥檚 House,鈥� he said at the time to a chamber packed with lawmakers.
Scalise went on to champion Second Amendment rights, despite a series of mass shootings in the United States.
If the Capitol Police officers on his security detail had not been there with guns to counter the shooter, 鈥渢hen there would have been nobody to take him down,鈥� of the shooting.
He said the shooting 鈥渄eepened my appreciation for the Second Amendment because it was people with guns who saved my life and every other member out there.鈥�
A father of two, Scalise recently returned to work after receiving treatment for blood cancer, raising questions from colleagues about his health and ability to lead.
The speaker's job can be brutal and thankless, with busy travel across the country raising campaign cash and recruiting candidates for elections.
Behind closed doors Wednesday, Scalise鈥檚 wife, Jennifer, joined the meeting, sending a message that her husband鈥檚 blood cancer would not slow him down.
鈥淚f there was any outside chance that this was going to be detrimental to his health, or counterproductive to his well being, she would have put her foot down,鈥� said Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. 鈥淪he's all in.鈥�
But that wasn't enough for some holdouts who supported rival Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee who had Trump's backing to become speaker, and are now denying Scalise the votes for the gavel.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she would continue supporting Jordan because she wants to see Scalise "defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health" in a demanding job.
Others dredged up his past. Scalise had after he was found to have addressed a white supremacist group in 2002 founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise said he didn鈥檛 know of the group鈥檚 racial views.
It鈥檚 not the first time a leader has risen on the heels of another鈥檚 downfall.
When Boehner abruptly retired rather than face the threat of ouster, McCarthy reached for the gavel only to step aside for Ryan when it was clear he did not have support.
After Ryan decided to retire in 2018 as it became more difficult to lead during the Trump era, the between Scalise and McCarthy sparked again.
Scalise did not openly challenge McCarthy at the time as Republicans fell into the minority, but positioned himself as a fallback in case the votes weren't there.
When McCarthy seized the gavel in January once Republicans regained the majority, Scalise won the No. 2 job as Majority Leader.
Late Wednesday, the speaker's office became a revolving door as holdout Republican lawmakers met with Scalise bringing their concerns, complaints and demands.
The Republicans want to prevent the spectacle of repeated House floor votes to elect the speaker. Republicans hold just a slim 221-212 majority, and almost all of them will need to support Scalise over the objections of Democrats.
鈥淲e鈥檙e having continued conversations,鈥� said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the Freedom Caucus.
鈥淎s I said earlier, I was not happy with the way things unfolded," said Roy. "I thought we should figure this out behind closed doors, as a conference before we started moving towards the floor.鈥�
___ Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
Lisa Mascaro And Kevin Freking, The Associated Press
