Steve Scalise

Personal life

Scalise was born in New Orleans, one of three children of Alfred Joseph Scalise, a real estate broker who died on October 8, 2015, at the age of 77, and the former Carol Schilleci. His siblings are Glenn and Tara Scalise.

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 programming and a minor in political science. At Louisiana State University, Scalise was a member of the Acacia Fraternity. He serves on the board of the American Italian Renaissance Foundation, servicing the American Italian Cultural Center. He married Jennifer Ann Scalise (née Letulle) on September 4, 2005, six days after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. The couple has two children.

Louisiana Legislature

Republican (formerly Democratic) State Representative Quentin D. Dastugue made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of Louisiana in 1995, dropping out before the nonpartisan blanket primary. Scalise was recruited by state Republicans to run for Dastugue's District 82 seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives, winning his election bid. Scalise was re-elected to the seat in 1999 and 2003, serving until 2007. His legislative peers named him to the House Appropriations Committee as the representative of the First Congressional District. Scalise opposed the 2002 Stelly Plan, a proposal by Lake Charles Representative Vic Stelly, since repealed, to reduce certain state sales taxes on food for home consumption and utilities in exchange for higher state income taxes.

Scalise was elected in the October 20, 2007, nonpartisan blanket primary to the District 9 seat in the Louisiana Senate vacated by the term-limited Ken Hollis of Metairie. Scalise received 19,154 votes (61 percent) in a three-way contest. Fellow Republican Polly Thomas, an education professor at the University of New Orleans who subsequently won a special state House election in 2016, polled 8,948 votes (29 percent). A Democrat, David Gereighty, polled 3,154 votes (10 percent) in the heavily Republican-oriented district. Scalise, who was term-limited out of the House, was succeeded in the state House by his aide, Cameron Henry of Metairie.

In the special election on November 4, 2008, to fill the remaining three and one-half years in Scalise's state Senate term, Conrad Appel defeated Polly Thomas, 21,853 (52.1 percent) to 20,065 (47.9 percent). Thomas had also lost the race for the seat in 2007 to Scalise.

U.S. House of Representatives

On being asked by The Times-Picayune of New Orleans to assign Democrat Barack Obama a letter grade for Obama's first 100 days as President, Scalise awarded the new president an L (for "liberal").

Committee assignments

Legislative history

In 2011, Scalise became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (withdrawn January 23, 2012). As chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Scalise dismissed Derek Khanna, a committee staffer, in December 2012 because of pressure from content industry lobbyists after the study committee published a memo advocating copyright reform.

In 2013, Scalise voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. Also in 2013, Scalise sponsored a bill called the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act. The bill makes the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consolidate several of their reports into one report.

Leadership race

In the aftermath of Rep. Eric Cantor's unexpected defeat by David Brat on June 10, 2014, Scalise launched a campaign to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the position of Majority Whip of the House; McCarthy himself would replace Cantor as House Majority Leader. Scalise's ascent to leadership built on his "come-from-behind win in 2012 to become chairman" of the Republican Study Committee. 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. He came under fire for using the assistance of a federal lobbyist, John Feehery, when hiring staff for the Majority Leader's Press Office.

Political stances

Scalise supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. He stated that "It's very prudent to say, 'Let's be careful about who comes into our country to make sure that they're not terrorists.'"

Scalise has been an opponent of gun control and was given an "A+ rating" from the National Rifle Association.

2008 special election

In 2004, Scalise announced that he would run for the U.S. House but thereafter deferred to the preference of party leaders and supported Jindal, who won the position vacated by the successful U.S. senatorial candidate, David Vitter.

In 2007, when Jindal was elected to the governorship of Louisiana, Scalise announced his intentions to seek the seat yet again. This time he received Republican party backing.

Scalise's strongest Republican primary opponent, State Representative Timothy G. "Tim" Burns from Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish, accused Scalise of push polling, a practice in which a campaign contacts voters by telephone and asks probing questions which leave a negative impression of his opponent. Scalise defended his poll from criticism by Burns: "We were running a public opinion survey this week conducted by the largest Republican polling firm in the country, Public Opinion Strategies. . . . conducted with a sample of 300 people, and it shows Scalise at 57 percent, Burns at 26 percent and undecided at 17 percent The margin of error is 5.6 percent. We ran a fact-based public opinion survey, not a push poll."

In the March 8, 2008, Republican primary, Scalise polled 16,799 votes (48 percent). He went on to win the runoff election on April 5 against Burns, who received 9,631 votes (28 percent) in the initial primary.

In the May 3 general election, Scalise received 33,867 votes (75.13 percent) to Democrat Gilda Reed's 10,142 ballots (22.5 percent). Two minor candidates polled the remaining 2.36 percent of the vote. Reed was a favorite of organized labor and the Democratic constituency groups. The First District has been Republican since 1977, when Bob Livingston won a special election.

Scalise was sworn in on May 7, 2008.

2008

In the regularly scheduled election, Scalise was reelected over Democrat Jim Harlan, 66 percent to 34 percent.

2010

Scalise defeated the Democratic nominee, Myron Katz, and an Independent, Arden Wells, in his 2010 bid for reelection.

2012

In June 2009, Scalise joined Dan Kyle, the former legislative auditor and the treasurer of the Louisiana GOP, as directors of a national presidential fund-raising effort promoting Governor Jindal. According to Kyle, the group hoped to raise $60 million to persuade Jindal to seek the 2012 party nomination. Others on the committee include former State Representative Woody Jenkins. Former Republican State Senator Tom Schedler of Slidell had his name removed from the group, not because he opposes Jindal but because such fund-raising activity could conflict with Schedler's role at the time as first assistant to Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne. In 2010, Schedler succeeded Dardenne as secretary of state.

In his own 2012 congressional race, Scalise prevailed with 193,490 votes (66.6 percent) over four opponents, the strongest of which was the Democrat M. V. "Vinny" Mendoza, who finished with 61,979 votes (21.3 percent). A second Republican, Gary King, received 24,838 votes (8.6 percent). Independent Arden Wells ran again and received 4,285 votes (1.5 percent) in his second race against Scalise.

2016 presidential campaign

In the 2016 presidential elections, Steve Scalise endorsed Republican candidate Donald Trump, who would go on to win the presidency.

European-American Unity and Rights Organization convention speaker

In 2002, Scalise was a speaker at a convention for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a group which was founded by David Duke. This was revealed in 2014, after political blogger Lamar White, Jr. uncovered anonymous comments from 2002 on Stormfront, a white supremacist website, which made reference to Scalise as a 2002 speaker at the convention. 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". Scalise said he spoke about state tax legislation and that EURO was “one of the many groups that I spoke to regarding this critical legislation" further stating that this is a group "whose views I wholeheartedly condemn". Scalise apologized for speaking to the group saying, "It was a mistake I regret, and I emphatically oppose the divisive racial and religious views groups like these hold."

Various Louisiana politicians, including Republican Governor Bobby Jindal and Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond defended Scalise's character. Speaker of the House John Boehner voiced his continued confidence in Scalise as Majority Whip. Several Democratic members of Congress, as well as Mo Elleithee, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, criticized Scalise, and challenged his statement that he was not aware of the group's affiliation with racism and anti-Semitism. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center called upon Scalise to step down from his leadership position as Majority Whip.

2017 shooting

On Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at 7:09 am EDT, Scalise and three other people were shot and wounded by James Hodgkinson, who opened fire with a rifle during a baseball practice of the Republican team for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. The practice was taking place at the Eugene Simpson Baseball Fields in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia. Scalise, the only member of Congress to be hit, was shot in the hip. Representative Mo Brooks, who was also at the practice, witnessed the attack and said he saw someone with a rifle behind the third base dugout. Brooks then heard Scalise scream from second base. Scalise crawled into right field, bleeding. Senator Jeff Flake and Representative Brad Wenstrup, a former combat surgeon, ran to assist Scalise after Hodgkinson was shot. Senator Rand Paul, also a witness, said he heard "as many as 50 shots". Scalise, initially conscious, went into shock while being taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center in critical condition, where he underwent immediate surgery.

Scalise was hit by a single rifle bullet that "travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs, and causing severe bleeding". Dr. Jack Sava at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center said that "when he arrived, he was in critical condition with an imminent risk of death". But by June 16, although still in critical condition, "We have controlled internal bleeding and his vital signs have stabilized". Scalise will require additional operations to manage abdominal and bone injuries; it was not known how long he would have to stay in the hospital, and would need to convalesce on leaving. Sava stated he was a lot more optimistic about his recovery than he was around the time of the shooting. He stated that even though Scalise remained in critical condition, the doctors had controlled his internal bleeding and vital signs had been stabilized. On June 17 it was announced that his condition had improved to "serious" and he was responsive enough to talk with his family. On June 21, 2017, the hospital issued a press release stating: "Congressman Steve Scalise continues to make good progress. He is now listed in fair condition and is beginning an extended period of healing and rehabilitation."

On July 5, 2017, the Congressman was returned to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) after becoming ill with an infection related to the shooting.

On July 13, 2017, it was reported that Congressman Scalise had undergone additional surgery and that his condition had been upgraded to fair. He was discharged from MedStar Washington Hospital Center on July 26, 2017, and will subsequently undergo a period of inpatient rehabilitation.