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STORY: Two House Republicans - Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan - pitched GOP lawmakers on Tuesday on why they should take up the vacant role of House Speaker.

Republicans are expected to vote for a nominee by secret ballot on Wednesday.

Though lawmakers who attended Tuesday’s closed-door candidates forum said it seemed neither Scalise, the current House majority leader, nor Jordan, chair of the Judiciary Committee, had a clear advantage.

Without a leader in place after Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a revolt the House is unable to act as pressure mounts with a war between Israel and Hamas, and another government shutdown deadline approaches in mid-November.

Scalise has the support of veteran and establishment Republicans including party leaders, and said he would focus on unifying the GOP on Tuesday.

“What people have really liked about my approach is that I've been a unifier and somebody who has built coalitions throughout my entire career, and we've delivered big wins and people want to see us get back on track. We need a Congress that's working tomorrow. We need to get Congress back to work.”

Jordan is a prominent right-wing firebrand, he’s supported by Donald Trump and other populists, and he heads one of the three panels at the center of the Biden impeachment inquiry.

Far-right Republican Matt Gaetz, who was outspoken in the effort to oust McCarthy, reacted after the competing pitches for House Speaker.

"I thought that both of the candidates understood the need to unite the conference, to bring the conference into a more, into a more effective fighting force, to conduct oversight with greater rigor, and really to put the pressure on Senate Democrats to take up our bills to get the government funded."

Both candidates are said to support a stopgap measure to fund the government through April, to avoid a partial government shutdown.

But Republicans have another disagreement to work through before Wednesday’s vote.

While current rules require a simple majority for a nominee to win, the party is weighing up whether to tighten the requirement to gaining 217 out of 221 Republican votes, in order to overcome opposition from the Democrats.