The scandal over Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise’s 2002 speech to a white supremacist group has so badly damaged his image inside the House Republican Conference that he faces serious questions over his political future, according to interviews with multiple aides and lawmakers — including some Scalise allies.

Scalise’s job as House majority whip remains safe – and Speaker John Boehner has publicly backed him — but he may be too toxic for some Republican circles. Top GOP aides and lawmakers question whether he’ll be able to raise funds, especially on trips to New York or Los Angeles. Senior figures within the party doubt that the corporate chieftains and rich donors who bankroll Republican candidates will give him money to keep campaign coffers filled. Others say it will be difficult for him to persuade lawmakers to support the House Republican agenda.


Rank-and-file GOP lawmakers, meanwhile, found themselves defending Scalise back home, a potentially fatal flaw for someone who wants to serve in leadership. Many of these lawmakers are faced with blistering editorials from hometown newspapers calling for Scalise to step down. Conservative activists like Mark Levin, Erick Erickson and Sarah Palin have all said he should be booted out of GOP leadership.

“As far as him going up to the Northeast, or going out to Los Angeles or San Francisco or Chicago, he’s damaged,” said a GOP lawmaker who asked not to be named. “This thing is still smoking. Nobody is really fanning the flames yet. … The thing that concerns me is that there are people who are still out there digging on this right now.”

Democrats, for their part, are working to craft a sustained attack against the Louisiana Republican, using Scalise’s continued role in the leadership to launch broadsides against dozens of rank-and-file GOP lawmakers.

( Also on POLITICO: Boehner staves off dissenters)

“If Republicans want to keep a white supremacist sympathizer as a top leader and the person in charge of telling their Members how to vote, they will pay the price,” said Jesse Ferguson, a top aide at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Republican donors won’t want to be seen with him and vulnerable Republican members can’t afford to be associated with his agenda.”

On Monday, the White House weighed in for the first time, with spokesman Josh Earnest commenting that it “says a lot about what the [GOP] Conference’s priorities and values are” that Scalise has remained in leadership. Earnest twice repeated a Scalise quote from before he was in Congress that he is like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke “without the baggage.”

House Democrats are exultant that Scalise is still the majority whip, seeing the controversy over the Louisiana Republican as the best bit of news they’ve gotten since their crushing defeat on Election Day. With Earnest seeking to fan the flames by launching broadsides from the White House podium, House Democrats are trying to exploit the controversy as well.

Senior Democratic officials say they think the Scalise scandal could be worth millions of dollars in donations from their own supporters in coming months. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a press release to 30 GOP-held districts asking whether that member will “stand behind Scalise despite Scalise’s past rallying voters at white supremacists rallies?”

( Also on POLITICO: House Dems set to unveil alternative agenda)

Scalise has gone into full defensive mode in recent days. Thanks to support from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Scalise survived the initial media frenzy over his speech to the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, an extremist group founded by Duke. There is no movement afoot to dump him, despite significant anger in the rank and file. Since then, Scalise has gone radio silent.

Scalise is also freezing out the press and other Republicans, leading to doubts about whether he has any plans to rehabilitate his image. Scalise has declined interview requests from almost every media outlet except a few local Louisiana newspapers and TV stations, and he would not comment for this report. But he is sure to face a barrage of media attention once the 114th Congress kicks off on Tuesday.

His aides aren’t saying much, even to other Republicans. Last week, in the midst of the controversy over his speech, Scalise began lobbying other members for support, but even that outreach has largely stopped in the last couple days.

Scalise allies point to several factors in his favor as reasons to believe he can eventually bounce back: He was just elected to a full two-year term as whip, meaning he potentially has time to recover from this scandal; the allegations against Scalise are old and somewhat confusing; his critics inside the conference remain anonymous while his supporters are out in the open; and finally, they say the Steve Scalise they know is a kind man, and that inherent decency will come through in the end, no matter what is said about him publicly right now.

( Also on POLITICO: Boehner likely to survive another squeaker for speaker)

“Steve has deep and meaningful relationships in the House Republican Conference, and with a number of Democrats in the House,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), the chief deputy majority whip and a Scalise confidant. “Over the course of his term, he’s going to show what he’s shown in the last six months of being whip — that he’s effective.”

McHenry added: “Something that happened over a dozen years ago doesn’t affect people’s relationships with [Scalise] now, nor should it.”

Yet with the Scalise camp largely quiet, his critics — both public and private — have begun to rail against the Louisiana Republican, demanding to know how long he can remain in his post.

“There is concern that the situation will make it more difficult for him to raise money,” said a GOP leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It will be difficult to raise money from major Republican donors. And it remains to be seen what sort of role he can play in terms of helping incumbents in tough districts.”

A Republican fundraiser added, “I think it definitely makes it a little bit harder, particularly in certain districts, at least as it stands right now to have him in a suburban district in a blue state.” The fundraiser predicted that it would take time for the corporate PACs that usually gives piles of money to leadership to open their wallets.

“The PAC world typically is not the most courageous, and I could totally see them take a wait-and-see approach, at least initially.”

Anna Palmer contributed to this report.

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