WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Rep. Bob Good said that a vote for Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., as speaker of the House would be a vote for “the status quo.”

“Washington is broke and Congress is failing the American people,” Good said. “There’s nothing we’re doing here that is working. And Jim Jordan‘s speakership would represent that change the American people want.”

But during a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday, House Republicans nominated Scalise as their candidate for speaker of the House.

Scalise was challenged by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, though other names were floated in the wake of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

“I guarantee you that if you asked (the American public), ‘Would you rather have Speaker McCarthy or Jim Jordan as speaker?’ overwhelmingly, Republicans will say ‘Jim Jordan.’ If you ask them, ‘Would you rather have Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan as speaker?’ overwhelmingly, Republicans would say ‘Jim Jordan.’”

Good was one of eight Republicans who voted last week to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. One of Good’s primary issues with the former speaker was McCarthy’s move to negotiate and avoid a federal government shutdown.

“When we (House Republicans) have leverage, when we have an opportunity to use the debt ceiling or use the end of the fiscal year, we have totally surrendered and passed those bills,” Good said.

Soon after announcing he would not seek to run again for the speaker’s job, McCarthy criticized the GOP members who voted against him, saying he did not view the eight as conservatives.

“They don’t get to say they’re conservative because they’re angry and they’re chaotic,” McCarthy said. “That’s not the party I belong to. The party of Reagan was if you believed in your principles, that you could govern in a conservative way. They are not conservative and they do not have the right to have the title.”

Good won office in 2020 after GOP voters ousted the Republican incumbent, Denver Riggleman, who had angered social conservatives by officiating a gay marriage.