Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) ended his bid to become the next House majority leader on Thursday night, leaving Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as the only candidate to replace Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who was defeated in a historic primary loss on Tuesday. 
 
 "After thoughtful consideration and discussion with my colleagues, I have made the decision to not continue my run for House majority leader," Sessions said in a statement. 
 
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 "Today, it became obvious to me that the measures necessary to run a successful campaign would have created unnecessary and painful division within our party. At this critical time, we must remain unified as a Republican conference. As always, I stand ready and willing to work with our team to advance the conservative agenda that the American people demand and deserve." 
 
 Sessions is the House Rules Committee chairman and former head of the House GOP campaign committee. 
 
 Barring a late, new challenger, McCarthy will become the second-ranking House Republican after the leadership election scheduled for June 19. 
 
 While Sessions began seeking support within minutes of Cantor's surprise loss, he could not overcome the advantage that McCarthy had built up as the party's chief vote counter and top fund-raiser. 
 
 He also struggled to unify the conference's right flank. Many conservatives wanted another Texan, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, to seek the post, but he decided Thursday morning to stay out of the race. And as the Texas delegation deliberated over which member to support, McCarthy moved aggressively behind the scenes to lock down support. 
 
 McCarthy was further aided by Speaker John Boehner's (Ohio) decision to schedule the secret ballot election just over a week after Cantor's announcement that he would step down. The quick turnaround left little time for Sessions or other challengers to build enough support to take out McCarthy. Cantor will stay on as majority leader until July 31 to provide a transition. 
 
 Three other top conservatives, Reps. Paul Ryan (Wis.), Tom Price (Ga.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio), have also passed on the race. 
 
 Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) is taking a look at challenging McCarthy, and a source familiar with his thinking said he's "getting a lot of encouragement from members." The conservative is well regarded by his fellow members of the 2010 GOP class, but it's not clear whether he could seriously threaten McCarthy. 
 
 With McCarthy likely to become majority leader, the more competitive leadership election became the race to replace him as whip. 
 
 That race pits McCarthy's chief deputy, Rep. Peter Roskam (Ill.), against the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, Rep. Steve Scalise (La.), and another conservative, Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.), who surprised many members with his entry on Thursday morning. 
 
 — This story was updated at 9:39 p.m. ||||| House Republicans reshaped their leadership team Thursday, promoting Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) to majority leader, following the surprise primary defeat of Rep. Eric Cantor Eric CantorTrump's olive branch differs from the golden eras of bipartisanship After divisive rally, Trump calls for unity Ex-RNC spokesman: After Trump remarks how can I tell minorities to vote GOP MORE (Va.). 
 
 The party picked conservative Rep. Steve Scalise (La.) to replace McCarthy as majority whip and complete the shakeup resulting from Cantor’s defeat. 
 
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 McCarthy, 49, defeated conservative Rep. Raúl Labrador (Idaho) to become the second-ranking House Republican behind Speaker John Boehner (Ohio). 
 
 Less than an hour later, Scalise defeated two other candidates, Reps. Peter Roskam (Ill.) and Marlin Stutzman (Ind.), on the first ballot to become chief vote-counter despite rampant speculation it might take two ballots to decide the contest. 
 
 Republican aides announced the winners of the elections but not the vote tallies, which are kept secret. 
 
 The victory will make McCarthy, an easy-going former deli owner, the potential heir apparent to Boehner, marking a rapid rise for a Republican first elected to the House in 2006. 
 
 At a press conference after the votes, McCarthy said he would make one promise: “I will work every single day to make sure this conference has the courage to lead and the wisdom to listen. And we’ll turn this country around.” 
 
 Labrador, an outspoken sophomore lawmaker who only jumped into the race against McCarthy after other conservatives declined to run, argued that House Republicans should not respond to Cantor’s surprise primary loss by maintaining the status quo. Since 2011, McCarthy has served as majority whip, the No. 3 leadership post in the House. 
 
 Labrador threw his votes to McCarthy in a gesture of unity after the vote was announced, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told reporters. He said Roskam did the same thing after the whip's race, on behalf of himself and Stutzman. 
 
 A solid fundraiser with strong relationships throughout the Republican conference, McCarthy had long prepared to succeed Cantor as majority leader whenever Boehner retired. But to the surprise of virtually everyone inside the Capitol, it was Cantor who left first, carried out of office by conservative voters in his own Richmond-area district. 
 
 When Cantor went down last week, McCarthy was ready. 
 
 While conservatives struggled to rally around a single challenger, he quickly consolidated support and pushed Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), the ambitious former GOP campaign chief, out of the race. 
 
 Labrador launched his bid Friday, but with so many Republicans already committed to McCarthy, the question became not whether he would win but how many votes he could secure. 
 
 House Republicans do not announce the vote tallies of their leadership elections, so only a few people in the leadership know how close the election was. Labrador won public support from just a handful of members who have long opposed Boehner and his leadership team. 
 
 Scalise also made an aggressive play for the whip’s post soon after Cantor’s defeat became official. 
 
 First elected to the House in 2008, he used his chairmanship of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) as a springboard to the party leadership. In challenging Roskam, who was McCarthy’s chief deputy, Scalise premised his candidacy on the desire of conservatives to install a Republican from a red state within a leadership team dominated by members from states that President Obama carried in the last two presidential elections. 
 
 Yet his coalition extended far beyond the south and included support from the conference’s highest-ranking woman, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), a leadership ally. 
 
 Speaking to reporters afterward, Scalise pledged “a more united team” in the House and attributed his victory to a broad coalition. 
 
 “We built a strong team that was representative of the entire conference,” Scalise said. 
 
 Roskam, a mild-mannered fourth-term successor to Rep. Henry Hyde (R) representing suburban Chicago, struggled to overcome questions about his conservative bona fides and close ties to the party establishment. While he had been preparing for the race for years, he suffered from the conference’s desire to alter the status quo after Cantor’s loss and particularly after it became clear McCarthy had the votes to replace him. 
 
 After his loss, Roskam congratulated Scalise on running “a great campaign,” but he was mum on the question of whether he’d run again in the leadership elections this fall. 
 
 “Today is the day to celebrate Steve Scalise and his victory,” Roskam said. “Let’s focus on Steve, and I am committed to helping him succeed.” 
 
 Stutzman was the late entrant and wild card in the race. He drew support from ardent conservatives wary of Scalise’s ties to the leadership and his work with Democrats on a flood insurance deal that many on the right opposed as fiscally irresponsible. 
 
 Just 37 and in his second term, Stutzman said afterward he didn’t know yet if he would seek to replace Scalise as head of the RSC. But he also didn’t deny that his long-shot bid for whip was a way to position himself for future races. 
 
 “I’m going to get some sleep, and take a couple of days and we’ll look and see where’s the best place that we can help,” he said. 
 
 “I really enjoyed talking with all the members, and I have a better understanding of where our conference is at,” Stutzman added. 
 
 Scalise was seen as the leadership’s choice to lead the RSC after 2012, and he argued while wooing members that he would both bring a conservative voice to the top ranks and could bring conservatives votes along for leadership proposals. 
 
 Along with Cantor and Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), McCarthy is an original “Young Gun” who helped lead Republicans back into the House majority during the wave election of 2010. He personally recruited dozens of members of that historic class, forging bonds that helped him fend off potential challengers in the past week. 
 
 Known for his frequent references to “Fight Club” and for showing clips from movies like “The Town” to boost morale, McCarthy has come under criticism for his inability to deliver at crucial times for the leadership. House Republicans have failed to garner enough party support to pass several major bills during his tenure, leading to whispers that his laid-back personality was not well suited to the job of whip. 
 
 In swapping the buttoned-up Cantor for the sunnier McCarthy, lawmakers say the major change will not be policy but personality. 
 
 “McCarthy’s more affable,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) said on Wednesday. “He takes his coat off for every meeting. He rolls up his sleeves. He’s not worried about being formal and having to look polished. I think he just is who he is.” 
 
 McCarthy and Scalise will assume their new posts when Cantor steps aside on July 31. 
 
 Updated at 6:05 p.m. 
 
 Peter Schroeder, Cristina Marcos and Bernie Becker contributed. ||||| The jockeying among Republicans to replace Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.) as House majority leader began Wednesday within hours of his stunning primary loss and escalated when he announced he would step down early from his leadership post. 
 
 Ambitious Republicans began working the phones, holding meetings and pigeonholing colleagues to line up support for their bids for two potential openings: majority leader and whip. 
 
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 While Cantor will stay on as majority leader through July 31, the election to replace him will take place on June 19, a week from Thursday, setting off a scramble among possible contenders. 
 
 The current majority whip, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), faced an immediate challenge from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) in his expected bid to become majority leader, the second-ranking leadership job behind Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). 
 
 Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sessions cited his experience as chairman of the Rules Committee and before that as the House GOP campaign chief as his qualifications for the job. 
 
 With the issue of immigration seen as a factor in Cantor’s defeat, the conservative Texan said he would focus on border security — an indication he would be unlikely to work with Democrats on a broader overhaul to provide citizenship to illegal immigrants. 
 
 “I think my strength is that I am a well-known conservative who will push for and want to have an agenda that I will go get the votes that is conservative, that is pro-business and solves the problems of the country,” Sessions said. “And I think that our focus on that will need to start with the border.” 
 
 Yet Sessions moved so quickly that he may have irritated some members, who reported receiving a text message from him 20 minutes after Cantor’s defeat became official. 
 
 “How about waiting until the body's at the morgue?” one member said. 
 
 McCarthy opted to wait until Cantor had made his decision before campaigning to be the next majority leader, according to a source who was in McCarthy's office late Tuesday night. 
 
 “McCarthy said ‘We're not doing anything until Eric does what Eric's going to do, we're going to give him room to make his decision,’” the source told The Hill. 
 
 In announcing his decision to step down, Cantor made clear that McCarthy would have his full support if he chooses to run for majority leader. 
 
 The fast election could benefit McCarthy, a fellow GOP “Young Gun” who has spent years building up his base of support within the conference. Lawmakers also said they did not want a drawn-out election to distract from their agenda and leave time for outside conservative groups to try to influence the outcome. 
 
 Boehner is officially neutral, spokesman Michael Steel said. 
 
 “We have important work to do and need to get the new leadership team in place as soon as possible,” he said. “And he has not endorsed anyone in any race.” 
 
 Inside the meeting where Cantor announced his decision, Boehner made clear that he would run for Speaker again in the 114th Congress, lawmakers said. 
 
 Another Texas conservative, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, was also considering a bid for majority leader. Currently chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Hensarling served in the leadership until 2013 but has frequently voted against Boehner and Cantor in the year-and-a-half since he left. 
 
 Hensarling has played coy in recent weeks when asked whether he might challenge or seek to succeed Boehner. 
 
 “I am humbled by the many people who have approached me about serving our Republican Conference in a different capacity in the future,” he said. “There are many ways to advance the causes of freedom and free enterprise, and I am prayerfully considering the best way I can serve in those efforts.” 
 
 Hensarling would have the support of Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), a vocal second-term conservative who is gunning to be chairman of the Republican Study Committee in the next Congress. 
 
 If McCarthy succeeds in the election to replace Cantor, his position would open up and the race for that potential post also heated up: Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) moved rapidly to challenge Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), the chief deputy whip who has been eyeing the spot for months. 
 
 “He’s in for the whip’s race,” a source close to Roskam said on Wednesday. 
 
 Scalise is chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and a GOP aide said on Wednesday that as soon as Cantor’s loss became official, he began receiving calls from colleagues urging him to run for majority whip. 
 
 “Obviously, no one saw Leader Cantor losing yesterday,” the aide said. “It was a tectonic shift that caught everyone off guard.” 
 
 Scalise had been laying the groundwork for the race in the event Boehner decided to retire at year’s end, but he is now prepared to run whenever the opening occurs. 
 
 “Regardless of Leader Cantor’s position, he’s ready to go,” the aide said. 
 
 Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio), a close Boehner ally, told reporters that the Texas GOP delegation was meeting to discuss leadership possibilities, with both Sessions and Hensarling being discussed as potential Cantor replacements. 
 
 Tiberi declined to endorse any candidates, but made it clear he was a fan of McCarthy and Roskam and that they had strong chances to move up the leadership pecking order. 
 
 “They both have a very successful tenure in their positions in leadership, and I think they have a lot of support within the conference generally speaking for the job that they’ve done,” Tiberi said. 
 
 If McCarthy loses his bid to become majority leader, the position of whip would not open up. 
 
 Amid the jockeying, the fourth-ranking Republican, Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), announced Wednesday that she would stay put rather than seek a promotion. 
 
 “After much encouragement from my colleagues, conversations with my family, and many prayers, I have decided to remain conference chair at this time,” said McMorris Rodgers, the highest-ranking Republican woman. 
 
 Also staying out of the races will be Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the House Budget chief and 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee. 
 
 “I’m not interested,” he told reporters. 
 
 Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), another respected conservative and former RSC chairman, also told The Hill he did not plan to run for any of the open positions. 
 
 The emerging battles will pit establishment Republicans close to Boehner like McCarthy and Roskam against conservatives likely to push the party further to the right. 
 
 Lawmakers frustrated with the current leadership have spoken for months about the need to have more representation at the top from members who hail from deeply Republican states. Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy and McMorris Rodgers all represent states that President Obama carried in the last two presidential elections. 
 
 “I think that when all of the key leaders are from blue and purple states, and the rank and file are from red states, it creates some tension, or miscommunications, or misunderstandings that occur in our conference right now,” Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said. “So I am hopeful that somewhere in the mix of new leadership there will be a strong red state advocate who is more reflective of the type of Republican that I represent.” 
 
 —This story was updated at 6:29 p.m. 
 
 Molly K. Hooper, Bernie Becker, Erik Wasson, Peter Schroeder and Cristina Marcos contributed.
– Unless a surprise challenger emerges at the last minute, the race to replace Eric Cantor as the House's second-ranking Republican is already over. House Rules Committee chief Pete Sessions says he has dropped his bid to become majority leader "after thoughtful consideration and discussion" with colleagues, leaving Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy as the only lawmaker known to be seeking the position, reports Reuters. Cantor—the first majority leader ever to lose a primary—is stepping down at the end of July following his shock defeat at the hands of little-known Tea Party challenger David Brat. "It became obvious to me that the measures necessary to run a successful campaign would have created unnecessary and painful division within our party," Sessions said. The leadership election will be held by secret ballot next week but the more competitive race is now the one to succeed McCarthy as whip, the Hill finds. McCarthy's chief deputy, Rep. Peter Roskam, is in the running, along with Rep. Steve Scalise, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, a hardline conservative who was punished last year for defying House leaders, the Indianapolis Star notes.