WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is positioning himself as a compromise candidate for the House's No. 3 leadership post as the Republican Party struggles over its direction.

The Louisiana lawmaker has a history of working both with business-aligned members and their antagonists within the party -- those with ties to the Tea Party. He's counting on such relationships to help him win the majority whip position in today's leadership election.

Scalise's top donors include those financing the movement that seeks to limit the federal government's role and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, who was defeated by a Tea Party-backed candidate in a primary election last week.

Scalise voted against a spending deal crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., favoring one with deeper cuts. Yet he worked against groups aligned with the Tea Party by helping House leaders limit the cost of flood insurance premiums with a measure that protected homeowners in his coastal district.

"I've worked hard to bring conservative policy to the floor in a way that unites our conference," Scalise said Tuesday, adding that he's been able to "bridge some of the divides that we've seen over the years."

As Cantor's loss showed, it can be dangerous to navigate between the party's Republican business allies and a Tea Party movement that punishes any deviation from its goal of curtailing the government's reach. If House leaders can't find a way to satisfy members of that branch of the party, their frustration risks deepening divisions and depressing turnout in November's midterm election.

Scalise, 48, is seen as a slight favorite in a competitive three-man race for the House of Representatives' majority whip. That's largely because he's not a member of the current leadership team like fellow whip candidate Peter Roskam of Illinois, and isn't as closely aligned with the Tea Party, like Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, who is also seeking the job.

That election will take place today if the current whip, Kevin McCarthy of California, wins the contest to replace Cantor as majority leader. Idaho's Raul Labrador also is running for majority leader.

"The internal issue is who do you trust to pull your party together and move forward," former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert said.

Tea Party-aligned lawmakers complain that they don't have anyone in leadership from a state that has consistently voted for Republican presidential candidates.

Having one of their members on Speaker John Boehner's team also may provide an early-warning system to stem any uprising. Last October, Tea Party efforts to defund the 2010 health-care law led to a 16-day partial U.S. government shutdown.

Stutzman, 37, is the whip candidate most closely aligned with the Tea Party. Roskam, 52, is currently the chief deputy whip. If he moves up to the whip job, Boehner's leadership team would be little changed.

"If the Tea Party gets shut out, it gives people more to scream about," said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who oversaw the party's House races from 1998 to 2002. "Do you really want that as a party? Their members are going to be harder to deliver under those circumstances."

Scalise won his first political election to the Louisiana Statehouse 19 years ago. He's collected $424,600 in campaign donations from oil and gas, more than any other industry, according to data compiled by Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics. Other Louisiana lawmakers have received more from the industry.

His New Orleans-area district is home to the headquarters of Entergy, the second-largest owner of nuclear plants in the U.S. The district also includes Chalmette Refining, a refinery operated by Exxon Mobil with estimated annual revenue of $5.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Many of his constituents work at the nearby Ports of Southern Louisiana and New Orleans, two of the five largest U.S. water ports, or in energy production.

Scalise has led fellow House Republicans on helicopter tours to oil rigs several miles off his coastal district. He has pushed for increased oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and for Louisiana to get a bigger cut of the government money that comes from it.

Scalise's political contributions show the middle ground he occupies between Republican leadership and the Tea Party.

He's received $32,500 from Koch Industries, run by David and Charles Koch, financiers of the small-government movement.

Scalise has also received $50,000 from Cantor's political action committee, known as the Every Republican Is Crucial PAC.

Information for this article was contributed by Mark Chediak of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 06/19/2014