UPDATED: House Minority Leader Tom Emmer (R-MN) won the Republican nomination to be the next speaker of the House on Tuesday, but now faces the difficult challenge of mustering the 217 votes needed for a floor election.
Emmer is the third Republican speaker nominated in as many weeks, as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) were each selected by the Republican majority but not elected. The protracted battle exposed bitter divisions and bad blood within the Republican conference and brought the House to a standstill at a time of international crisis and the prospect of running out of federal funding next month.
According to CNN, Emmer received 117 votes in the fifth secret ballot of the House Republican Conference, which met today behind closed doors at the Capitol. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) scored 97 votes. Other candidates received five votes and one person voted in attendance. Republicans then held a closed-door vote of members on how they would vote for the speaker, and Emmer still failed: 26 lawmakers said they would vote for someone else.
Emmer is considered more moderate than Johnson, having voted last year for a law codifying the right to same-sex marriage and more recently for a bill extending state funding through November. He also voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, which helped make him a target of Donald Trump’s supporters. Steve Bannon criticized Emmer on his podcast, although Trump himself refused to take action against him on Monday. “He called me yesterday and said, ‘I’m your biggest fan,'” Trump told reporters.
Assuming all Democrats are united behind her choice of Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, Emmer can only lose four Republican votes given the narrow Republican majority. It was elusive for Emmer’s predecessor: Scalise dropped out of the race after it became clear he wouldn’t be able to consolidate support, and Jordan got three votes last week before Republicans endorsed him as their nominee dropped.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as chairman earlier this month when eight Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), supported an ouster motion.
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
