House speaker race: Whip Tom Emmer elected as NEXT speaker nominee but faces challenge to unite 217 dysfunctional Republicans on the floor
House Republicans selected Majority Whip Tom Emmer as their next speaker nominee, but he faces a difficult road to winning the support of 217 lawmakers in the chamber.
The Republican Party eliminated the candidates for chairman Tuesday morning in a series of secret ballots to determine their next speaker nominee after 21 days of dysfunction following the historic impeachment of Kevin McCarthy.
They started with nine candidates but whittled down the pack until Emmer received 117 votes — more than the 110 votes needed to secure the majority — and GOP Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson, R-La., won 97, defeated for speaker designation. Five votes went to “other” candidates and one lawmaker voted “present.”
Now lawmakers are conducting a secret ballot on whether Republicans will actually vote for Emmer. He can only afford to lose four votes.
Republicans have now burned three speaker candidates since Kevin McCarthy started. The move has has paralyzed the House of Representatives, which will be unable to conduct business in less than a month until the government runs out of money again and the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies.
First, Majority Leader Steve Scalise won a vote at the conference before dropping out due to opposition. Then Republican Jim Jordan tried to run for the job and lost three votes before being ousted as the Republican Party candidate last Friday.
Whip Emmer has faced “anti-Trump” accusations and will face an uphill battle to gain enough votes in the chamber to be elected leader of the Republicans.
Whip Tom Emmer was an early favorite in the speaker race when he arrived at the Republican conference Tuesday morning
Rep. Byron Donalds arrived at a Republican Party Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning
A source familiar told DailyMail.com that Emmer and Trump spoke over the weekend and called it a “productive” conversation.
Trump confirmed Monday during a campaign stop in New Hampshire that the pair spoke, but declined to go into details, saying he plans to stay above the fray.
“I think he’s my biggest fan now because he called me yesterday. He said to me, ‘I’m your biggest fan.’ So I don’t know anything about that,” Trump said of Emmer.
Emmer also faces a potential vulnerability because he is the lone “yes” vote among the candidates on the Equality Act — which the House passed in support of same-sex marriage.
A Trump ally told DailyMail.com that Emmer’s vote in favor of the Equality Act is seen as a “slippery slope” for social conservatives concerned about the rise of men competing in women’s sports and other issues.
But Emmer’s supporters say the push to brand him as anti-Trump shows the former president’s allies have “nothing left in the tank.”
Emmer’s allies also told DailyMail.com that he has been in contact with the MAGA camp over the weekend and that his supporters are in weekly contact with Trump’s top surrogates. The whip even features an autographed photo of Trump in his Capitol office.
House Whip Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican, has the public support of a half-dozen colleagues, including former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has said he “knows how to do his job.”
All Democrats in the House are expected to vote for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. But Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota has indicated he can vote “present” during the vote, lowering Emmer’s threshold.
Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-California, disputes this, saying there are still “significant hurdles” to preventing this.
Republicans held a candidate forum Monday evening where all nine declared speaker candidates made their case.
Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., dropped out of the original nine-way race at the start of the forum last night because he didn’t have the support needed to compete.
On Tuesday morning, Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., was the next to withdraw before the voting series began, saying that if his withdrawal “helps speed up” the process, he would “happy” to step aside.
During the first vote Tuesday, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, was eliminated after receiving just eight votes.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer — the frontrunner — got 78, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., got 34, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., got 29, and Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., got 28 Reps. Jack Bergman of Michigan and Austin Scott of Georgia followed behind the pack.
Bergman was dropped after receiving seven votes in the second ballot, leaving five names heading into the third round.
Emmer notably increased his support to 90 votes, while Johnson received 37 votes, followed by Donalds on 33, Hern on 31 and Scott on 14 in the second round.
Rep. Mike Johnson spoke to reporters ahead of Republicans’ closed-door meeting to choose their next chairman
Bergman said after his loss that “the House of Representatives needs a speaker” and that the Republican Party needs to get to work. He pledged to support the future candidate for president and said lawmakers should not leave the conference until they are “confident” a candidate can get 217 votes.
During the third round of voting, Scott was removed from the ticket, leaving four candidates.
Emmer received the most votes so far with 100, Johnson trailing 43, Donalds with 32 and Hern with 26.
Despite the farce of the past 21 days, some party members were optimistic they could reach a resolution and return to work.
“I think we’re going to resolve this tomorrow night,” Rep. Don Bacon, a moderate Nebraskan who voted against Jordan last week, told reporters Monday.
Asked if he agreed that the process would be completed by Tuesday evening, speaker candidate Kevin Hern, R-Okla., told DailyMail.com: “Yes, I do.”
“I think it’s possible,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, another speaker candidate.
“I don’t know if anyone wants to continue beyond tomorrow,” said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas. “We report and work for the American people, and they have said, ‘Get your house in order.'”
In a step toward a more unified direction, each candidate in the running pledged to support whoever wins a conference vote in the House of Representatives.
However, not every voting member has signed that pledge. “I did not sign the pledge,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who is supporting Donalds. “I think we need to focus on making sure that someone is going to lead this party in the right direction.”
But as of Tuesday morning, Republicans were far from united behind one candidate.
When asked if he agreed that the process would be completed by Tuesday evening, speaker candidate Kevin Hern (right) told DailyMail.com: “Yes I do.” He will attend the ongoing GOP conference Tuesday morning
Rep. Steve Scalise spoke to reporters as he arrived at a GOP Caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday
Rep. Matt Gaetz said he was promised the “complete release” of the Jan. 6 tapes by every candidate in the room, but was “most encouraged” by the candidates who planned single-issue spending and promised the aid not to link Israel and Ukraine together. .
Rep. Dusty Johnson, a pragmatist from South Dakota, was less optimistic about finding a speaker by Tuesday.
“I like to be an optimist, but I can tell you that the past four weeks haven’t given me much reason to be optimistic that Republicans will get it done. We continue to see these tight margins,” he said.