Topline
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) won the GOP conference’s first three rounds of voting to select a new nominee for House speaker, the latest step in a chaotic process that has fatigued Republicans and their constituents—but Emmer is far short of the majority threshold he needs to win the nomination, teeing up a protracted battle.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., candidate for speaker of the House, is seen outside a House … [+]
Key Facts
Emmer won 78 of the 210 votes in the first round conducted by secret ballot in a private meeting among House Republicans Tuesday, according to multiple reports, picked up 12 votes, for a total of 90, in the second round and won 100 votes in the third round.
Rep. Mike Johnson (La.) came in second in all three rounds, followed by Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.) and Rep. Kevin Hern (Okla.).
Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas) was the first candidate to be removed from the ballot after reportedly receiving just eight votes, the least of any candidate, in the first round, leaving Republicans with six choices.
Rep. Jack Bergman (Mich.) and Rep. Austin Scott (Ga.) were also reportedly eliminated from the ballot after losing the second and third rounds, repsectively.
The losing candidate in each round will be kicked off the ballot until one receives the majority votes needed to win the nomination—a process that comes after Republicans’ first two nominees, Reps. Steve Scalise (La.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio), were forced out of the race after failing to net the support needed to win in a formal election conducted with the full House.
Crucial Quote
“Oh very poorly. Very, very poorly from every aspect,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) said Tuesday when asked by CNN how the speaker fiasco reflects on Republicans. “And it’s frustrating, because it’s just a few, these eight, working with all the Democrats to ruin the reputation of the Republicans, but we’ll earn it back,” McCarthy said, referring to the eight Republicans who voted alongside Democrats to remove him as speaker on October 3 in a far-right revolt led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)
Big Number
67%. That’s the percentage of Americans who say they want the House to elect a new speaker as soon as possible, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released Monday—sentiment shared by more than half of all Democrat, Republican and independent respondents.
Tangent
Emmer, a moderate Republican who serves in the No. 3 GOP position as House Majority Whip, is considered the front-runner in the race after earning McCarthy’s endorsement. He was one of nine candidates to announce his candidacy for speaker over the weekend. Two—Reps. Dan Meuser (Pa.) and Gary Palmer (Ala.)—dropped out shortly after a candidate forum Monday night.
Key Background
House Republicans are voting on a new speaker nominee after Jordan lost three consecutive rounds in an election last week and Republicans voted Friday to remove him as their nominee. Business in the House has been frozen for three weeks without a speaker to dictate the legislative voting process. The chaos has underscored the deep divisions in the Republican conference as a small coalition of far-right members has repeatedly leveraged the GOP’s narrow majority in the House to overpower the rest of the conference, which can afford to lose only four votes to pass any measure, assuming all Democrats vote as a bloc.
Further Reading
Trump Says He’s Staying Out Of Speaker Race, Denies Rift With Front-Runner Rep. Emmer (Forbes)
Jordan Is Out: Secret Vote Ousts Him As Speaker Designate After Third Loss (Forbes)
