House Republicans officially have their third Speaker candidate in as many weeks: on Tuesday, a majority of the GOP conference nominated Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) to win the gavel and put an end to the party’s interminable civil war.
Emmer, who served as the House GOP’s No. 3 under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, prevailed in a secret ballot contest over six other candidates in five rounds of voting.
In the final ballot, Emmer beat out Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), a senior member of the party's right flank, according to a source familiar with the result.
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Emmer won 117 votes to Johnson's 97.
On the second to last round, Reps. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and Byron Donalds (R-FL), two of the more conservative front runners, were dropped.
Winning the nomination was a grind for the Majority Whip. While he had the backing of McCarthy—and, reportedly, the help of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)—Emmer made his way from 78 votes to 117 over the course of several tough rounds.
Emmer won more votes than Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) did when he became the first post-McCarthy nominee for Speaker. But he won fewer than Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) did, when Jordan became the second nominee.
Neither Scalise nor Jordan, of course, were able to win the 217 votes needed to secure the gavel. The Minnesota Republican must now find a way to succeed where they failed—while facing the same structural challenges.
Immediately, Emmer tried a different strategy. After the final secret ballot vote, he called a closed-door roll call vote, in which members would go on the record to say who they support for Speaker. The idea was to see how close he is to 217 votes—before taking his candidacy to the floor.
Ultimately, 26 Republicans registered their opposition to Emmer, according to multiple reports. Right-wing lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted for Jordan, while others simply voted present. Only able to lose three Republicans in a floor vote, Emmer has a steep hill to climb if he is to win the gavel.
Though he was an early backer of Donald Trump in 2016, Emmer is seen by some in his party as insufficiently conservative or loyal to the former president. He voted to certify the 2020 election result and has supported sending aid to Ukraine.
But three weeks of leaderless chaos and exhausting infighting have pushed Republicans to the brink, and some may be eager to put an end to the saga. Democrats might be, too: some have indicated that they might sit out a floor vote if Emmer were the nominee in order to ease his path to the gavel.
Some Democrats see Emmer as a more palatable option than any other candidate Republicans have put forward—which, in turn, may damage his standing among Republicans.
