UPDATED 4:02 P.M.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Representative Tom Emmer abandoned his bid to lead the House of Representatives on Tuesday, just hours after his fellow Republicans nominated him, continuing the party infighting that has paralyzed Congress for more than three weeks, a Republican aide said.
Emmer, who serves as the No. 3 Republican in the House, secured the nomination after five rounds of voting but appeared to be at least 20 votes short of the 217 he would need to win the speaker’s gavel, lawmakers said.
He abruptly left an afternoon meeting to press his case and walked past reporters and out of the building without answering questions.
The party’s fourth pick for the job found himself in the same precarious spot that doomed the previous three candidates: seeking to win over a small group of holdouts from his own party that would have the power to doom his prospects.
“I hope we can find a different choice,” said Jim Banks, one of the members who stated he would oppose Emmer in a floor vote. “Tom Emmer’s not a conservative.”
Emmer, 62, has a more moderate record than many other House Republicans. Unlike many in his party, he voted to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Republican Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.
Trump said it would a “tragic mistake” to support the Minnesota lawmaker’s speaker bid. “He is totally out of touch with Republican voters,” he wrote on social media.
Trump early this month had backed party hardliner Representative Jim Jordan’s bid for the speakership, but Republicans gave up on his attempt last week after Jordan lost three floor votes.
Republicans have already rejected two prior speaker nominees, leaving the chamber leaderless since a small group of insurgents ousted Kevin McCarthy from the job on Oct. 3.
LEADERSHIP RESUME
Emmer could point to leadership and fundraising experience that could come in handy as House speaker. First elected in 2014 to represent a suburban Minneapolis district, he helped Republicans win control of the House last year as chair of their campaign arm.
But those leadership skills failed to prevent McCarthy from losing the job. His No. 2, Steve Scalise, dropped his own bid the following week when he was unable to line up enough votes to win the job.
Neither McCarthy nor Jordan managed to line up 217 Republican votes. Scalise secured the nomination with 113 votes on Oct. 11, while Jordan got 124 votes in a second nomination vote two days later.
Democrats have said they are open to a compromise candidate that would allow the chamber to function. Many Republicans have said on principle that they would not back somebody who had support from the opposition party.
The infighting has left the House unable to respond to President Joe Biden’s $106 billion request for aid to Israel, Ukraine and U.S. border security. Congress will also have to act before a Nov. 17 deadline to fund the U.S. government and avert a partial shutdown.
The uncertainty has also helped to push up the U.S. government’s borrowing costs. The government posted a record $1.7 trillion deficit for the most recent fiscal year, in part due to higher interest payments.
“Washington, D.C., needs a Republican voice right now. We don’t have one,” said Kelly Armstrong, a Republican representative. “That’s not anybody else’s fault but the Republican conference in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson, David Morgan, Makini Brice and Julio Cesar-Chavez; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell, Richard Chang and Jonathan Oatis)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Representative Tom Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the House, has dropped out of the race to become speaker, hours after being nominated for the position, according to media reports on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Katharine Jackson; editing by Dan Whitcomb)
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday chose Tom Emmer as their nominee for speaker in a bid to find a consensus candidate as they aim for a third time to fill a leadership vacuum that has paralyzed the chamber for three weeks.
Emmer, who currently serves as the No. 3 Republican in the House, won the nomination in a fifth round of voting, lawmakers said. His next test is to secure 217 votes from the 221-member caucus, a high bar intended to ensure Republicans can elect a speaker without relying on Democratic votes.
He bested eight other Republicans who had sought the post.
Republicans have already rejected two prior speaker nominees, leaving the chamber leaderless since Oct. 3.
Some lawmakers said they were eager to bury their differences after three weeks of infighting. But others said they would not necessarily line up behind whoever wins the nomination.
“If we’ve got a weak speaker, that’s not going to play well,” said Ralph Norman, a member of the hard right House Freedom Caucus, before the final vote.
Emmer can point to leadership and campaign fundraising experience that normally would make him a strong candidate for the post.
Republicans have already rejected two leaders with those skills. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker by a small group of Republican insurgents on Oct. 3, and his No. 2, Steve Scalise, dropped his own bid the following week when he was unable to line up enough votes to win the job.
Republicans picked another hard right leader, Jim Jordan, as their nominee last week but dropped him after he lost three floor votes. Some of those who voted against Jordan last reported getting death threats.
‘NOT THRILLED’
The infighting has left the House unable to respond to President Joe Biden’s $106 billion request for aid to Israel, Ukraine and U.S. border security. Congress will also have to act before a Nov. 17 deadline to fund the U.S. government and avert a partial shutdown.
The uncertainty has also helped to push up the U.S. government’s borrowing costs. The government posted a record $1.7 trillion deficit for the most recent fiscal year, in part due to higher interest payments.
“Washington, D.C., needs a Republican voice right now. We don’t have one,” said Representative Kelly Armstrong. “That’s not anybody else’s fault but the Republican conference in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Republicans control the House by a narrow 221-212 margin, which means they can afford no more than four defections on partisan votes. Some 25 Republicans voted against Jordan’s speaker bid last Friday.
With Democrats united in opposition, Republicans will have to ensure they have 217 votes of their own.
Democrats have said they are open to a compromise candidate that would allow the chamber to function. Many Republicans have said on principle that they would not back somebody who had support from the opposition party.
That could change if Republicans remain deadlocked.
“Every hour that this goes by, members get closer and closer to wanting to try unconventional approaches,” said Representative Dusty Johnson.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Katharine Jackson, David Morgan, Makini Brice and Julio Cesar-Chavez; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Shri Navaratnam and Alistair Bell)
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