Posted on 10/24/2023 9:24:36 AM PDT by JSM_Liberty
House Republicans nominated House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) for Speaker on Tuesday, making him the third GOP lawmaker who will attempt to get 217 votes to secure the gavel.
The conference selected Emmer — the No. 3 House Republican — for the position in a secret ballot during an internal election that lasted three hours, choosing him over six other candidates vying for the job. Two Republicans withdrew their names from the race before voting began.
Emmer, 62, will now take his nomination to the House floor, where he will have to muster enough votes to win the gavel — a heavy lift that the previous two GOP Speaker nominees failed to achieve. If all lawmakers are present and vote for a specific candidate, Emmer will need at least 217 votes.
It may also be a hard climb for Emmer, who has a less conservative voting record than some members would like.
He has voted in favor of codifying same-sex marriage; in favor of spending bills and a debt limit deal that outraged hardliners; and opposed votes on Jan. 6, 2021, objecting to 2020 election results.
Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga.) said he will not back Emmer for Speaker because of his vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which was passed by Congress last year and gives federal protections to same-sex marriages.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said the conservative House Freedom Caucus is not committing to backing Emmer on the floor.
“We’ll see, all of them have different characters, different qualities and we’ll see how it goes,” he told reporters when asked if he would back Emmer.
“We want to sit down with whoever gets it as a Freedom Caucus and understand what their roles —what their roles will be, what they want to push and things like that,” he added.
Emmer’s nomination is the latest development in the long-winded Speaker saga, which has fractured the GOP conference and left the House at a standstill. The chamber is unable to conduct legislative business on the floor without installing a permanent Speaker or empowering Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a reality that has prevented lawmakers from advancing key priorities like government funding and aid for Israel and Ukraine.
Tuesday marked exactly three weeks since eight Republicans banded with Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his post.
And for Emmer — the no-nonsense former collegiate hockey player — Tuesday marks the pinnacle of his career on Capitol Hill. The Minnesota Republican came to Congress in 2015 and served two stints as chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) before rising to majority whip.
Emmer led the House GOP’s campaign arm when Republicans regained the majority in 2022, winning a net-nine seats that delivered them their slim, five-seat majority. Since that victory, he has been instrumental in helping the GOP conference secure a list of legislative wins.
Even Freedom Caucus members have praised Emmer throughout the year for being an honest broker. His office has been a frequent gathering place for Republicans this year as they hashed out internal disagreements.
In a letter to colleagues announcing his candidacy, Emmer pledged to “always be honest and direct with all of you, even if we disagree.”
“I will never make a promise I cannot fulfill,” Emmer wrote. “I expect to be held accountable, and you can expect that we will also keep you to your word.”
The House GOP’s path to nominating Emmer was muddy.
Last week, House Republicans voted to drop Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as the conference’s nominee after he fell short of the gavel on three floor votes. Before that, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) withdrew his name from the race after Jordan backers said they would not support him on the House floor.
The floodgates then opened, with nine candidates throwing their hat in the ring as the conference’s next best chance to break the Speaker impasse.
Republican Reps. Dan Meuser (Pa.) and Gary Palmer (Ala.) withdrew their names before voting began, while Emmer, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) remained in the running.
Emmer was seen as an early frontrunner in the crowded field to be the third Republican Speaker nominee because his rank in the GOP conference, his experience of running in leadership races and an early endorsement from McCarthy, who threw his support behind the Minnesotan even before he formally jumped in the race.
Emmer was also able to breathe a small sigh of relief after former President Trump made positive comments when asked about the Minnesota Republican — which followed negative remarks from Trump loyalists aimed at him.
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon, for example, called Emmer a “Trump hater.” And Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, speaking on former Bannon’s “War Room” show Friday, knocked Emmer for not yet endorsing Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Emmer has said he does not plan to endorse any primary candidate.
But while in New Hampshire on Tuesday, when a reporter said Emmer had not always been Trump’s biggest fan, the former president said: “I think he’s my biggest fan now because he called me yesterday, and he told me, ‘I’m your biggest fan,’ so I don’t know about that.”
“I’ve always gotten along with him,” Trump added of Emmer.
The pair also spoke ahead of Tuesday’s internal election.
“I’ve always gotten along with him,” Trump added of Emmer.
If this one doesn’t take, the Republicans should go through their whole membership list one by one successively till one gets to 217.
Honestly, the Dems never vote for a republican for speaker - it’s bad optics. The republicans never vote for a democrat.
How well did the Federalist party do after the election of 1800?
Heritage gives him an 82%.
If he’s fiftieth that means he’s in the top quadrant of Republican conservatives and more conservative than over 150 of his colleagues.
You left out a word halfwits on here babbling about how awful Gaetz's little tantrum was good for conservatism
Sometimes saving our country seems hopeless.
I would actually argue the question is incorrect. The correct question is, “How long will God hold back His wrath against this once-great land?”
As with ancient Israel, we have turned away from our First Love, the God of our forefathers and Whose principles this nation was founded upon. And like Israel, for our defiance, we will be led into captivity for generations. Look around and see that the machinations of this are already at play. I fear judgment already waits at the door.
Glorious news!
The perpetual GOP circle-jerk can continue unabated...
Moochelle moves one step closer to the WH...
Been hearing this a lot on this thread with nothing to back it up.
Do you have a link to some info?
From The National Pulse: “Prior to serving in Congress, Emmer worked as a spokesman for the National Popular Vote initiative – an effort funded by George Soros and backed by former President Barack Obama to essentially end the Electoral College and elect the President via a nationwide popular vote.”
NO NO NO NO!
The people who female-dog because the uniparty is picking another of its own liked it better when they were stabbing us without needing to show it?
Ok. Take your blackpills and quit then.
Well he’s been nominated behind closed doors. So was Jordan. The vote tonight will be interesting.
“They are still living in the good ole days...”
No.
I think it’s WORSE than that: the eGOP have actually become part of a Pro-Swamp elitist cabal that exists to aggrandize itself at our expense, and in spite of our appeals to our supposed “Representatives.”
They’re not trying to “find common ground”; they have already found it, and they are fighting off Conservatives’ efforts to derail their Deep Swamp gravy train.
They want Emmert, who’s WORSE than McCarthy, because that will punish Gaetz and the folks in flyover country for the attempt to get a more Conservative voice into the Speaker’s chair.
THAT is the game afoot, here: PUNISH Conservatives for listening to the base, and trying to move in a more Constitutionally supportive direction.
RNC/DNC will do ANYTHING BUT allow moving FedGov in a MORE Constitutional direction, and I don’t think we have yet seen the extent of what “ANYTHING” means, either.
And go ahead and tell me all you Gaetz is a hero folks, how this has improved anything…
Clown show continues..
How has anything improved with this?
Re: 153 - LOL! Now THAT is funny!
“ You don’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation.”
I understand the situation for conservatives is Much, much worse than it was before the Gaetz coup. I also understood on day one that it wasn’t going to end any other way.
“...how this has improved anything…
Clown show continues..
How has anything improved with this? ...”
Ever since McCarthy was heaved out, the Left and the Swamp Repubs have been screeching that the gov’t is paralyzed and “can’t act”.
Like every other Western gov’t, the US gov’t doesn’t do anything but bad stuff, so paralyzed is a gain.
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