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.
Constitution is my deal breaker.
Hasn’t been anyone since Barry Goldwater that was good enough for me. Rand Paul comes close...
Literally NO ONE else.
At the time Tom said that about the EC, he’d just lost the election to Mark Dayton in the State that was perfecting the Vote Fraud schema that lost Trump his Second bid...
This is the FIRST in Republican party history that an elected rep actually followed through with a threat
And how did this clown show do anything to lessen the deep state or weaken the Uniparty establishment
For a few weeks then it’s back to normal
And they make up for lost time.
Again I say how did this circus improve anything?
You’re going to have the lose the Veruka Salt outlook while watching the Swamp House soap opera.
The demise of the deep state or uniparty weakening isn’t going to happen fast in the Swamp House, if at all..
Hundreds of traitors have called that place home
I was going to write that either the Dems would align with RINOs and red pill the ‘normies’ or else just like the RINOs flexed their no muscle the same would happen here.
Events proceeded before I could write.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4192032/posts
So: care to reprise your comment?
Yep, I guess no one knows any more what "One if by land, two if by sea" meant. I guess my post wasn't clear what I meant either. Gaetz is the hero in my version.By the way the whip withdrew, someone must of reminded him of something.
It seems like Trump is deliberately engineering chaos in the house Republican ranks.
If he thinks that this will help him in the event of him being President, he is wrong as usual.
“It seems like Trump is deliberately engineering chaos in the house Republican ranks.”
To me it seems like Trump is deliberately doing what he can to give us a conservative House. Two hours after Trump’s Truth post, Emmer backed off. If that’s “chaos”, then I’m for it.
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