Establishment Candidate Tom Emmer Drops Out Of Speaker’s Race

Despite winning the GOP’s secret ballot to become the House Speaker nominee, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) dropped out within hours of the ballot as it became likely that he would not have enough votes to win the speakership.

Emmer was supported by establishment Republicans like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — who lost the speakership in a historic vote of no confidence initiated by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) earlier this month. Emmer has been denounced by conservative lawmakers and voters over his strong support for sending more American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine — as well as his support for many left-wing positions.

The Minnesota congressman, who currently serves as House Majority Whip, ultimately dropped out of the speaker race on Tuesday afternoon when it became apparent that he would be unable to secure enough votes to win the speakership due to opposition from his more conservative colleagues.

The decision reportedly came after Emmer “stormed out of a GOP conference meeting as roughly two dozen Republicans refused to support him and former President Donald Trump unleashed a Truth Social post against his bid for the speakership,” according to The Daily Wire.

Republicans currently have a slim majority in the House, meaning that any GOP candidate for speaker could only afford to lose a handful of votes from the Republican side of the aisle unless he rallied support from the Democrats — who have continued to unanimously support their nominee, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

Emmer was the third GOP nominee for the speakership, following House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s (R-LA) decision to drop out of the race and several RINOs’ refusal to support House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) candidacy.

Thus far, Jordan was the only Republican speaker nominee to make it to a House floor vote, and he was the only candidate to receive significant support from the GOP voter base — yet he was removed as the nominee in a secret vote from House Republicans.

Emmer faced the strongest opposition from Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who has stated that the House Majority Whip is not a conservative. Banks further argued while speaking with reporters that voting for Emmer “betrays the conservative values I came here to fight for.”

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