Hours after it was announced Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer would be the GOP choice for Speaker of the House, reports say he dropped out of the race.
Republicans had picked Rep. Tom Emmer as their nominee for House speaker as they desperately searched for a way out of the chaos they have created, but the choice was quickly rejected by Donald Trump and other hardliners, leaving it highly uncertain the GOP latest hopeful can win the gavel.
So who's left to be the Speaker of the House?
"I don't know. It's a bad look," says WCCO Political Analyst Blois Olson. "They have to govern. We are just days away from another government shutdown. I thought there was a chance Emmer would stand up to Trump and just play hardball. He would just hold on and try to wait it out. But clearly he decided not to do this, and now we're another day or three away from the next round of voting."
Emmer is the party’s third-ranking Republican as the GOP whip, jumped out in front during private morning balloting among a hodgepodge list of mostly lesser-known congressmen aspiring to be speaker, a powerful position second in line to the presidency.
But no sooner did Emmer win the majority vote of his colleagues than his nomination was shot down by a powerful detractor he had tried to win over — Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 presidential election, who has long criticized the party’s former campaign chief as disloyal.
Trump came out saying he opposed Emmer as choice for Speaker. Emmer was not one of the Republicans in the House that voted not to certify the 2020 Election causing a rift between Trump and the Minnesota Congressman.
Three weeks after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy, throwing the House into turmoil, they appear no closer to ending the bitter infighting and choosing a new speaker who can credibly unite the GOP majority, lead the party and get the U.S. Congress working again.
Dejected Republicans, many hearing from angry far-right callers pressuring them to vote against their own nominee, planned to reassemble later Tuesday afternoon ahead of possible floor action.
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