House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) was chosen today as the GOP’s third-try nominee for Speaker of the House, though he’s immediately running into many of the same problems that prevented his two predecessors from being elected speaker.
After previous nominee Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) withdrew from the race last week, nine Republicans announced they would run for speaker; that was reduced to seven before votes began today, and whittled down further on successive ballots over the course of the morning. On the final ballot, Emmer defeated Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) by a margin of 117 to 97.
In a subsequent vote, the vast majority of Republicans said they’d support Emmer on the floor, but 26 mostly right-wing Republicans refused to give him their support – far above the four votes Emmer can afford to lose.
None of New Jersey’s three Republicans – Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), Chris Smith (R-Manchester), and Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) – were among the anti-Emmer holdouts, according to a tally by Punchbowl News.
Van Drew started the day as a supporter of Johnson, but he said that he has no intention of holding out his vote and prolonging the speaker fight even longer.
“We need a speaker,” Van Drew told the New Jersey Globe. “Jim [Jordan] was my guy, and I think he would have been great. However, just as Jim is supporting Tom Emmer, just as many other conservatives are supporting him, I will as well.”
Van Drew added that some Republicans are concerned Emmer would be too moderate, but he believes such worries are overblown.
“People are worried he’s going to zoom way to the left or do something crazy,” he said. “The reality is, he’s not going to have the ability to do that because he needs the support of the caucus.”
The drama over the speakership began three weeks ago, when a small cohort of renegade Republicans joined the entire House Democratic caucus in ousting Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Since then, House Republicans have been stuck in a loop of choosing speaker nominees who don’t have enough support on the floor to win, beginning with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) and continuing with Jordan last week.
New Jersey’s three Republicans were not among the anti-McCarthy votes, and all three stuck by Jordan on his first two ballots. On the third speaker vote last Friday, however, Kean flipped against Jordan, saying that it was clear Jordan didn’t have enough support to win.
Emmer may now soon join the list of failed speaker nominees. Former President Donald Trump has come out swinging against Emmer’s candidacy, and Republicans are planning to meet again later this afternoon to discuss what to do.