Republican Tom Emmer drops House speaker bid after Trump attack

Washington — US Representative Tom Emmer abandoned his bid to lead the House of Representatives on Tuesday, just hours after his fellow Republicans nominated him, continuing the party infighting that has paralysed Congress for more than three weeks, a Republican aide said.

Former president and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said it would a “tragic mistake” to support the Minnesota legislator’s speaker bid. “He is totally out of touch with Republican voters,” he wrote on social media.

Emmer, who serves as the number three Republican in the House, secured the nomination after five rounds of voting but appeared to be at least 20 votes short of the 217 he would need to win the speaker’s gavel, legislators said.

He abruptly left an afternoon meeting to press his case and walked past reporters and out of the building without answering questions.

The party’s fourth pick for the job found himself in the same precarious spot that doomed the previous three candidates: seeking to win over a small group of holdouts from his own party that would have the power to doom his prospects.

“I hope we can find a different choice,” said Jim Banks, one of the members who stated he would oppose Emmer in a floor vote. “Tom Emmer’s not a conservative.”

Emmer has a more moderate record than many other House Republicans. Unlike many in his party, he voted to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over Republican Trump following the January 6 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Trump early this month had backed party hardliner Representative Jim Jordan’s bid for the speakership, but Republicans gave up on his attempt last week after Jordan lost three floor votes.

Republicans have already rejected two prior speaker nominees, leaving the chamber leaderless since a small group of insurgents ousted Kevin McCarthy from the job on October 3.

Emmer could point to leadership and fundraising experience that could come in handy as House speaker. First elected in 2014 to represent a suburban Minneapolis district, he helped Republicans win control of the House last year as chair of their campaign arm.

But those leadership skills failed to prevent McCarthy from losing the job. His No 2, Steve Scalise, dropped his own bid the following week when he was unable to line up enough votes to win the job.

Neither McCarthy nor Jordan managed to line up 217 Republican votes. Scalise secured the nomination with 113 votes on October 11, while Jordan got 124 votes in a second nomination vote two days later.

Democrats have said they are open to a compromise candidate that would allow the chamber to function. Many Republicans have said on principle that they would not back somebody who had support from the opposition party.

The infighting has left the House unable to respond to Biden’s $106bn request for aid to Israel, Ukraine and US border security. Congress will also have to act before a November 17 deadline to fund the US government and avert a partial shutdown.

The uncertainty has also helped to push up the US government’s borrowing costs. The government posted a record $1.7-trillion deficit for the most recent fiscal year, in part due to higher interest payments.

“Washington, DC, needs a Republican voice right now. We don’t have one,” said Kelly Armstrong, a Republican representative. “That’s not anybody else’s fault but the Republican conference in the US House of Representatives.”

Reuters