Update: Tom Emmer Is Out

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 24, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 24, 2023 |

Update

5:30: I check out for a couple of hours, return, and Tom Emmer is out. That was quick. He didn’t even subject himself to the humiliation of a House vote. Donald Trump called him a “globalist RINO,” which put the nail in his coffin. Now, they’re back to square one again. I bet they wish they’d stuck with Kevin McCarthy.

2:15: Reporting from the House suggests that, though Emmer is trying to whip the necessary votes, he’s meeting a lot of opposition from the Freedom Caucus, the same jackasses who got the House into this mess in the first place and who continue to insist they will vote for Jim Jordan.

1:05: Before the GOP put the vote to the House floor again, they openly counted the number of people who would support Emmer in a roll-call vote. According to The Times, there are still about 10 holdouts. Ark. Rep. Steve Womack also said that Emmer came up “significantly short” of the necessary 217 votes.

Another Rep. said there were 20 holdouts and 5 who voted present. That’s a lot to overcome.

Original Article
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After several rounds of secret ballots, Tom Emmer — the number three Republican in the House — has surfaced as the next nominee for Speaker. As always, however, it is unclear if he can secure the 217 votes necessary to win the position.

Emmer, a Republican out of Minnesota, is on the more moderate side of the party, which is not saying much for a politician who is to the right of Liz Cheney. He holds the seat once held by Michele Bachmann. Emmer did vote to certify the election in 2020, but only after supporting Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn it. He was also the only Republican among the nine original Speaker candidates who voted for the bill that Kevin McCarthy put forward three weeks ago to temporarily avert a government shutdown.

Emmer, however, is not beloved by the MAGA wing of the party. Donald Trump, who says he is staying out of this race, has been critical of Emmer in the past, partly because he voted to certify the election for Joe Biden.

In the final secret ballot, Emmer defeated Mike Johnson 117-97, which does not suggest overwhelming support. Johnson is a member of the hard-right wing of the party, so there is obviously a divide between the “moderates” and the far right. The fact that several Republicans voted present does not bode well, either. Emmer also has the support of Kevin McCarthy. That’s not necessarily a good thing.

A vote on Emmer is expected as soon as this afternoon.

Post by @keithedwards

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