Just this morning on Tuesday, October 24, House members conducted a secret vote to figure out who was the most popular House Speaker nominee. At the time, Tom Emmer had secured the top spot, receiving the highest number of votes. However, now Emmer has officially dropped out of the race.
Republican House Speaker-Designate Tom Emmer dropped out of the race after a brief period as the conference’s top choice. It all began with former President Donald Trump denouncing Emmer (R-MN) as a “Globalist RINO” and a brutal dressing down posted to Truth Social Tuesday.
The closed-door voting found Emmer well short of the 217 votes required to take the gavel, with 26 votes lost in total—four more than he could afford to lose.
Trump started by stating he had many friends wanting to be Speaker of the House but that Tom Emmer was not one of them. He then systematically dissected his abilities from an America First standpoint before accusing him of having defended Ilhan Omar more than himself and being “totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters.”
Trump left room for hope but concluded his comments with a warning that could be devastating for the leadership aspirations of Emmer. According to Jake Sherman via X, this was even texted directly to some Republicans in the House, which shows how serious they were taking it.
When asked about it later, Trump said “It looks like he’s finished” making it clear where he stood on the matter.
Congressman Mario Diaz Balart (R-FL) spoke out about it noting how concerning it was if someone like Tom Emmer couldn’t make it through because then who else would?
Meanwhile, some are already turning their attention towards Mike Johnson from Louisiana as another potential candidate who may be able to bring together both sides better than Tom Emmer did or could have done given what happened here today.
