Republicans pick Tom Emmer as their third nominee for House speaker

Republicans picked Tom Emmer, the party’s Minnesota representative, as their nominee for the House speaker on Tuesday (Oct 24)—their third candidate in the last few weeks as their previous two candidates failed to garner enough support in the Congress.

Emmer was among the pick of the nine other candidates in the multi-round secret ballot voting session on Tuesday morning.

Emmer’s major task is now to secure the necessary votes on the House floor to become the next speaker.

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Task cut out for Emmer

A nominee needs to get 217 votes on the House floor to become the Speaker, which has of late become difficult. There are 221 Republicans in the House, and conservative and moderate factions are divided over who should be the leader.

But it seems that Emmer has his task cut out as some of the Republicans have expressed problems with him.

Republican Jim Banks, who had voted no for Emmer, said that he wouldn't be able to support "one of the most moderate members" of the caucus.

“I can’t go along with putting one of the most moderate members of the entire Republican conference in the Speaker’s chair," he said.

"I hope there’s a change along the way. He doesn’t have the support in the room right now. So, dozens of members that won’t vote for him at this point," Banks added, describing the meeting as "a heated discussion."

Many Republicans not happy with Emmer's bid

Not only Banks, there are at least 26 GOP members who voted against Emmer’s bid during the secret voting, CNN reported.

Democrat member Jim McGovern said he and other Democrats will need to see changes in how the House operates to facilitate Tom Emmer’s speakership bid.

“I am proud to be part of Team Normal. But they’re Team Out Of Their F---ing Minds. And I’ve never seen anything like this before,” McGovern said.

“It’s embarrassing for this country, and they should all be ashamed of themselves.”

But one of the strong opposition came from Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

In a Truth Social post, Trump criticised Emmer, saying the speaker-designate never backed him and is not one of his friends.

"He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA-MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

(With inputs from agencies)

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