Rep. Donalds drops out as two remaining Republican candidates battle for speaker

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida dropped out of the race for House speaker, leaving two candidates battling for the gavel in a closed-door meeting of House Republican lawmakers on Tuesday.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota led in every round of balloting, and now faces Vice Conference Chairman Mike Johnson of Louisiana in a final vote to elect a GOP nominee for speaker.

The list of what was originally nine candidates has been narrowed through multiple rounds of balloting and lawmakers dropping out along the way.

Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas Republican, was forced out in the first round after receiving the lowest number of votes. In the second round, Rep. Jack Bergman of Minnesota was eliminated.

Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia and Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma were eliminated later, and Mr. Donalds, a favorite of the pro-Trump wing of the party, dropped out when it became clear he could not garner enough votes to become the nominee.

Out of 219 GOP lawmakers voting, Mr. Emmer won 107 votes and Mr. Johnson earned 56 votes. Another 25 lawmakers each voted for Mr. Donalds and Mr. Hern, and six others voted present or for an unnamed candidate.

The speaker’s position has been empty since Oct. 3 thanks to intense disagreements within the GOP over the direction of the conference, prompting the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

At the start of the voting Tuesday, the list had already shrunk from nine candidates declared on Sunday. Reps. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania and Gary Palmer of Alabama dropped out before the vote.

The winning candidate will have to overcome the same problem that pushed out Mr. McCarthy and blocked Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio and Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana: Winning the support of 217 GOP lawmakers on the House floor, where Democrats also cast a vote for speaker and plan to back their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Some Democrats say they’ll help Mr. Emmer to win the job by sitting out the vote, which would make it easier for him to win even with some GOP holdouts. But those Democrats want an accompanying spending deal that most Republicans would oppose.