House Republicans will vote Tuesday to elect a new nominee for speaker after their latest pick, Rep. Tom Emmers of Minnesota, was forced to drop out.
The six lawmakers running in the latest round including three who ran earlier in the day but lost to Mr. Emmer: Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.
Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Mark Green, both of Tennessee, and Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, are new to the race for the gavel.
The GOP will vote on a new nominee following a closed-door conference meeting Tuesday evening in the Capitol.
Mr. Emmer, the majority whip, dropped out four hours after he was nominated. He failed to win over about two dozen holdouts who opposed him for a variety of reasons, among them the belief that he was not conservative enough.
Mr. Emmer was also kneecapped by former President Donald Trump, who issued a scathing denouncement of his nomination, calling him a RINO, or Republican in name only, and said electing him speaker “would be a tragic mistake.”
Mr. Johnson placed second to Mr. Emmer in the last round of votes and could be the candidate who can unite the fractious conference.
The House has been without a speaker since Oct. 3, when a group of eight Republicans voted with all Democrats to throw out Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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