'RINO' Tom Emmer Drops Out of Speaker Race Hours After Winning GOP Nomination
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer dropped out of the race to be the next speaker of the House Tuesday shortly after narrowly winning the Republican Party’s nomination for the post.
The final tally was 117 votes for Emmer, followed by 97 votes for Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana with five GOP members voting for other candidates.
TALLY
Emmer-117
Johnson-97
Others: 5
Present: 1 https://t.co/RPFKlcwf74— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) October 24, 2023
Former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the vote that making Emmer speaker would be a “tragic mistake.”
“I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors. RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them,” he wrote.
Trump argued that Emmer does not respect the Make America Great Again movement.
“He fought me all the way, and actually spent more time defending Ilhan Omar, than he did me—He is totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters,” the 45th president said.
Trump continued that Emmer was now talking favorably about him, but questioned whether he could be trusted.
“The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that’s not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!” the former president concluded.
NBC News reported that a source familiar with the whip effort to secure Emmer the votes he needed to be speaker said the Trump Truth Social post “made an uphill climb impossible.”
As the news was breaking Tuesday afternoon that Emmer was dropping out of the race, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene told Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow that she would have been one of the GOP members voting against Emmer on the House floor.
“We need a speaker of the House that reflects the values and views of Republican voters across the country, and they support President Trump, and they support his agenda, and Tom Emmer does not,” she said.
Tom Emmer has dropped out of the race for Speaker.
We need a Speaker of the House that reflects the values and views of Republicans across the country, and that includes supporting President Trump.
I think we’re going to see more names come back in. pic.twitter.com/7xh5mYJdaa
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 24, 2023
Greene cited as examples his vote against Trump’s transgender ban for people serving in the military and his vote for the Democrats’ Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which could open churches up to being sued if they do not comply with its LGBT mandates.
“We can’t have that for a speaker of the House,” she said.
House GOP conference chair Rep. Elise Stefanik posted on X that the candidates for speaker, as of Tuesday evening, include Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Mark Green of Tennessee, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Roger Williams of Texas.
5:30 PM was the deadline for announced candidates for Speaker. Candidate Forum at 6 PM.
Officially Announced Candidates to the House Republican Conference include:
Byron Donalds (FL)
Chuck Fleischmann (TN)
Mark Green (TN)
Kevin Hern (OK)
Mike Johnson (LA)
Roger Williams (TX)— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) October 24, 2023
The Republicans planned to have a candidates’ forum Tuesday night.
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