Who Is Tom Emmer? Here’s What To Know About The New GOP Speaker Nominee Endorsed By McCarthy But Criticized By Trump Allies.
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) won the Republican nomination for House speaker Tuesday following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ouster on October 3, but he faces an uphill battle for the support he needs from former President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress to win the gavel.
Emmer won the Republican nomination after five rounds of voting in a closed-door house GOP meeting on Tuesday.
He was considered the front-runner after earning an endorsement from McCarthy, who told NBC’s
Meet the Press on Sunday Emmer is “head and shoulders above all those others who want to run,” while touting his work on key GOP legislation, including border security bills and the Parents Bill of Rights that requires public schools to provide more information to parents about what goes on in their children’s schools.
Emmer—elected to the House in 2015 to represent a district in suburban northwest Minneapolis after six years in the Minnesota House of Representatives—is Majority Whip, the No. 3 GOP position in Congress, and he previously served two terms as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, fundraising for Republican candidates and campaigning on their behalf to help the GOP take back the majority in Congress in the 2022 midterm election.
While Emmer is well-respected among Republicans in Congress, the Trump-aligned faction of the party could block him from winning the 217 votes he needs to become speaker as he can afford to lose only four GOP votes, assuming all Democrats continue voting for Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
The Minnesota Congressman is one of only two GOP candidates for speaker, along with Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), who voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, and he sharply rebuked the January 6 Capitol riots, positions that have put him at odds with Trump, who has reportedly urged Republicans not to elect Emmer in private.
Emmer is arguably the most moderate of the nine candidates—he was the only one who voted in favor of legislation to federally recognize same sex marriage last year, he supports aid for Ukraine and he voted alongside Democrats and a handful of Republicans in September for the short-term budget to avert a government shutdown.
Emmer, 62, an attorney, father of seven and former college hockey player-turned youth coach in Minnesota, often references the sport as an example of his negotiating skills—he recounted how he had to ingratiate himself into the politics of local youth hockey to improve the program he started in the 1990s,
telling Fox: “I recognized you’ve got all these competing entities, much like you have in Congress.”
While serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Emmer ran for governor and received an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), but he lost the contest by less than a one point margin.
“Our Conference remains at a crossroads and the deck is stacked against us,” Emmer wrote in a letter to Republicans announcing his speaker candidacy. “We have no choice but to fight like hell to hold on to our House Majority and deliver on our conservative agenda.”
Reps. Mike Johnson (R-La.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Jack Bergman (R-Minn.), Scott, Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) and Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) also announced runs for speaker after far-right Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was removed as the Republican nominee following three rounds of voting in a formal election on the House floor last week. Palmer and Meuser dropped out before Tuesday’s nomination process began, and the list of candidates was whittled down with each ballot when the losing candidate was removed. The House could conduct a formal election for the next speaker as soon as Tuesday.
Emmer, an advocate for the cryptocurrency industry and co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Conference, has co-sponsored legislation to loosen restrictions on crypto and has publicly criticized regulators. In an April hearing, he called SEC Chair Gary Gensler an “incompetent cop on the beat.” The industry has also
padded his campaign coffers and he has
openly discussed the mutual benefits for Republicans in forging relationships with the industry.
Trump and his allies have reportedly taken issue with Emmer’s absence of an endorsement for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, according to
Politico, which also reported Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) fueled tensions between Emmer and Trump’s orbit when the two ran against each other for whip last year. Trump’s allies have also accused Emmer of encouraging some GOP candidates to distance themselves from Trump during the 2022 election, Politico reported, though Emmer denied the allegation in an interview with Fox last year,
telling the network Trump has been a “fantastic ally” for Republicans. But he added that candidates should “know [their] districts,” a subtle warning that candidates in swing districts should be wary of aligning themselves with Trump. The former president denied a rift with Emmer in an interview Monday, telling reporters Emmer called him over the weekend and told him he’s his “biggest fan.” Trump, who previously endorsed Jordan, added that he planned to stay out of the speaker race for now.
The House is approaching three weeks without a speaker after McCarthy became the first speaker in history to be ousted from the job in a right-wing revolt on October 3, and the party has failed to coalesce behind a replacement candidate. The GOP’s narrow majority in the House means that the winning candidate can afford to lose no more than four Republican votes, and a small coalition of far-right members threaten to block any speaker who does not align with their ideological faction by voting for alternative candidates.
Emmer is one of only two speaker candidates who voted in favor of certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
www.forbes.com
How many republican congress people will die on the courthouse steps in DC for him as he goes down in flames this spring during the middle of their primaries!
