WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, (Xinhua/GNA) — U.S. House Majority Whip, Tom Emmer, on Tuesday dropped his bid for House speaker, just hours after being nominated by Republicans, becoming the third GOP nominee to withdraw from the race for speaker.
In a closed-door vote earlier in the day, Emmer emerged as the third Republican nominee for House speaker, which took five rounds of votes to get to a consensus, as several House Republicans recently joined the race.
In a roll vote afterwards, over 20 holdouts voted against the speaker designee, indicating intraparty resistance over his speakership.
Emmer was opposed by the right flank of his conference, including Rep. Jim Banks, who said the speaker designee was not conservative enough.
Former President Donald Trump, took to Truth Social to urge Republicans not to vote for Emmer, calling him a globalist RINO, or Republican in name only, and warning that electing him speaker “would be a tragic mistake.”
GNA