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Republicans in the US House of Representatives have selected Minnesota congressman Tom Emmer as their newest candidate for Speaker of the chamber, in a renewed push to break the stalemate that has paralysed Congress for nearly a month.
House Republicans met behind closed doors in Washington on Tuesday morning to vote for a nominee from a field of eight candidates who entered the race after the party ended its support for Ohio congressman Jim Jordan’s candidacy.
After several rounds of voting, Emmer was named Speaker designate, House Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Emmer is the House majority whip, and previously ran the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s campaign arm.
But it remains far from clear whether he will be able to unite the fractious party and win a floor vote of the full house. Democrats have remained united in voting for their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, in each vote over recent weeks.
Republicans control the House by a razor-thin margin, so Emmer can only afford to lose a handful of votes from his own party’s benches to win. Jordan lost three votes last week, with more than 20 Republicans voting against him.
The House has now been without a Speaker for three weeks, after a rebellion led by rightwing Florida congressman Matt Gaetz removed Kevin McCarthy from the role earlier this month.
Republicans have struggled to coalesce around a successor, in a failure of governance that has exposed sharp divisions in the party and threatened US political leadership at home and abroad.
The White House last week called on Congress to endorse a national security package that would provide billions of dollars in additional aid to Ukraine and Israel. But the House cannot vote on new legislation until a Speaker is selected.
Congress is also facing the looming threat of a costly government shutdown in less than a month, unless lawmakers can agree on a new plan to fund the federal government.
A successful candidate will somehow need to overcome the party’s sharp divides and appeal to ultra conservatives and more traditional Republicans, including those who reject Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Emmer voted to certify Joe Biden’s electoral college victory in the 2020 election.
Some ultra-conservative House members have also said they would not endorse Emmer for Speaker because the congressman has supported same-sex marriage.
Trump, the frontrunner in the Republican primary contest, endorsed Jordan for Speaker. But the former president more recently said he was “trying to stay above” the speakership competition. He told reporters at a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Monday that he had “spoken to just about all the candidates”, saying they were “terrific people”.
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