Majority Whip Tom Emmer led in the first round of ballots when Republicans met behind closed doors in the House basement Tuesday to elect a new nominee for speaker.
Mr. Emmer placed first among the seven candidates vying to lead the chamber. Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas Republican, was forced out in the first round after receiving the lowest number of votes.
Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson of Louisiana placed second and Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida earned the third-highest number of votes.
Lawmakers will continue to vote until they whittle down the list to one person who wins the nomination with the majority of support from the conference. Mr. Emmer garnered 78 votes in the first round in the 221-member House Republican Conference.
The speaker position has been empty since Oct. 3 thanks to intense disagreements within the GOP over the direction of the conference.
At the start of the voting, the list had already shrunk from nine candidates declared on Sunday. Reps. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania and Gary Palmer of Alabama dropped out before the vote.
The winning candidate will then have to overcome the same problem that pushed out ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, of California and blocked Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio and Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana: Winning the support of 217 GOP lawmakers on the House floor, where Democrats also cast a vote for speaker and plan to back their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Some Democrats say they’ll help Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota win the job by sitting out the vote, which would make it easier for Mr. Emmer to win even with some GOP holdouts. But those Democrats want an accompanying spending deal that most Republicans would oppose.
Source:Washington Times
