Republicans are trying to find a solution to the chaos they plunged the House of Representatives into by impeaching its President Kevin McCarthy. Three weeks after his dismissal due to a no-confidence motion by the radical Matt Gaetz, the group met behind closed doors in the Capitol this Tuesday to try to agree on a candidate. After several rounds of voting, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer was chosen as the selectman. However, that does not guarantee the support of all his people in the plenary, so uncertainty remains.
After McCarthy’s resignation, Steve Scalise was the first Republican candidate elected, but several members of his group made it clear that they would boycott his election, so he did not show up for the plenary session. The group later proposed extremist Jim Jordan, but then it was the moderates who backed out. After losing the third vote, Republicans voted to withdraw their nomination and return to square one in search of an alternative.
Nine congressmen expressed interest in running for the office, although one did not formalize his candidacy and another withdrew at the last minute. This Tuesday the group met behind closed doors and after several rounds of voting in which the candidates with the least support were excluded, Emmer was chosen, who received 117 votes among the 221 members of his group. The finalist among the remaining candidates was Mike Johnson, congressman from Louisiana and election denier who refused to recognize Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In the last vote he received 97 supports.
With a narrow majority, where a candidate must reach 217 votes in the plenary session, the Republicans can hardly afford to leave. The various candidates have signed a declaration of commitment to support the winner, but this only commits them personally and not the members of their respective political families. The Republican hardliners once again have the right to veto and it remains to be seen whether they will use it.
The Republican group was preparing to hold another secret vote Tuesday afternoon to see whether members of Congress are willing to join forces. If it turns out that there is a sufficient majority, the plenary session is expected to meet again on the same Tuesday to vote again. If there are too many rebels who do not commit to supporting him, the vote could be delayed.
Tom Emmer, 62, was number three in the group behind McCarthy and Scalise. In this round he was the favorite of the previous Speaker of the House of Representatives. He is “far above anyone else who wants to run,” McCarthy said of him in an interview on NBC this Sunday. “We have to let him vote this week and move on,” he added. However, Emmer does not have Trump’s support as he voted to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. He has a long history within the party and served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
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Former President Donald Trump has indicated these days that he tried to stay out of the vote, which is not true, since he even offered himself as a solution when necessary and then firmly supported Jim Jordan, who was defeated in the plenary session. This Monday he jokingly referred to how difficult it is to find a consensus candidate: “There is only one who can make it to the end.” You know who it is? Jesus Christ,” he said in New Hampshire. “If Jesus came down and said, ‘I want to be a speaker,’ I would do it. Otherwise, I haven’t seen anyone who can guarantee that,” he concluded.
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