Just hours after his nomination as the new candidate for chairman of the US House of Representatives, Republican Tom Emmer dropped out, according to media reports. Several US media outlets, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, unanimously reported, citing members of the parliamentary group, that the 62-year-old had withdrawn his candidacy after he failed to secure a majority for a vote in the chamber’s plenary session could put my feet on it.
The chaos in the Republican faction, which has politically paralyzed the House of Representatives for weeks, continues. Yesterday evening the group wanted to discuss the appointment of a new candidate.
Two candidates previously failed
Just yesterday, the parliamentary group nominated Emmer as a candidate for the office of chairman in an internal vote, but he only narrowly prevailed against several competitors. His party colleagues Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan had previously failed in their attempt to rally enough party colleagues behind them to move up to the powerful post. Like Scalise, Emmer is a member of the parliamentary group leadership and was one of the most prominent among the youngest applicants.
In order to be elected to the third most important political office in the USA after President and Vice President, an absolute majority is required among the members of the House of Representatives present. This would probably require 217 votes in the chamber. Since the Republicans only have a narrow majority with 221 seats, a candidate can only afford a few dissidents within his own ranks.
Trump openly against Emmer
Scalise and Jordan had previously announced their withdrawal due to a lack of support. Jordan, a loyalist of former President Donald Trump, failed in three rounds of voting in Parliament. Scalise had already thrown out a vote in the chamber’s plenary session. The problem for Emmer was that Trump openly spoke out against him as chairman and stirred up sentiment against him.
The US House of Representatives has now been without a properly elected leader for three weeks. The legislative work there is largely paralyzed. Republican Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the post in a historic vote at the beginning of October. Radical Republicans had driven him out of office. It was the first time in US history that a chairman of the House of Representatives lost his job in this way.
