Tom Emmer Drops Out Of Speaker Race Hours After Winning Nomination

Rep. Tom Emmer had dropped out of the race for Speaker of the House just a few hours after he won the Republican nomination following a series of secret ballot votes on Tuesday (October 24).

While Emmer knocked off eight other candidates after five rounds of voting, he could not find a path to get the 217 votes he would need to win the Speaker's gavel. There were around 25 Republicans who refused to support Emmer.

The Republicans will head back to the drawing board as they scramble to find a Speaker who can gain enough support to win the gavel. They are holding a candidate forum at 6 p.m. ET and will try to pick a nominee from six candidates: Reps. Byron Donalds, Chuck Fleischmann, Roger Williams, Mark Green, Mike Johnson, and Kevin Hern.

The House has been without a Speaker for almost three weeks after Rep. Matt Gaetz and a small group of conservative lawmakers pushed through a motion to vacate against Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan previously ran for Speaker but could not get enough votes to win.