Tom Emmer seen leaving speaker election meeting in the Longworth building 10-24-23
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Sipa US
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota dropped out of the race for the Speaker of the House today following a meeting where he failed to achieve 217 votes. There are many factors at play here including the "MAGA squad", former president Donald Trump, and pressure from the entire country to just get someone in office.
The MAGA squad is a small and officially unrecognized faction within the republican party that houses severe conservatives. These members go about as far right as legally possible, and their constituents like it that way. Members of this group include Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, and unitl June 2023, Majorie Taylor Greene. These members, along with six others for a total of nine members, are the ones responsible for the ousting of Kevin McCarthy from speakership and have been railroading congress since.
From an outside perspective, it can be mind boggling as to how such a small group can destabilize the United States House of Representatives, and its hard to blame anyone for their confusion. To put it simply, there are 435 seats available in the House of Representatives. 212 of those seats are filled with democrats and 221 of those seats are occupied by republicans. Additionally, there are two vacancies. With such a narrow margin for a majority, small groups have the ability to withold their vote until they get what they want. This is exactly what the MAGA Squad has been doing and to their credit, they've been wildly successful.
While it is easy to blame the MAGA Squad for all the mishappenings of our government and to some even cathartic, it's not entirely true. While his squad had a part to play, former president Trump didn't let them steal all the action. Today on Truth Social Donald Trump called Tom Emmer a RINO (republican in name only) and advised his fellow republicans against electing Emmer. Majorie Taylor Greene in a post meeting interview said she didn't support him due to his voting history against Donald Trumps ban on trans people in the military. When asked about the GOP's plan moving forward, she skirted the question and cited a historical fact about a speakership vote that lasted 2 months back in 1855.
Elise Stefanik came out on X today (formerly Twitter) and revealed the six congressmen still in the running for speakership. The list was:
Byron Donalds of Florida
Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee
Mark Green of Tennesee
Kevin Hern of Oklahoma
Mike Johnson of Lousiana
Roger Williams of Texas