Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., has dropped out of the race for speaker hours after being named House Republicans\u2019 nominee, three sources tell Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n
Emmer won a majority of the GOP Conference on Tuesday morning after five rounds of voting, against six other potential candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it quickly became clear that he did not have enough support to outright win a House-wide vote. With Republicans\u2019 razor-thin majority, a GOP speaker-designate can only lose four members of their own party to win the gavel without Democratic support.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At least 25 Republicans said they would not support Emmer in a House floor vote after he won the title.<\/p>\n
More GOP lawmakers indicated after the roll call that the conference needed to move on to a new nominee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018This morning I voted for Rep. Donalds for speaker. Followed by Rep Johnson. Rep Emmer does not have votes to be speaker and I will be unable to support him on the floor,\u2019 Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., wrote on social media platform X.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., called on GOP Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., to jump back into the race. Both lost to Emmer earlier in the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018This morning, the Republican Conference met to elect a Speaker. I supported Kevin Hern until he was eliminated from the ballot, at which time I supported Mike Johnson,\u2019 Rosendale said on X. \u2018Tom Emmer has secured the nomination but no longer has a path to secure 217 votes. It\u2019s time to get back in the room and give Kevin Hern and Mike Johnson an opportunity to get to 217!\u2019<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump exerted external pressure against Emmer.<\/p>\n
\u2018I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors,\u2019 Trump wrote on his Truth Social app. \u2018RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them.\u2019<\/p>\n
Shortly after Emmer dropped out, the offices of Reps. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Digital they were both re-entering the race.<\/p>\n
Emmer is the third speaker-designate House Republicans have had in as many weeks. Congress has been paralyzed since eight GOP lawmakers voted with all Democrats to oust ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the first time in history the House deposed its own leader.<\/p>\n
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio \u2013 two of the highest-profile House Republicans after McCarthy \u2013 were both forced out of the race because they were unable to win over the 217 Republicans needed for victory.<\/p>\n