Rep. Tom Emmer drops speaker bid hours after winning nomination

(CBS NEWS) — House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has dropped out of the Republican race for speaker, the third speaker-designee to drop out in less than three weeks since hardline Republicans ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the position.

Emmer’s decision to drop out of the race a mere four hours after Republicans elected him as their nominee sends House Republicans back again to try to find a new nominee after three weeks without a permanent speaker.

Emmer won an election Tuesday against a large field of eight Republicans. Rep. Mike Johnson came in second place after several rounds of voting. Johnson tried to rally holdouts around Emmer without much success.

Former President Donald Trump opposed Emmer shortly after he won the nomination. Trump posted on Truth Social, “Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!” He said Emmer was “out of touch with Republican voters” and “never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement.”

The Minnesota Republican needed to persuade the far-right members of the conference to vote for him on the floor. A roll-call vote in the conference indicated that there were over 20 who opposed Emmer, far more than the four Republicans he could afford to lose on the House floor.

Without a speaker-designee, no votes are foreseeable on Tuesday, and the House remains more or less paralyzed. Without a speaker, it can’t pass legislation, such as funding for Ukraine and Israel.

Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Patrick McHenry is in charge, but insists his role is limited to overseeing the election of a new speaker. An effort to potentially expand McHenry’s power shriveled last week.