Trump supporters set to reject majority whip Tom Emmer for US House speaker

Donald Trump’s allies are preparing to reject the highest-ranking House speaker candidate, fuelling fears that no candidate will be able to unify the fractured GOP.

Deep-seated divisions within the party have sparked concerns that Republican lawmakers may have to work with Democrats to ensure the vacancy gets filled.

Republicans vying for the speakership have been faced with infighting over the past few weeks, making it difficult to rally the 217 votes needed to win the gavel.

Majority whip Tom Emmer has been billed as the frontrunner among the nine candidates hoping for the plum job, which has now been empty for almost three weeks.

The Minnesota Republican and former chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has won endorsements from ousted speaker Kevin McCarthy who said he is “head and shoulders above” the competition, and is the first candidate to be endorsed by Democrat Dean Philips after Steve Scalise pulled out of the House race.

But Mr Trump has reportedly told his allies he doesn’t want Mr Emmer, who is one of two candidates who did not vote to overturn the 2020 election, in the role.

Mr Emmer, 62, was branded as “openly hostile” to Mr Trump by one Republican lawmaker.

“It’s laughable that he, at the end of the day, would end up being the speaker of the House”, they told Politico.

“Even if he gets the majority of the majority, he will come far short for members who won’t vote for him on the floor.”

Mr Emmer is understood to have some hard-Right allies such as Andy Biggs who helped to oust Mr McCarthy and Matt Gaetz who has reportedly been acting as a go-between between the lawmakers and Mr Trump’s supporters.

The House has been without a speaker since October 3, following the historic ousting of Mr McCarthy who was booted from the top spot in a 216-210 vote.

Last week Jim Jordan failed three times to secure the number of votes needed. The House GOP conference later voted on Friday by a secret ballot to no longer back Mr Jordan as its speaker nominee. He was the party’s second nominee, following Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who decided to back out.

On Monday night, the nine candidates were given minutes to pitch themselves as the best candidate for the speakership.

A closed-door vote on Tuesday morning will whittle the pool down to select the next candidate, who will need to win the necessary 217 votes.

Texas Representative Michael McCaul said the paralysed House was “embarrassing”.

“We can’t even pass a resolution condemning Hamas”, he told ABC News, adding: “it’s embarrassing because it empowers and emboldens our adversaries like Chairman Xi who says ‘you know, democracy doesn’t work.’”

Asked if an arrangement with Democrats would be needed, Mr McCaul said: “This was discussed, I mean, if you can’t get to 217 within our conference…how do you get there? But I think for some, they see that as very dangerous as well.”

Further pressed on whether he would rule out working with Democrats, Mr McCaul added: “I’d rather it be the Republicans nominating and voting on the floor for a Republican speaker but this can’t go on forever. I don’t know if we’re going to have a speaker next week, I don’t know how this plays out.”

Alongside Mr Emmer, the other candidates for House speaker are Mike Johnson, Jack Bergman, Byron Donalds, Kevin Hern, Dan Meuser, Gary Palmer, Austin Scott and Pete Sessions.

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