When word broke that Republicans had nominated a speaker designate, for a brief moment, I was actually excited. Perhaps we were finally closer to getting someone who will be the next Speaker of the House. That excitement was short-lived, however, upon learning that it was Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) I knew we got nowhere closer to electing a speaker. The third time wouldn’t be the charm.
I shook my head knowing that Emmer would lose the full House vote, that Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) would get a plurality, and Republicans would look ridiculous again. In fact, Emmer promptly dropped out of the race within hours of being the caucus nominee.
It never looked good for Emmer. Soon after becoming the designee, at least 26 Republicans have indicated they won’t vote for him in a full House vote. Emmer’s speakership was dead on arrival. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) had a better chance of winning.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons for House Republicans to not be comfortable with Emmer as House Speaker, between his insufficient support of Donald Trump and his arguably lackluster job as chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee in the previous two cycles, it’s hard to see how he managed to get a majority of the conference in the first place.
Related: Can This Man Unite the GOP and Become Speaker?
Even Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who has backed every GOP nominee for speaker, has come out against Emmer.
“House Republicans need to get back to work so we can fight the Biden administration’s radical woke agenda, secure the border, stand with Israel, and cut wasteful spending. First, we need to elect a Speaker who is committed to that conservative agenda,” he said in a statement. “The left-flank of our conference blocked Speaker-designee Jim Jordan then nominated the single most liberal member of leadership to continue business as usual in Washington. They are holding our conference hostage and pushing Republicans to betray our voters and abandon our promises to the American people. I won’t go along with it.”
It’s a fair assessment. His vote for certifying the 2020 election aside, his record on social issues is appalling. As National Review noted last year, he supported the codification of the right to same-sex marriage, opposed the Trump administration’s ban on transgender soldiers in the military, and supported measures to mandate sexual orientation and gender identity protections for government contractors. It’s no shock he didn’t last long.
And that is the fault of the Republican caucus. Holding secret votes until they get a winner clearly isn’t enough. Whatever they are doing isn’t working. They not only have to elect a designee, they need to ensure whoever emerges from their closed-door meetings can actually win a full House vote. Is it really that hard?
At least we won’t have to go through the embarrassment of a full House vote. But once again, we’ve emerged from this process without a speaker and will have to go through this all again. I’m tired of it.
Wake me up when we have a speaker.
