houses of Parliament
House of Representatives: Republican Emmer candidate for presidency
Tom Emmer, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, leaves the Republican caucus meeting in the Capitol. photo
© Jose Luis Magana/AP/dpa
Now it’s up to Tom Emmer: The Republican has been chosen by his group as the candidate for chairman of the US House of Representatives. This makes him the third candidate for the office.
The Republicans in the US House of Representatives have chosen a new candidate for chairmanship of the parliamentary chamber. After Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan were eliminated, the representative sat down Tom Emmer on Tuesday in a vote within the group. The 62-year-old has so far been the so-called majority whip among the Republicans: This means that he helps the party leadership in the House of Representatives to get majorities in the group for proposed laws. It remains to be seen whether Emmer will actually be elected chairman of the chamber in a vote by the House of Representatives.
Emmer prevailed against several competitors on Tuesday. According to US media reports, 117 of his party colleagues ultimately voted for him. In order to be elected to the third most important office in the state after president and vice president, an absolute majority is required among the members of the House of Representatives present. This would probably require 217 votes in the parliamentary chamber. Since the Republicans only have a narrow majority there with 221 seats, a candidate can only afford a few dissidents within his own ranks.
Scalise and Jordan announced their withdrawal due to a lack of support. Jordan, a loyalist of former US President Donald Trump, failed in three rounds of voting in parliament. Scalise had already thrown out a vote in the chamber. A problem for Emmer is likely to be Trump’s lack of support. Before the election, his supporters had raised the mood against Emmer in the parliamentary group on social networks. The conservative lawyer has represented the US state of Minnesota in the legislative chamber since 2015.
The US House of Representatives has now been without a properly elected leader for three weeks. This paralyzes legislative work in parliament. Republican Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the post in a historic vote in early October. Radical Republicans had driven him out of office. It was the first time in US history that a chairman of the House of Representatives lost his job in this way.