The Republicans elected Rep. Tom Emmer as their nominee for Speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday as they attempt to fill the top leadership position for a third time and get Congress back to work.

Emmer, the Republican nominee and the leading candidate, jumped ahead in private voting as the top vote-getter among the mix of mostly lesser-known members of Congress as speaker, a powerful position second only to the presidency.

But there is no sure path to the gavel. Emmer, of Minnesota, won a simple majority of his colleagues behind closed doors, but he will need the support of almost all Republicans in a vote in the House of Representatives.

It’s been three weeks since Republicans impeached Kevin McCarthy. The Speaker of the House of Representatives will have to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of uniting the Republican majority.

We’ll have to figure out how to get our affairs in order. I mean, big boys and big girls need to stop making excuses and we just need to get it done, said Rep. Dusty Johnson (RS.D.), a conservative caucus leader.

Although the list of candidates quickly narrowed, it was long and messy, with no clear choice for the job. Emmer, an attorney, is known as a gruff hockey coach who reached out

Donald, former president

Trump for his support and won in the first four rounds of voting.

Coming in second was constitutional law expert Rep. Louisiana’s Mike Johnson, who fought Emmer directly in the fifth round.

Others, including Rep. Byron Donalds, a key Trump ally, dropped out. McDonald’s franchise owner Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, a conservative leader, begged his hamburger colleagues for their support but also dropped out on Tuesday.

Also withdrawing from the race were Reps. Austin Scott of Georgia, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Pete Sessions of Texas, Gary Palmer of Alabama and Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania.

The House of Representatives has been in turmoil without a speaker since the beginning of the month after a contingent of hardline Republicans ousted McCarthy, creating a government crisis that is preventing the normal functioning of Congress.

The federal government risks a shutdown within weeks if Congress fails to pass funding legislation to keep services and offices running by the Nov. 17 deadline. More immediately, Chairman

Joe

Biden has asked Congress to provide $105 billion in aid to help Israel and Ukraine during their wars and to strengthen the U.S. border with Mexico. Without action, federal aviation and agriculture programs will expire.

Those running for speakers were mostly conservatives and election deniers, who either voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, when Biden defeated Trump in the lead-up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, or joined a subsequent lawsuit against the results.results.

Some Democrats have seen Emmer, the Republican Party’s third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives who voted to certify the 2020 election results, as a potential partner in House governance.

But Trump allies and other hardliners have been critical of Emmer for his support of a same-sex marriage initiative and perceived criticism of the former president. Among the far-right groups pushing for legislation over the speaker’s vote, some are now attacking Emmer.

Trump has downplayed and even ridiculed Emmer, with whom he has had a rocky relationship, as he presented himself Monday as a kingmaker talking to many members of Congress seeking his stamp of approval.

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, the far-right leader who engineered McCarthy’s ouster, has said that some of those running Hern, Donalds or Johnson would make a phenomenal choice for speaker.

What Gaetz and other hardliners are opposing is a leader who voted for the budget deal McCarthy struck with Biden earlier this year, which set federal spending levels that far-right Republicans disagree with and now want to undo. . They are seeking sharper cuts to federal programs and services with next month’s funding deadline.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she wanted assurances that the candidates would pursue impeachment investigations against Biden and other top Cabinet officials.

Amid the turmoil in Congress, the House is now led by a nominal interim speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry (RN.C.), the bow-tie-wearing chairman of the Financial Services Committee whose main job is to elect a more permanent chairman. speaker.

Some Republicans and Democrats would simply like to give McHenry more power to get on with the routine business of governing. But McHenry, the first person to find himself in the position created in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 as an emergency measure, has refused to support these overtures.