The House is set to re-elect Speaker Mike Johnson. But could Tom Emmer emerge as 2nd contender?

Sydney Kashiwagi, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Dec 26, 2024

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The U.S. House of Representatives will decide Jan. 3 whether to re-elect Speaker Mike Johnson to the top GOP job after he faced a contentious vote to avert a government shutdown at the last minute just before the holidays, leaving some Republicans skeptical of his prospects.

All of Minnesota’s four Republican members of Congress say they plan to back Johnson, including Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip and No. 3 Republican in the House. Emmer came close himself to becoming speaker before Johnson clinched the role last year.

“Whip Emmer supports Speaker Johnson and is focused on doing the job he was elected to do,” a spokesperson for Emmer said when asked if he plans to support Johnson and if he would be interested in running for the role himself if Johnson loses support.

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies sent Johnson scrambling last week to put together a new plan to avoid a government shutdown after he had worked with Democrats on an initial agreement with bipartisan support. In that chaos, some Republicans reportedly said Emmer and other lawmakers were being floated as possible contenders for speaker.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said over the weekend that Johnson is at risk of losing his speakership and that there will be “no Democrats available to save him” Jan. 3, following the speaker’s decision to move away from the bipartisan bill. DFL Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig have said they plan to back Jeffries for speaker.

With a slim 219-215 GOP majority, Johnson can only risk losing one Republican vote to get re-elected to the role if all Democrats vote against him. So far, at least one Republican lawmaker, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has said he will not back Johnson, and other Republicans have indicated they are still undecided.

“I believe Johnson will prevail — but not without making promises that won’t be able to be kept,” outgoing DFL Rep. Dean Phillips, who is leaving his seat Jan. 2 and will not be voting, said in a text.

“Tom Emmer is broadly respected among a diverse array of his conference, and I foresee a race between him and [House Majority Leader] Steve Scalise should Mike Johnson find himself unable to secure 218 votes,” Phillips continued.

Emmer emerged as a contender for speaker last year after a group of Republicans ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. However, Emmer eventually dropped out after Trump and his allies spoke out against his bid on social media

But Emmer and Trump have since grown close. Emmer secured a prime-time spot defending the president-elect during the Republican National Convention, and he spent election night with Trump in Florida.

Nevertheless, Trump has also previously said he’s with Johnson “all the way.” Before the government shutdown dispute last week, Republicans had appeared unified after Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 election. Johnson, Scalise and Emmer were all easily re-elected to their jobs during the November leadership elections.

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