NY TIMES
Emmer Drops Speaker Bid After Right-Wing Backlash
Tom Emmer, the House G.O.P.’s No. 3 leader, narrowly won his party’s nomination but drew an immediate backlash from right-wing colleagues and former President Donald J. Trump.
Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3 House Republican, dropped his bid for speaker on Tuesday hours after securing his divided party’s nomination, following a swift backlash from the right, including former President Donald J. Trump, left his candidacy in shambles.
Mr. Emmer’s abrupt exit signaled that Republicans were as far as ever from breaking a deadlock that has left Congress leaderless and paralyzed for three weeks. It made Mr. Emmer the third Republican this month to be chosen to lead the party, only to have his bid collapse in a seemingly endless cycle of G.O.P. grievances, personality conflicts and ideological rifts.
Republicans have now succeeded in repudiating all three of their top leaders over the past few weeks. The chamber has been frozen for the better part of a month as Republicans feud over who should be in charge, even as wars rage overseas and a government shutdown approaches.
By late Tuesday afternoon, they were back to the drawing board. Republicans huddled behind closed doors for the second evening in a row to hear from five potential nominees and choose a candidate. They were prepared to go to the floor for a vote of the full House as soon as Wednesday if anyone could muster a majority, but it remained unclear if that was possible amid the current strife.
“It’s a pretty sad commentary on governance right now,” said Representative Steve Womack of Arkansas, adding: “The American public cannot be looking at this and having any reasonable confidence that this conference can be governed. It’s sad. I’m sad. I’m heartbroken.”
Tuesday’s breakdown was the latest evidence of the seemingly unending Republican dysfunction. Mr. Emmer began the day with a scant victory, winning an internal party nominating contest by a vote of 117 to 97 over a right-wing rival, Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana. But the margin reflected that House Republicans were still deeply at odds.
