Tom Emmer drops out of race for Speaker of the House

Republican Tom Emmer has dropped out of the race to become Speaker of the US House of Representatives, only hours after being nominated.

He is the third nominee to fail to secure enough support from his own party members to lead the chamber.

Mr Emmer, from Minnesota, emerged as the party's pick in a series of secret internal ballots earlier on Tuesday.

But more than 20 Republican lawmakers - and Donald Trump - said that they would not support him.

The House has been without a Speaker and has been unable to pass bills since Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted on 3 October.

Mr Emmer's decision to drop out of the race puts Republicans back at the start of a quest they have so far struggled to complete - finding a candidate that can win the support of almost all of the party's representatives.

During a meeting on Tuesday evening, Republican lawmakers nominated a new set of six candidates: Byron Donalds of Florida, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Mark Green also of Tennessee, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Roger Williams of Texas.

The sentiment among House Republicans, according to South Carolina's Ralph Norman, is that they should "stay as long as it takes" to get a new nominee.

Republicans only hold a narrow majority over Democrats in the lower chamber of Congress, so their nominee can only afford to lose a handful of votes from their own side to win.

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Earlier, nominees Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio both failed to gather enough support to replace Mr McCarthy.

Now the same has happened to Mr Emmer, who won the nomination after successive rounds of voting by Republican lawmakers that whittled down eight candidates one by one.

Mr Emmer defeated Mike Johnson of Louisiana in the final round but opposition to his nomination became almost immediately apparent.

Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform shortly after to call him a "Rino" - Republican In Name Only - who "never respected the power of a Trump endorsement or the breadth and scope of Maga - Make America Great Again".

Mr Trump added that he believed it would be "a tragic mistake" for Republicans to back Mr Emmer.

Speaking to reporters following Mr Emmer's withdrawal, Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she was unable to support him as a result of policy disagreements, including over a bill that provides federal recognition to same-sex marriage. Mr Emmer voted in favour of the legislation, which became law last year.

He also voted to certify the results of the 2020 election in favour of the winner, President Joe Biden, a vote that angered Mr Trump's allies.

Ms Greene said that the eventual Speaker nomination should reflect the "will of Republican voters" who "overwhelmingly support President Trump".

Mr Emmer, 62, is House Majority Whip, making him the third-most powerful Republican in the chamber.

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A former college ice hockey player and coach, Mr Emmer also previously served as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to help party candidates win elections across the US.

He has held his seat in Congress since 2015, and prior to that served in the Minnesota state legislature. He narrowly lost a race for governor of the state in 2010.

Representative Mike Flood of Nebraska - who previously suggested giving temporary speaker Patrick McHenry additional powers - said he would vote "yes" on that if it became an option amid the continued inability to elect a Speaker.

Mr Flood added that he believes the party "will find out tonight" who their nominee is and what the next steps would be.

Additionally, Mr Flood said that he believes differences between factions of the party would make any "unity pledge" difficult.

Several lawmakers expressed frustration with the inability to reach consensus.

Among them was Georgia's Rich McCormick, who told reporters that the process "is not helping at all".

Steve Womack of Arkansas also said that he believes the Republican conference is at "an impasse" and that it is "apparent to the American public that the GOP conference is hopelessly divided".

He said he did not want to predict when a next vote for the nominee will take place.

With additional reporting from Mike Wendling