Mike Johnson clinches GOP House speaker nomination hours after Tom Emmer drops out: Highlights

After he won the GOP nomination for the speaker's gavel, Johnson told reporters tonight that his intention is to go to the House floor at noon tomorrow to "make this official."

He will need 217 votes to win.

The vote totals for the final round of voting were as follows:

• 128 for Johnson
• 29 for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
• 44 for "other"

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., told NBC News that 43 of the "other" votes were for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and one was for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik of New York posted on X that Johnson was just voted speaker-designate.

GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik of New York posted on X that a third ballot has begun, with two remaining candidates: Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

Reps. Mark Green and Roger Williams were eliminated in the second round.

The results of second ballot were as follows, according to Rep. Dan Meuser:

• 97 for Johnson
• 34 for "other"
• 31 for Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida
• 21 for Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee
• 20 for Rep. Roger Williams of Texas
• 3 voted present

Green dropped out and Williams was eliminated, according to three sources familiar with the vote.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., is no longer in the running for nomination.

He was eliminated in the first round of voting.

GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York announced on X that a second ballot is underway with four candidates: Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Mark Green of Tennessee, Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Roger Williams of Texas.

The results of the first ballot are as follows, according to Rep. Dan Meuser:

• Rep. Mike Johnson 85
• Rep. Byron Donalds 32
• Rep Mark Green 23
• Rep. Roger Williams 21
• Rep. Chuck Fleischmann 10 (eliminated)

At least 30 lawmakers did not vote for any candidate.

The conference has now moved to a second ballot.

Voting is underway on tonight's first secret ballot, according to Reps. Austin Scott of Georgia and Dan Crenshaw of Texas.

House Republicans are voting behind closed doors.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., pitched Newt Gingrich as a possible candidate for speaker.

"The House needs to get their act in order," Scott, a Republican candidate for president, said tonight during an appearance on iHeart’s Des Moines, Iowa-based “Simon Conway” show.

"It is embarrassing, and it’s going to cost us, if this continues, it will cost us in 2024," he said before he pitched the idea that, as a temporary solution, the House would be "better off" selecting a speaker who’s not in the chamber.

"Take someone like Newt Gingrich, put ’em in the position for three months, get the rest of the conference together, figure out who they’re willing to vote for, and then put a permanent speaker in place," Scott said.

Gingrich, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, was House speaker from 1995 to 1999.

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, formally announced his bid for speaker after he was named by GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik in a tweet tonight as one of six Republicans running after Emmer dropped out.

“We are now in the fight of our lives, to save our country, and I believe our country requires someone who will stand up to the Biden Administration, who will bring conservatives together, and put America first!" Williams said in a statement.

He touted his efforts in Congress to cut taxes, secure the U.S.-Mexico border and fight regulations that he said hindered small businesses.

"For over 52 years, I have run a successful small business back home in Weatherford, Texas, where I have seen how the strong hand of the government hurts all Americans. It is time a conservative businessman stands up to put the country back on track," Williams said.

The White House weighed in tonight on House Republicans’ inability to elect a new speaker.

“The House GOP is mired in seemingly endless finger-pointing and competitions to take the most extreme positions imaginable, whether it’s backing radical nationwide abortion bans, gutting Medicare and Social Security benefits, opposing the right to marry, or supporting dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.

He also noted the Nov. 17 deadline for Congress to pass legislation to fund the government.

“Now we’re 24 days from a House Republican shutdown,” Bates said. "It’s in the best interest of the country — and House Republicans themselves — to get their act together, instead of perpetuating a splitscreen in which they bicker while President Biden keeps lowering costs and leading on the world stage. But only they can help themselves.”

Amid the impasse, McCarthy is floating a plan that would reinstall him as speaker and make Jordan, a conservative Trump ally, the assistant speaker, according to three sources familiar with McCarthy’s pitch.

Asked why the idea — which lacks key details, like how it would be enacted and whether it could even gain enough traction to happen — was being floated now, a GOP lawmaker replied: “We’re desperate.”

While the idea might seem far-fetched and it has not been pitched broadly within the GOP Conference, it is being discussed among some Republicans after Emmer, the third GOP nominee, dropped his bid. A source briefed on the idea likened it to the Speaker Nancy Pelosi/Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark arrangement that the Democrats had.

“Kevin speaker, Jordan assistant speaker,” the source said.

Two GOP lawmakers described McCarthy as having melted down in conference meetings today because, they said, he is losing his ability to handpick a new speaker. He had two “outbursts” behind closed doors today, the sources say, that were about his objections to quickly moving to a nominating vote for Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., the runner-up to Emmer, the lawmakers said.

“This isn’t how you elect a speaker!” McCarthy said in the room, a lawmaker said.

A McCarthy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The House adjourned until noon tomorrow.

That means no votes expected tonight on a new speaker or anything else, and the earliest the House could hold a speaker vote is tomorrow afternoon.

"Additional information about the vote schedule will be announced as soon as it becomes available," a notice sent around by Democratic leadership said this evening.

Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., announced tonight that he has dropped out of the House speaker's race ahead of an 8 p.m. conference vote.

Hern endorsed Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., tweeted tonight that six House Republicans have officially announced their bid for speaker.

She listed all six:

• Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida
• Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee
• Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee
• Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma
• Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana
• Rep. Roger Williams of Texas

Former President Donald Trump said today that his comments about Emmer “absolutely must have had an impact” on his decision to pull out of the speakership race.

“I wasn’t treated particularly well by him as you’ve heard. He wasn’t MAGA,” Trump told reporters in New York.

“I haven’t made a determination on anyone else, but we have some really great people,” Trump added.

Asked if he would support Rep. Byron Donalds for speaker, Trump said that he likes the Florida Republican “very much.”

“We have four or five that want it,” Trump said, without naming the other candidates he supports.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., told reporters after Emmer dropped out that she couldn't get behind his voting record.

“He had voted against President Trump’s ban on transgender in the military. He voted for the Democrats' gay marriage bill," she said. "He was for the national popular vote at one time, and that’s not a movement I could support."

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., also explained his opposition to Emmer's bid for speaker.

“I’m a conservative, he is not. I’m not going to vote to put someone who’s not a conservative in the speaker’s chair,” Banks told reporters earlier today.

Republicans will hold another candidates forum at 6 p.m. ET, with applications for the speakership due in 30 minutes, multiple members said.

Several people have expressed interest in running, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said, but he wouldn't give names.

A source familiar with the whip effort for Emmer tells NBC News the Trump Truth Social post slamming Emmer that landed just after the GOP meeting this morning made an uphill climb impossible.

Emmer knew if he held another vote he would lose even more people, which was part of why he decided to drop out instead of letting this drag out, the source said.

With Emmer out of the speaker's race, Reps. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and Mike Johnson, R-La., are expected to appear again on the next secret ballot in the conference, according to two sources familiar with their plans.

If one wins a majority in the room, they'll earn the speaker designate title.  

Emmer has dropped out of the speaker's race, three sources familiar confirmed to NBC News.

While almost all the men who were running to be speaker this week voted to overturn the 2020 election results, Johnson was a bit more active than others.

In 2020, he helped get fellow House GOP members on board to sign an amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit that would have invalidated the election results in key states. CNN reported at the time that Johnson sent an email from his personal account to every House Republican. More than 125 eventually signed on.

His involvement is not going unnoticed by Trump critics. The political team of former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who became an outspoken opponent of the former president, sent around some old clips about Johnson's involvement and highlighted The New York Times calling him "the most important architect of the Electoral College objections."

After Emmer won the nomination, 26 Republicans voted to say they will not support him on the House floor. Most voted for Johnson or Jordan, though a few voted present.

Here’s the full list of people who voted against him and who they voted for instead. This list was confirmed by three sources in the room.

1. Rep. Rick Allen, of Georgia — Johnson
2. Rep. Jim Banks, of Indiana — Jordan
3. Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona — present
4. Rep. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma — Jordan
5. Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas — Jordan
6. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia — Jordan
7. Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia — Jordan
8. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona — Johnson
9. Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio — present
10. Rep. Bob Good of Virginia — Johnson
11. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona — Jordan
12. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — Jordan
13. Rep. Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee — Johnson
14. Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana — Johnson
15. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas — Jordan
16. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky — Jordan
17. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois — Jordan
18. Rep. Max Miller of Ohio — Jordan
19. Rep. Cory Mills of Florida — Donalds
20. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas — Present
21. Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina — Jordan
22. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee — Jordan
23. Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania — Jordan
24. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas — present
25. Rep. Keith Self of Texas — Jordan
26. Rep. Greg Steube of Florida — present

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., said in a post on X that he had initially supported Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., on Tuesday morning and then supported Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., on the next ballot.

He acknowledged that Emmer ultimately secured the nomination for speaker in conference but said he won't have the votes to get elected on the floor.

"Tom Emmer has secured the nomination but no longer has a path to secure 217 votes. It’s time to get back in the room and give Kevin Hern and Mike Johnson an opportunity to get to 217!" Rosendale said.

Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, wants the top three House Republicans to stay out of the speaker's race, his communications director confirmed on the congressman's X account.

The current leadership includes Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Speaker pro tempore Patrick McHenry and Emmer.

Donald Trump just knifed Emmer’s speaker bid, less than two hours after he secured the House GOP nod.

Given how much of the known opposition to Emmer comes from the MAGA wing of the party, this is going to pose a major, major challenge to his chances of locking up 217 votes on the floor.

In a Truth Social post, Trump criticized Emmer, saying the speaker-designate never backed him and is not one of his friends.

Trump wrote of Emmer: "He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA-MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

In the lengthy post, Trump criticized Emmer, calling him completely out of touch with Republican voters and questioning whether Emmer would turn on him if he's elected. "The Republican Party cannot take that chance because that's not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake."

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., told reporters that some House Republicans have expressed that they have problems with some of Emmer's previous votes in Congress.

Some examples people have pointed to, she said, are Emmer's vote in favor of the federal government recognizing same-sex marriage and his vote to certify the 2020 election results.

After voting no for Emmer, Banks explained that he wouldn't be able to support "one of the most moderate members" of the caucus.

“I can’t go along with putting one of the most moderate members of the entire Republican conference in the Speaker’s chair," he said.

"I hope there’s a change along the way. He doesn’t have the support in the room right now. So dozens of members that won’t vote for him at this point," Banks added, describing the meeting as "a heated discussion."

House Republicans will take a break until 4 p.m. ET to give Emmer time to talk to the roughly two dozen lawmakers who are against his bid, several members told NBC News.

The conference is expected to reconvene at 4 p.m. to resume the meeting to discuss the next steps.

It's unclear if House Republicans plan to hold a speaker floor vote on Tuesday.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, said he and other Democrats will need to see changes in how the House operates to facilitate Tom Emmer’s speakership bid.

“I am proud to be part of Team Normal. But they’re Team Out Of Their F---ing Minds. And I’ve never seen anything like this before,” McGovern said. “It’s embarrassing for this country, and they should all be ashamed of themselves.”

Following the meeting, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas said that he is still planning to nominate Donald Trump for speaker, even if the former president would only be in place for a short time ahead of next year's presidential election.

"I’ll suggest it if we go to the House floor for a vote that is our leader Donald J. Trump for 100 days," said Nehls, who has been pushing a Trump speaker bid for weeks. "One other thing I told the president is you may have to adjust your golf schedule, your golf game, you will be busy, but I think he would be willing to do it for 100 days."

He declined to answer questions about what he, if anything, has discussed with the former president.

McCarthy was asked whether 26 House Republicans who oppose Emmer are the same lawmakers who ousted him as speaker.

"No, I only had eight against me," McCarthy told reporters.

He expressed anger at the eight who voted to remove him as speaker, blaming them for the chaotic situation Republicans are in.

"Every member is tired of this. Every member is tired of those eight who worked with every single Democrat," he said. "The eight members worked with every single Democrat to put us in this place. So we're tired of that ... that is why we're where we are."

During an internal conference vote, 26 GOP representatives did not vote to back Emmer, according to Rep. Brandon Williams of New York.

They either voted present or voted for another candidate.

"The bulk of them were for Jim Jordan, and there was five for Mike Johnson. There was one for Byron Donalds," Williams said.

Without the support of 26 GOP holdouts, Emmer would fall short of the 217 votes needed for him to get the speaker's gavel.

"Kevin McCarthy set the bar in 15 [rounds of voting]. So anything short of 15 is, is well within the realm of history," Williams said.

"I honestly, I don’t know. I will support whoever comes out of conference," he added. "So right now I’ll support Tom Emmer."

Some context on Tom Emmer voting to certify the 2020 election result: He chaired the NRCC that cycle and Republicans had a good night, unexpectedly gaining 13 seats — all on the same ballot as Donald Trump.

To question the presidential election would be to question their wins, too.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., today locked in an agreement for the Senate to vote on amendments related to a partial government funding bill, followed by final passage.

The agreement ends weeks of paralysis related to this government funding measure after a number of Senate Republicans objected to lumping the bills together instead of considering them individually.

The legislation would fund military construction and agriculture programs, as well as programs focused on transportation and housing. The bill makes up only three of the dozen appropriations bills Congress has to pass for the new fiscal year.

Government funding expires on Nov. 17 and the House and Senate will need to pass a compromise package in order to prevent a shutdown. The government has been operating under 2023 funding levels for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Two House Republicans say that Emmer doesn't have enough support to win a speaker election on the House floor, as the conference takes a private, internal vote.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told reporters, "There are some holdouts" and estimated there are about 10 of them. He said he still expects a floor vote to take place later today.

Asked how many no votes there are for Emmer, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told reporters there are too many.

Emmer wants to hold a full House vote this afternoon to elect him speaker of the House, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., told NBC News. No vote has been scheduled yet and Republicans have not sent any official guidance about when a vote might happen.

LaMalfa said Republicans are conducting a roll call vote inside their private meeting. This will give Emmer a sense of who is opposed to him. He'll need a majority of the whole House to win.

Republicans nominated Emmer to be House speaker, the third lawmaker to be nominated as the chamber enters its third week without a leader.

Emmer defeated Johnson in the final round of voting.

Emmer, who is currently the House whip and has represented central Minnesota in Congress since 2015, must now secure 217 of the 221 Republican votes on the House floor to be elected to the job, a task that bedeviled the two nominees before him.

According to multiple Republicans, Emmer received 107 votes on the fourth round and Johnson got 56.

Donalds and Hern tied for last place and were eliminated.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., talks to Meet the Press NOW on the 20th day without an elected House speaker, despite challenges around the world.

Donalds and Hern are out following the fourth round of ballots, leaving the race betwen Emmer and Johnson, Stefanik said in a post on X. House Republicans are now casting their ballot in the fifth round.

Donalds and Hern tied as lowest vote-getters in the fourth round, three House Republicans told NBC News. Donalds dropped out voluntarily and Hern was then eliminated, the members said.

After the third round of voting, a GOP member shared the vote totals with NBC News. The totals were confirmed by Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who has been tweeting them out.

Scott was dropped from the ballot, leaving Emmer, Johnson and Hern.

Emmer 100

Johnson 43

Donalds 32

Hern 26

Scott 12 (Eliminated)

Other 3

Present 3

Scott was voted out in the third round of ballots for the GOP's speaker nomination, Stefanik said in a post on X today.

Republicans don’t have to whittle this list down to one candidate. This race is over as soon as any one of these men gets a majority of votes.

Rep. George Santos has been posting the vote totals on his X account in between rounds of voting. (Members aren't allowed to have their phones in the room, but they can go out into the hallway to use their devices in between votes, as many have been doing.) His totals were confirmed by another GOP member who shared them with NBC News.

Here's the breakdown for the second round of the House GOP votes:

Emmer: 90

Johnson: 37

Donalds: 33

Hern: 31

Scott: 14

Present: 2

Other: 3

Bergman: 7

Bergman was voted out.

Bergman was voted out in the second round of ballots, Stefanik in a post on X announcing the House GOP has entered its third round of votes.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said he thinks the House will have a new Republican speaker today and that the party is “very close,” about “six or seven” votes away, from having the 217 votes required.

Speaking to reporters after the GOP voted out Sessions in the first round of ballots, Burchett said he echoed Bacon's optimism the House will have a new speaker today.

"I think he's very accurate," Burchett said. "I think the group has all stated the new or a different direction that we need to go in than previous leadership was. I think they understand the fiscal situation we're in and that [it's] wrecked."

He added that the speaker vote would not go to the floor until 217 votes were committed to the nominee. “If we go to the floor, it will succeed,” he said.

On the first round of voting, Emmer, Johnson and Donalds were the top three candidates, according to Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky.

House Republicans began their second round of voting after Sessions was voted out in the first round.

Bergman, Donalds, Emmer, Hern, Johnson and Scott are the remaining candidates on the ballot today, Stefanik said in a post on X.

Sessions came in last in the first round of voting, according to a tweet from House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., leaving six candidates now as Republicans continue onto round two.

House Republicans began voting on their first round of ballots to nominate a speaker, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said in a post on X on Tuesday morning.

Palmer dropped out before voting began, leaving seven candidates on the ballot.

The House Republican Conference chair confirmed that the remaining candidates are: Bergman, Donalds, Emmer, Hern, Johnson, Scott and Sessions.

While other Republicans express skepticism, moderate Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska has been the rare voice predicting the GOP will unite and elect a speaker today.

"We got to start functioning," Bacon said heading into the vote, adding that the speaker candidates at Monday's forum "were very optimistic ... in their messages and it wasn't about tearing each other down."

Another moderate, Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., doesn't know if the GOP will get a speaker today: "It's either third time's a charm or three strikes you're out!"

But he agreed, voters around the country want the House to work again.

"They need a speaker. They need us functioning," Molinaro said before entering the room. "Constituents are growing as frustrated and angry as I am right now."

Of the eight Republicans running for House speaker, six voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results that made Joe Biden president.

After Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, took himself out of the running last week, when it became clear that he wouldn’t get enough votes for the top job, nine men have lined up to see if they can pull the sword from the stone.

The fact that so many of them backed Donald Trump’s theory of a faulty 2020 election — even after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol — isn’t entirely surprising, since it was a common position among GOP leadership.

Read the full story here.

House Republicans will — yet again — huddle behind closed doors this morning to select their new speaker designate. Only this time, instead of two candidates facing off for a majority of their colleagues’ votes, there will be eight names to choose from, which means we’re most likely in for hours of waiting to see who the next candidate to try for 217 on the House floor will be.

The meeting will kick off at 9 a.m. ET, with Republicans voting by secret ballot. Whoever earns the fewest votes in round one will automatically drop out as an official candidate for speaker. That means that when we hit round two, it’ll be seven candidates, by round three, at least six, and so on.

But here’s an important thing to remember: Once someone earns a majority in the room, that’s it. He’s the speaker designate, even if other candidates are left in the running.

Once there’s a nominee, that person will need to get 217 votes on the House floor to become speaker. That vote could happen later Tuesday, but the potential timing is unclear.

Three weeks after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, House Republicans will gather behind closed doors this morning to nominate a new candidate for speaker — their third attempt to fill the job.

A GOP civil war has prevented Republicans from agreeing on a successor to McCarthy, R-Calif. The GOP’s two previous picks bowed out after they failed to secure the votes needed to win on the floor, leaving the House in a state of unprecedented chaos with a possible government shutdown less than a month away and wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“The world is burning around us, and American leadership is necessary. And you can’t have the full complement of American leadership if the House of Representatives is not functioning,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” emphasizing the need for his colleagues to move on and coalesce around a new leader.

Read the full story here.