Highlights: 8 Republican candidates compete for speaker support in private forum

Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., said all of the candidates signed his unity pledge, which is a promise to support whoever the conference nominates once there's a floor vote for speaker.

Members have been far more divided over whether they will sign the pledge, however.

Sessions didn't project as much confidence after the forum as some of his competitors. Asked whether he thought he had a path forward tomorrow, he said: "We’re going to find out what people think."

Asked how much support he thought he had, Sessions told reporters: "We didn’t take votes. But I think that there are opportunities for people to weigh and measure and do things, and I think that was done."

Donalds said he thought the forum "went great," adding: "We have a lot of talent in our party. But I think it was a really good night tonight. And, you know, tomorrow we go count votes."

Asked how he's feeling about his chances, Donalds said: "I feel good, but you know, you know me — I'm always confident. I feel good. But it's up to the members. It's in their hands now."

None of the candidates has a majority of the party's support right now, Donalds acknowledged, and he said working toward one would be his focus for the "next 24 hours or so."

Hern said he is certain his support is growing and believes he will win the speakership bid. "I didn't get in this to come in second or to lose," Hern said.

Bergman told reporters when he was asked a similar question about his path to victory: "Well, I have a path at least to get up in the morning and get here."

Johnson predicted a long day of votes behind closed doors tomorrow, but he praised his fellow candidates for speaker, saying, "I think it's a healthy process, and I think everybody has a great attitude about it."

"I really am optimistic speaker by tomorrow night," he continued. "I think we've committed to it I think everybody did."

"I think everybody is singing off the same sheet of music. So it's going to be a tough decision for the conference, because we have great candidates, and it's an embarrassment of riches," he said.

Some New York Republicans have suggested their constituents are losing patience with the delay over selecting a new speaker following the vacancy this month.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said his constituents are "darn frustrated with this process," which has dragged on for weeks.

"They want us to get on with business already," he said.

LaLota said he intended to apply “the Jordan test” to candidates whose votes don't align with the sentiments of his district “to ensure that, to the extent that their voting records have been in conflict with our constituents, we’ll try to get reasonable and reliable promises and commitments to the contrary.”

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., said a visit to his home district also made it "clear that people want us to get back to work."

"This isn’t about just our conference. It’s not about the institution. It’s about the American people," D'Esposito said. "They want us to get back to work."

Candidates for speaker are leaving the private forum. House Republicans are expected to hold a closed-door vote tomorrow morning to select one of them as the party's nominee.

Emerging from tonight's forum, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said all of the candidates pledged they would release Jan. 6 tapes to the public if they are elected speaker.

"I asked which of the candidates would support the prompt, full release of the Jan. 6 papers to the public, and every single one of the candidates said they would do that," he told reporters.

House Republicans are hosting their speaker candidates forum tonight in a building named for Nicholas Longworth, a man who knew a thing or two about speaker elections and party discipline.

In 1923, progressive Republicans refused to support their party’s nominee, Frederick Gillett. It took him nine ballots on the floor to win, and only after Majority Leader Longworth struck a deal with the holdouts.

Longworth was elected speaker during the next session in 1925. With a larger GOP majority, Longworth didn’t need the progressives, so GOP leaders punished members who didn’t support him as the speaker nominee, stripping them of committee assignments.

Plus: Any Republican who supported progressive Robert La Follette over Calvin Coolidge in the presidential race was kicked out of the GOP caucus.

Longworth made it clear that disloyalty to party leadership would be punished. And that standard held for decades.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters tonight that he is "optimistic" that the House will have a speaker by tomorrow night.

"I think people are so discouraged by what’s happened last three weeks that they want to come together," Bacon said.

"I think we’ll have a speaker tomorrow night," he added. "I'm hopeful for it."

Meuser confirmed in a statement that he has dropped out of the race, calling on colleagues to coalesce around a new leader "this week."

"Growing our Republican majority in the House, winning the Senate, and electing President Trump in 2024 is the best way to move our country forward," he said, adding that he'll "lead" the former president's campaign in Pennsylvania.

"I want to focus on this commitment, as well as the House and PA Senate race, so therefore, I am withdrawing from the Speaker’s race," Meuser said. "I believe the House will elect a new Speaker, and I know we will be in good hands with one of our colleagues running."

Reps. Kat Cammack and Scott Franklin, both R-Fla., announced their support for Donalds' speakership bid, according to posts on X. With Cammack's and Franklin's endorsements, Donalds now has at least six fellow Florida members backing him.

Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Cory Mills, Carlos Gimenez and Mike Waltz of Florida have already pledged their support.

Inside the candidates forum: Meuser made his pitch, got a standing ovation and then … dropped out, Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas just told reporters.

Sessions is relying on his chairmanship of the powerful Rules Committee as part of his pitch to be speaker. Sessions noted that he didn't lose any rule votes during his time as chair.

The House Rules Committee manages the bills that come to the floor and what the terms of debate on those bills are. It's very rare for rules votes to fail, but it happened multiple times during McCarthy’s tenure as conservatives who opposed him blocked rules.

Palmer tonight tweeted his pitch for speaker, a list of "Palmer Principles" that focus on cutting spending, giving members adequate time to review legislation and avoiding government shutdowns.

His plan would give the House incentives to fund the government on time by preventing it from bringing up any other legislation if it hasn't passed all 12 government funding bills by June 30 of each year. Palmer's plan would also cancel August recess every year if the funding bills have not passed by July 31.

In case the House doesn't make the annual Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown, Palmer advocates for an automatic continuing resolution, or CR, that would fund the government at current levels through April 15 of the following year. That's to avoid the near-annual exercise of Congress' waiting until the last minute, passing some CRs and kicking a shutdown deadline to right before the holidays to, as Palmer put it, "pressure members into voting for a bad legislative spending package" so they can see their families for Christmas.

The meeting appears to be underway. Phone cubbies have been wheeled out from the room to the hall containing members' cellphones so they can't text or tweet out what's happening inside the forum.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, one of the more vocal conservatives on Capitol Hill, has endorsed his fellow Freedom Caucus colleague Donalds for speaker.

In the January speaker race, Roy nominated Donalds over McCarthy.

"Byron is a strong communicator backed by a conservative voting record who has simultaneously played a central role in bringing together members from across the Republican conference to advance conservative priorities," Roy said in a statement. "To that end, I plan to hold Speaker Donalds just as accountable to those priorities as I did Speaker McCarthy, just as Byron would expect me to do.

"The American people deserve to win again. They deserve someone who can finish the job we started back in January," Roy added. "They deserve a change and Byron Donalds is the man to deliver that change."

Roy is at least the second Texan to endorse Donalds, even though Sessions is also in the race. Earlier today, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, threw his support behind Donalds.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., emphasized the need to get the House working again amid crises abroad in an interview with "Meet the Press Now" this afternoon.

"The world is burning around us, and American leadership is necessary. ... The world is watching; our adversaries are paying attention. And it does not, you know, cast a good light on the democratic institutions that we all have sworn to defend."

Womack predicted that if the House fails to elect a speaker this time around, there would be a "ramped-up effort to empower Patrick McHenry so that the House floor can open for business."

Womack said he looks forward to hearing from the nine candidates at tonight's forum. "We have nine that have announced. We have easily another nine, or maybe 90, that look in the mirror and see the next speaker."

Of the nine Republicans running for speaker, seven voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, which made Joe Biden president.

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

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

Read the full story here.

Trump joked that there's "only one person" who could win 217 votes on the House floor: Jesus Christ.

"You have terrific people. That floor threshold is very tough. I said there's only one person that can do it all the way. You know who that is? Jesus Christ," Trump said during a visit to New Hampshire. "If he came down and said, 'I want to be speaker,' he would do it.

"Other than that, I haven't seen anybody that can guarantee it. But at some point, I think, we're going to have somebody pretty soon."

Trump's joke echoed remarks from a frustrated Republican in a House GOP meeting last week. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., quoted the unnamed member saying even Jesus Christ "wouldn't get 217" on the House floor.

Johnson had a call of his own with Trump about his bid for the speaker's gavel, a source familiar with the call confirmed.

Hern has also spoken to Trump, he told CNN this afternoon, adding that he doesn't expect the former president to endorse in the race.

Trump, in New Hampshire, confirmed his call with Emmer this weekend, saying he gets along with all nine candidates for speaker.

Trump was asked whether he could endorse Emmer, who has not always been his "biggest fan."

"I think he's my biggest fan now, because he called me yesterday and told me I'm your biggest fan," Trump responded, to laughter.

"We are trying to stay out of that as much as possible," Trump continued. "But they'll get it straightened out. You know, I've always gotten along with him, and I get along with all of them. ... There's a lot of great people."

Sessions, too, has spoken to Trump, a spokesperson said.

Sessions and Trump had a “polite conversation,” the spokesperson said, adding that Sessions believes that “the president is interested in having somebody he can work with, and I think I’m one of those people.”

Much ink has been spilled recently about Emmer’s "Trump problem" as he now seeks the speakership.

Hoping to address it, Emmer called Trump over the weekend, and the two men spoke for a few minutes, according to two Trump world sources familiar with the conversation.

But, the sources said, it's not likely to change the greater Trump orbit’s anti-Emmer stance.

One source said a five-minute courtesy phone call was unlikely to undo what some see as years of anti-Trump behavior (voting to certify the 2020 election, not speaking up enough about special counsel Jack Smith's cases, etc.). They alleged that Emmer's allies leaked the existence of the call, saying Trump world was not pleased.

“Emmer called President Trump this weekend, and the two had a polite conversation. End of story,” a Trump friend said. “Attempts from Emmer and his allies to make the call sound like something that it wasn’t is misleading.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a Trump ally, said on his podcast today that he was aware of the call and was told that it "went well."

Now, Trump allies like Steve Bannon and Rogan O’Handley are openly going to war against Emmer online — with several of the bigger MAGA influencers backing Donalds in this round.

Democratic National Committee spokesperson Sarafina Chitika called on the House GOP to "get it together" in a statement highlighting the chaos of the chamber.

"Pathetic doesn’t begin to describe the state of House Republicans, who, after taking the weekend off, will begin and end their 20th day of infighting without a speaker," Chitika said in a statement. "At a critical moment when our allies are looking to us for leadership, MAGA House Republicans are making a mockery of our government and embarrassing the country on the world stage."

Rep. Jack Bergman of Michigan is winning endorsements for speaker from his home state.

GOP Reps. John Moolenaar, Tim Walberg, John James and Lisa McClain of Michigan all threw their support behind their fellow Michigander over the weekend.

Bergman, a retired lieutenant general in the Marine Corps, is not well-known outside the GOP Conference, but he is well-respected.

"Few understand what it takes to lead better than @RepJackBergman," Walberg posted on X.

While some state delegations are backing speaker candidates from their home states, that's not the case for Rep. Ronny Jackson.

The Texas Republican is endorsing Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida over the lone candidate from the Lone Star State, Rep. Pete Sessions.

"I am supporting BYRON DONALDS for Speaker of the House. Byron’s record is stellar, and he’s laser-focused on enacting a STRONG conservative agenda. Byron will make all of us PROUD. He has my FULL SUPPORT!!" Jackson, Donald Trump's former White House physician, posted on X.

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., also endorsed "fellow Floridian" Donalds on X, writing on Sunday, "Let's get back to work!"

Donalds has also received an endorsement from Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., which is notable because Gimenez had been calling himself an "Only Kevin," meaning that he would only support Kevin McCarthy for speaker.

Hern is making his pitch for speaker — and hopes his colleagues are lovin' it.

The Republican, who previously owned multiple McDonald's franchises and worked for the company, has been delivering fast food from the chain to colleagues today along with a letter making his case to be speaker.

"My 35 years of experience as a business leader makes me uniquely qualified to lead a diverse Republican Conference and ensure we break the pattern of legislating in a perpetual state of crisis," Hern wrote.

He also boasted of his accomplishments as head of the Republican Study Committee, adding that "over the past week, I have called, texted, or met in person with every single Member of the Republican Conference to hear about their priorities."

Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., is hoping to make the next round of voting for a speaker smoother for GOP members by passing around a "unity pledge" prior to the forum tonight.

The document asks members to “hereby pledge to support the Speaker Designate duly elected by the House Republican Conference — regardless of who that candidate is — when their election proceeds to the House Floor."

It also asks Republicans to "pledge to vote for the Speaker Designate on the House Floor for as long as they remain the Speaker Designate.”

The pledge would solve the problem Republicans have had of people voting one way behind closed doors, then changing their vote on the floor or on future balloting rounds. However, at least one member has already told NBC News that they would never sign the pledge.

In a new statement Monday, the conservative House Freedom Caucus said it had taken an official position: Republican leadership should not send lawmakers home until they elect a new speaker of the House.

"Republican leadership should have kept Republicans in Washington over the weekend. Our work is not done," HFC's statement says. "In fact, we are starting at ground zero after Jim Jordan, arguably one of the most popular Republicans in the country, was rejected by House Republicans."

After Jordan, the founding HFC chairman and the GOP's last speaker nominee, dropped out of the race Friday, leaders sent lawmakers home for the weekend to allow new candidates to build support for their campaigns. HFC said that was the wrong approach, pointing out another floor vote won't happen until Tuesday at the earliest.

"Intentional and unnecessary delays must end. It serves only the lobbyists of the swamp and defenders of the status quo to continue to drag out this process."

All nine candidates for speaker will give their pitches and take questions from their colleagues behind closed doors tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET during a candidate forum. This is likely to be quite a lengthy meeting with so many Republicans in the race.

The forum comes ahead of a meeting at 9 a.m. tomorrow when House Republicans will again meet in private to select a new nominee for speaker. Once they have a nominee, it's possible they'll hold a vote on the House floor tomorrow.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik said Sunday that nine candidates have joined the race for speaker after Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, dropped his bid last week.

Stefanik, R-N.Y., noted on X that the deadline to announce speaker bids was noon ET Sunday.

The candidates are: Reps. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Byron Donalds of Florida, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Pete Sessions of Texas, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Gary Palmer of Alabama and Austin Scott of Georgia.

The GOP candidate forum is set for 6:30 p.m. ET Monday. Then, an internal conference vote will occur at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., has said his intention is to move to a floor vote “as soon as Tuesday.”

Read more about the nine declared candidates.