You don’t have the votes: Tom Emmer drops out of Speaker race

Emmer failed to snag the votes of 26 Republicans, leaving him well shy of the necessary 217 votes needed to become Speaker

by Katherine Ross /

October 24, 2023 06:09 pm

Rep. Tom Emmer | Al Mueller/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

In one of the shortest speaker nominations yet, Representative Tom Emmer (R-Minn) will not pursue Speaker of the House.

Emmer’s hat was tossed in the ring around noon Tuesday, with Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman posting on X that Emmer was stepping down roughly five hours later.

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During an internal vote on Tuesday, Emmer failed to snag the votes of 26 Republicans, leaving him well shy of the necessary 217 votes needed to become Speaker.

Emmer’s failed candidacy marks nearly a month of Republicans trying — and failing — to get a fresh Speaker after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role in a historic vote earlier this month.

Emmer has a history of being pro-crypto, having reintroduced his anti-CBDC bill back in September.

“Any digital version of the dollar must uphold our American values of privacy, individual sovereignty and free market competitiveness,” Emmer said in a statement at the time.

Back in July, when Ripple was handed down a partial victory in its case against the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Emmer cheered from the sidelines.

“The Ripple case is a monumental development that a token is separate and distinct from an investment contract it may or may not be part of,” he wrote.

With Emmer’s short but sweet nomination up, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) remains speaker pro tempore, with no sure candidate in sight.

McHenry, like Emmer and McCarthy before him, also has a history of being crypto-friendly.
Despite the lack of Republican leadership, roughly five bills relating to crypto are heading to a full-floor vote, one of which — the Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act — was even introduced by McHenry.

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