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
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.
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.
Read more: Crypto-friendly Emmer snags GOP Speaker nomination, at least for now
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.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
- Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
- Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
- Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
- The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
