Minnesota’s Tom Emmer should be speaker
Quin Hillyer
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It is baffling to see so many Republicans cave in to pressure to support Ohio’s Jim Jordan for speaker of the House. A far better candidate, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, is waiting in the wings.
Many Republicans in the House wrongly challenged the 2020 presidential election results, but almost none went so far as Jordan did to conspire to overturn legitimate results and to push the wildly unconstitutional scheme to convince Vice President Mike Pence unilaterally to reject the true votes. For those actions alone, he should not be speaker. And the 18 Republicans who represent districts carried by President Joe Biden will be put in grave reelection danger if Jordan does become speaker, which means the Republican majority will be in serious peril.
EMMER PLOTS PATH TO SPEAKERSHIP
Emmer, on the other hand, reportedly has shown real interest in the speakership but stayed true to prior commitments on earlier votes. Unlike Jordan, Emmer carries neither the baggage of a riot nor the same extremist reputation. Emmer is a team player, an effective coalition builder within the Republican caucus, a trustworthy man of good judgment, and, as far as I can tell, is one of the few top Republicans with no major enemies. He is almost universally well liked and a unifier.
And Emmer could not be used as a bogeyman by Democratic operatives wanting to tie vulnerable Republicans to a scary House Republican leadership team.
Nonetheless, Emmer is tough. He was a varsity college hockey player, and he defended police officers in numerous lawsuits in Minnesota. He served on the Minneapolis City Council and in the state legislature. He is a solid conservative on issues across the board.
If wise members hold firm against making Jordan speaker, Emmer could and should enter the race, And he almost surely could attract the 217 votes needed to win on the House floor and would do an excellent job if he does.