AP sources: Rep. Tom Emmer withdraws as Republican nominee for House speaker, becoming the third candidate to fall short.

Republicans had picked Emmer as their nominee for House speaker on Tuesday, as they tried for a third time to fill the top leadership position and get Congress back to work.

Emmer, the GOP Whip and senior-most candidate, had jumped out front in private balloting as the top vote-getter among the hodge-podge list of mostly lesser-known congressmen for speaker, a powerful position second in line to the presidency.

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The candidate list, though quickly slimming, was long and jumbled with no obvious choice for the job. Emmer, a lawyer, is known as a gruff hockey coach who reached out to Donald Trump for backing and was gaining on the first four ballots.

Temporary House Speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., speaks to reporters after Republicans met to try and decide who to nominate to be the new House speaker, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Coming in a steady second was constitutional law expert Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who directly battled Emmer in the fifth-round private ballot.

Others, including Rep. Byron Donalds, a top Trump ally, were dropping out. McDonald’s franchise owner Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, a conservative leader, plied his colleagues with hamburgers seeking their support but also dropped out Tuesday.

Also withdrawing from the race were Reps. Austin Scott of Georgia, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Pete Sessions of Texas, Gary Palmer of Alabama and Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania.

The House has been in turmoil, without a speaker since the start of the month after a contingent of hard-line Republicans ousted McCarthy, creating what’s now a governing crisis that’s preventing the normal operations of Congress.

The federal government risks a shutdown in a matter of weeks if Congress fails to pass funding legislation by a Nov. 17 deadline to keep services and offices running. More immediately, President Joe Biden has asked Congress to provide $105 billion in aid — to help Israel and Ukraine amid their wars and to shore up the U.S. border with Mexico. Federal aviation and farming programs face expiration without action.

Those running for speaker were mostly conservatives and election deniers, who either voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results, when Biden defeated Trump, in the runup to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, or joined a subsequent lawsuit challenging the results.

Some Democrats had eyed Emmer, the third-ranking House GOP leader, who had voted to certify the 2020 election results as a potential partner in governing the House.

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