Meet The GOP Speaker Frontrunners—Emmer, Hern, Donalds And Scott—After Jordan Exits Race

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.): Emmer, a close ally of ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and a likely frontrunner in the speaker race, announced Saturday he will seek the GOP’s nomination for speaker, though the Minnesota Republican reportedly faces criticism from the far-right wing of the party, including from former President Donald Trump, who has been making calls in opposition to an Emmer speakership.

Many had speculated that Emmer, a moderate Republican who was first elected to the House in 2015, would run to replace McCarthy earlier this month, though he declined.

Emmer has also broken with the far-right wing of the Republican party in recent years, serving as a contrast to Jordan: following the January 6 Capitol insurrection, Emmer issued a statement calling the riots an “unacceptable display of violence that runs counter to everything we stand for as a country,” and unlike Jordan, Emmer did not vote in favor of overturning former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.): Donalds, a second-term representative and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus who picked up two speaker votes on Friday and gained traction as an alternative to McCarthy in January, announced his bid Friday afternoon.

Donalds is a relative political newcomer who was elected to the House in 2020 following four years as a member of Florida’s state House of Representatives, though he has gained national attention as a key Trump ally, as well as for criticizing both Covid-era public health mandates and Covid vaccines, admitting he has not received the shot.

The Florida Republican, in his short time in Congress, also launched an unsuccessful bid late last year to replace McCarthy ally Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as chair of the House Republican Conference.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.): Hern also launched a speaker bid on Friday, calling for a “different type of leader” with a “proven track record of success,” just two weeks after he ruled out a speaker run amid speculation the third-term representative could win the party’s nomination over Jordan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who had also launched a bid before abruptly leaving the race.

Hern, a former McDonald’s franchise owner, was first elected to Congress in 2018 and serves as chair of the Republican Study Committee, and also has become a key ally to Trump, supporting his baseless 2020 election denial, signing a brief in 2020 as part of a lawsuit filed at the Supreme Court contesting Trump’s loss in the election (the Supreme Court did not hear the case).

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.): Scott, an under-the-radar Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced a second bid on X, saying he had supported Jordan’s speaker bid and chose to run only after Republicans voted to drop Jordan from the race.

Scott, who has served in Congress since 2011, had previously launched a longshot bid to become the GOP’s nominee last week before withdrawing, and was mocked by members of both parties as a little-known House member.