The latest on the House speaker race

Rep. Carlos Gimenez told CNN's Manu Raju he believes fellow Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, whom he is supporting as speaker, “can unite us,” but said he is willing to back whoever ends up as the nominee. 

“I have nothing against any of the other people,” Gimenez said when asked whether he would be open to voting for any of the other eight candidates.

Gimenez previously described himself as “only Kevin,” referring to ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“If he comes back on the ballot, I’ll still be with Kevin, but he’s not going to be on the ballot, so ... I’ll back the nominee," Gimenez said

GOP Rep. Mike Garcia said the impasse in the House is “dilutive” to the Republican Party’s efforts to keep its majority in the chamber next year.

“It’s not positive, it's dilutive to our efforts, obviously, in keeping the majority," the California Republican told CNN's Manu Raju. He added that "if we can get the seat filled, if we can get whoever it is to put the trains back on the rails again" and start getting appropriations bills passed and avoid a government shutdown, "then we recover from it."

Garcia also said he’s hearing from his constituents that “they want to have a speaker of the House,” saying, “both sides of the aisle frankly just want us to finish this process.”

Garcia said he is supporting GOP Whip Tom Emmer now, but ultimately, he plans to support whoever wins the nomination.

“The largest plurality of folks at least is recognizing we have to get someone across the goal line. I do think there’s an appetite for a compromise candidate at this point,” he said.

Garcia added, “We’re in a blizzard of crises right now, and to not have a meaningful check and balance on this administration is very dangerous.”

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer touted his "strong working relationship" with former President Donald Trump on social media Monday, as Emmer works to tamp down potential problems from the MAGA faction of the GOP in his quest for the speakership.

“Thank you, Mr. President,” Emmer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside a video of Trump saying he’s “always” gotten along with Emmer. “If my colleagues elect me Speaker of the House, I look forward to continuing our strong working relationship.”

Emmer also spoke to Trump by phone over the weekend, as CNN previously reported.

Trump said Monday he's staying out of the speaker's fight for now. Some of his former and current advisers, however, have been openly critical of Emmer.

House speaker candidate Kevin Hern said that he spoke with Donald Trump and that the former president indicated he was not planning to endorse any of the nine declared Republican candidates at this stage.  

“He just wanted to know what was going on in the race. Obviously, nine people getting in the race. He knew some of us at different degrees and levels,” Hern told CNN’s Manu Raju. “I think he's going to sit this one out.”

Hern added: “So I think when you look at this now, he's gonna let this play out. It's gonna happen pretty quickly. Tomorrow, so let's see where it goes.”

The Oklahoma Republican also said that he and other candidates in the race believe the conference should hold a private roll call vote ahead of going to the House floor to test whether the GOP nominee has 217 votes to be elected. That would avoid the spectacle on the floor that derailed Jim Jordan’s bid. 

And when asked if he regretted his vote to certify the 2020 election, Hern said: “I don’t.” 

He also reiterated his skepticism over aid for Ukraine and threw cold water on keeping the government open through a short-term spending bill. 

“We certainly know in the House and I would argue in the entire Congress Ukraine aid is controversial at times and really would just want to know where the money's gonna be spent and what the strategy is the mission is with the money. We do not need to bog down Israel aid in that debate right now,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that he spoke to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer over the weekend but said he has no plans as of now to get involved on behalf of any of the GOP members vying to become House speaker. 

Asked specifically about his views on Emmer’s candidacy given the Majority Whip hasn’t necessarily been “his biggest fan” in the past, Trump told reporters, “Well I think he’s my biggest fan now because he called me [Saturday] and he told me ‘I’m your biggest fan.’” 

The former president added that in addition to Emmer, he’s also spoken with many of the other House Republicans who are running for speaker. He also praised Rep. Jim Jordan, who despite Trump’s public endorsement, lost a series of bruising votes on the House floor last week in his attempt to take over as leader. 

Trump also joked that the only person who could guarantee success in the fight to become speaker is Jesus, but added he thinks House Republicans will find a solution soon. 

Republican members are returning Monday from the weekend break and will hold a 6:30 p.m. ET closed-door conference meeting in the Longworth House Office Building south of the US Capitol.

During the meeting, members will hear speeches from each of the nine declared Republican candidates vying for the speaker's gavel. 

This is how it is expected to play out: Each of the candidates will have two minutes for a speech laying out their platform. Members will then have one minute each to ask a question and candidates will have 30 seconds to respond. 

It is hard to estimate when the forum will end, but likely around 9:30 or 10 p.m. ET, according to aides. Several members told CNN they are waiting to make an endorsement until after they hear from each of the nine candidates.

The nine declared Republican candidates are: 

Then on Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. ET, the House GOP will vote for their speaker nominee.

With multiple candidates currently in the running, members will cast a successive series of secret ballots, with the candidate who garners the fewest number of votes in each round dropped from the running.

The process will continue until 1.) there are only two candidates left. or 2.) until one candidate receives a majority of the conferences’ votes, whichever comes first.

Here a plurality of votes is not enough. The winning candidate will need 50% +1 of the conference or a minimum of 113 votes. The conference vote is expected to take several hours as there will be several rounds of votes. 

As of this writing, there is no time or date scheduled for a floor vote. That will be determined by the speaker-designee. 

Rep. Pete Sessions, a candidate for House speaker, outlined his pitch to the Republican conference ahead of this evening’s closed-door GOP meeting, saying that he spoke with former President Donald Trump about his bid and that he doesn’t believe the votes are there to tie Ukraine aid to Israel funding.

Sessions, who voted against certifying Pennsylvania and Arizona on January 6, 2021, also told CNN “absolutely not” when asked if he regretted his vote.  

On funding for Ukraine and Israel, Sessions said that while he’s a supporter of both he doesn’t believe there are necessarily the votes from the conference to support tying money for Ukraine to Israel funding. 

Sessions argued he is the right man for the job by pointing to his former stint as chair of the Republican campaign arm when the party won large majorities and his time as chair of the House Rules Committee. 

“Our party needs to find a way to work together, we need to find a way to take the two or three or four sides bring them in give them the authority and the responsibility. This is an issue that is more complex because the problems are more complex. But if we work together, we can find those common denominators. Secondly, I have a demonstrating background of working together also at the Rules Committee and Republican leadership for 10 years. Never lost a vote on a rule,” he said. 

On government funding, he said it’s important for the House to act quickly and he also said that he believes they need to have a speaker elected to run the House by the end of the week. 

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer spoke with former President Donald Trump by phone over the weekend, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN, as the Minnesota Republican works to win over his right flank in order to secure the speakership. 

Some in Trump’s orbit have been openly critical of Emmer, in part because he voted to certify the 2020 election. It’s unclear if Trump will get involved this time around or if he will choose to stay neutral after his endorsed speaker candidate, Rep. Jim Jordan, came up short. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz, who hasn’t endorsed anyone in this round but has said positive things about Emmer, claimed on his podcast that Emmer’s conversation with Trump went well. 

According to a source close to Trump, however, the former president was not happy that the details of his call with Emmer leaked.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, announced he was endorsing Emmer, delivering an early boost for his candidacy.

Rep. Kevin Hern, a candidate for House speaker, told CNN that he has spent the last several days talking to 185 members and said his pitch is to “move forward” and not look back if he were to win the gavel, saying he wouldn’t take any retribution against the eight GOP members who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy earlier this month. 

Hern also told CNN he would not put President Joe Biden's supplemental on the floor as it is written and instead would prioritize aid to Israel and only put Ukraine aid on the floor if the administration can specify where all the money is going. Hern said the Biden administration has so far had a “good start” on explaining that the funding they are asking for is to replenish US weapons systems, but he said he wants more and the rest of the conference will insist on it. 

Hern said he wants members briefed in a classified setting on what the strategy is for Ukraine “because we’re going to continue to send hundreds of billions of dollars with no end in sight.”

On government spending, Hern plans to try and pass as many of the outstanding appropriations bills as possible before November 17, but he acknowledged another short-term spending bill is probably necessary given the time constraint and the fact that whoever gets the speaker’s gavel will have mere weeks to work with the Senate to keep the government open. He argued that Republicans cannot allow an automatic, 1% cut to go into effect in April. 

“We are going to do our work first and then we’ll look at a CR as we get closer,” Hern said of the immediate spending plan. 

Hern warned the House will have to “work more days.”

Asked how he would deal with the eight Republicans who voted to oust McCarthy, Hern said “You stay engaged with them. When you are a small majority, it’s a challenge." 

Hern said he would “certainly listen to the conference” on whether he would get rid of the ability for just one member to bring a motion to vacate to the floor.