“He is the right person for the job”: Kevin McCarthy endorses Tom Emmer for speaker

With the top job in the U.S. House of Representatives still vacant as of Friday night, a mixed-bag of names are being thrown around for consideration when it comes to who will dust off the gavel that’s sat dormant since October 3. But among these names — Jack Bergman of Michigan, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Austin Scott of Georgia, to name a few — only one has the endorsement of Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and that’s Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

In a verbal thumbs up given at the end of a week of voting rounds that went nowhere, McCarthy heaped praise upon Emmer, saying, “He is the right person for the job. He can unite the conference. He understands the dynamics of the conference. He also understands what it takes to win and keep a majority.”

For those who have never heard the name, Reuters provided a brief bio for him:  

Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the House’s No. 3 Republican and chief vote counter, received only one vote on Friday but won ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s endorsement. The former ice hockey coach is speaking with members about a possible run, a source familiar said.

Elsewhere — his own Wikipedia page, to be exact — Emmer’s life and career are broken down in sections including headers for “Drunk driving,” “Allegations of antisemitism,” “‘Fire Pelosi’ machine gun video,” and “Bullying.” 

According to The Washington Times, Emmer has begun “making calls to his fellow Republicans to determine if he had enough support to win the nomination.”