By Olivia Beavers

WASHINGTON -- President Trump tanked Rep. Tom Emmer's ambitions to become speaker of the House a little more than a year ago. Since then, the two have become close, now working together to twist Republicans' arms and keep the GOP agenda on track.

The 63-year-old's second term as House Republicans' whip comes at a critical juncture, with the party now in charge of both chambers of Congress and the White House. Along with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), Emmer is under pressure to pass legislation and send it to Trump's desk, while operating with an even thinner margin of error than in the last Congress, when defectors dumped the House speaker and routinely derailed bills.

The Minnesota lawmaker is responsible for corralling members to back Trump's tax, border and energy plans and convincing holdouts to not block must-pass measures ranging from spending deals to raising the nation's borrowing limit.

"Every day in this job, we're pounding 10 pounds into a 5-pound bag," said Emmer, sitting in a high-back chair in his office adorned with hockey paraphernalia, a nod to his love for the sport as a player and coach. "It's just going to be that way. And whether it's Trump in the White House or what we've had the last two years, you got to respect every member who's here, whether you agree with them or disagree with them, whether they like each other or not."

Republicans won a 220-215 majority in the election, but that is being narrowed temporarily to 217-215 because of resignations, among the smallest splits in the country's history.

Emmer said his team can't lean on the old ways, in which party chiefs punished members who voted against leadership-backed bills. But leaders are more than happy to accept Trump's iron-fisted help, just as when Trump leaned on two holdout members this month to back Johnson for the gavel.

"You saw it in the speaker's race," said Emmer.

Emmer's strategy is one of persuasion and triangulation: trying to find where redlines are for members and where they are willing to budge. He will also need to manage the expectations and mercurial temper of a president known to punish perceived weakness or disloyalty.

He said he already sees how conflicts will play out. Mutinous members can do it the easy way or the hard way.

"It's actually exciting," he said. "You say, 'I mean, this is what Trump wants. Do you want me to have the president call you directly?' -- or, 'I don't think you want him coming into your district and telling your voters that you're the one standing in the way of the Trump agenda?'"

Democrats say they expect Republican leaders to continue to need their help for some bills.

"Tom and his friends will spend all their time trying to unify the Republican caucus, and when that doesn't work, they will come to Democrats and seek a bipartisan solution. That's the only way anything has gotten done," said Rep. Angie Craig (D., Minn.)

Trump called Emmer a 'globalist RINO'

Emmer has had his own ups and downs with Trump. Unlike many House Republicans, he voted to certify Joe Biden's win over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump then sank Emmer's bid for speaker in 2023, attacking him publicly as a "globalist RINO," and questioning whether he was truly a Trump supporter.

But Emmer, who argues he was an early and steadfast Trump backer, was able to repair the relationship, surprising some of his colleagues in how quickly he was able to turn it around. Just months after Trump's torpedo, Emmer issued an endorsement for Trump for the Republican presidential nomination early last January. The timing mattered: It came before the Iowa caucuses, the first in the country, and at a time when the Trump campaign was paying attention to who endorsed when.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R., Texas), Trump's former White House physician, is among the handful of House Republicans in frequent contact with Trump. "It's my impression that he likes Tom a lot now, and Tom seems like he gets along with the president really well," Jackson said.

Emmer helped Vice President JD Vance prepare to go head-to-head with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ahead of the vice presidential debate. People close to Trump say the president likes how blunt Emmer is: He will present the numbers, the options and avoid sugar coating expectations.

"So much of Tom's personality and his behavior comes from a sports background in hockey. If you have a bad game or you take a heavy check, you get back up, and you continue in the game, you continue to continue to play," said Emmer's chief deputy whip, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R., Pa.).

A key meeting in Florida

House Republicans are huddling this week at Trump's Doral Resort in Florida to iron out their plan to pass Trump's emerging tax-cut, border and energy package, which still faces internal divisions of whether to try to pass two separate bills or stick with one big bill. They are using a process called budget reconciliation, which will allow the GOP to pass the bill with a simple majority in the Senate, rather than the 60 votes typically required.

"We're beyond the point of messaging bills, that these bills and these actions really matter now," said Reschenthaler.

The path ahead is full of political land mines. Multiple members of the House Freedom Caucus, home to some of leadership's harshest critics, are vowing to oppose lifting or suspending the debt ceiling without major spending cuts. Such a stance could raise the likelihood that Johnson will need to lean on Democrats.

Yet, this same group of conservative rebels warned Johnson against relying on the opposite party again during the short-lived speakership fight just three weeks ago.

If a bill fails to succeed, Johnson will get heat, but some of that blame could fall on Emmer as well. He is ruling out a bid for the Minnesota governor's mansion, which he previously sought in 2010, to stay and tackle the challenge.

Many House Republicans say they think that Emmer, who also served two terms as chair of the House GOP campaign arm, harbors ambitions to trade in the proverbial whip for the speakership gavel.

His relationship with Trump is fueling some of the suspicions that Emmer is angling himself as a possible choice if Johnson is ultimately ousted from the speaker's suite, just as dissident members engineered the removal of former leader Kevin McCarthy in 2023. Emmer, for his part, dismisses designs for the gavel and says he is focused on the task ahead as whip.

"I think if Johnson didn't survive, it was going to be Emmer," said one House GOP lawmaker who is close with Trump. "Out of anyone in leadership, Tom Emmer and President Trump probably get along better than anybody else. Why? Because Tom Emmer will sit in there and be like, 'What the f -- is going on, Mr. President, how you doing?'"

Write to Olivia Beavers at Olivia.Beavers@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 27, 2025 05:00 ET (10:00 GMT)

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