The House Speaker saga continues on Capitol Hill as Republicans have put forth a new nominee: Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN).

The news comes just after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was dropped by House Republicans after failing to secure enough votes to get the position.

House Republicans nominated House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) for Speaker on Tuesday, making him the third GOP lawmaker who will attempt to get 217 votes to secure the gavel.

The conference selected Emmer — the No. 3 House Republican — for the position in a secret ballot during an internal election that lasted three hours, choosing him over six other candidates vying for the job. Two Republicans withdrew their names from the race before voting began.

Emmer, 62, will now take his nomination to the House floor, where he will have to muster enough votes to win the gavel — a heavy lift that the previous two GOP Speaker nominees failed to achieve. If all lawmakers are present and vote for a specific candidate, Emmer will need at least 217 votes.

The road to speaker will likely not be an easy one. Both Jordan and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) failed to secure a victory after having been nominated.

In a series of secret votes that lasted for three hours, Emmer managed to win the nomination in a crowded field of eight candidates. He edged out members of the conservative Freedom Caucus. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a member of the caucus, gave a noncommittal response to the development. “We’ll see, all of them have different characters, different qualities, and we’ll see how it goes,” he told reporters.

Emmer might have some trouble winning over the more Trumpian members of Congress, given his voting record and ties to the GOP establishment.

Emmer was one of the few GOP candidates who voted to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory. He also voted for spending legislation in September that averted a shutdown.

The Republican majority whip has the backing of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Emmer has also voted for codifying same-sex marriage and other pieces of legislation that might rankle some feathers among conservatives.

Amid the backdrop of a leaderless House, Emmer takes the nomination to the floor, where he can only afford to lose four GOP votes. Democrats are in lockstep in backing Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). This comes as the November 17 deadline for government funding and international aid issues is quickly approaching.

Former President Donald Trump has given mostly positive signals about Emmer but has not given an endorsement.

Emmer also spoke by phone with Donald Trump on Monday, though the former president has not endorsed the majority whip.

“I’m sort of trying to stay out of that as much as possible, but they’ll get it straightened out,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

Emmer vowed to lead with honesty and accountability if he becomes the next person to hold the gavel. “I will never make a promise I cannot fulfill,” he wrote in a letter to his colleagues. “I expect to be held accountable, and you can expect that we will also keep you to your word.”

Emmer now faces a gargantuan task in uniting a fractured party and moving Congressional business forward. Whether he will succeed remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Capitol Hill has currently got more drama than a reality TV show season finale.