House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) drops out of the race for speaker hours after he was selected by the conference to be their nominee.

Emmer won the GOP nomination on a secret ballot in the Republican conference Tuesday defeating House GOP Vice Chair Mike Johnson (La.) 117-97.

However, it quickly became clear Emmer did not have the votes as 26 Republicans voted present or for another person on a secondary vote to gauge his strength as their nominee.

His path to the speaker’s gavel became more of an uphill battle after Donald Trump came out strongly against him in a post on his Truth Social app calling him “out of touch with Republican voters” and saying he would be a “tragic mistake.”

The House has been without a speaker since Oct. 3 when Rep. Matt Gaetz led a successful effort to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the position.

Emmer withdrawing as a candidate for speaker means Republicans are back at square one–again.