Tom Emmer keeps the No. 2 House GOP job, beating August Pfluger 103-76

House Republicans have kept Tom Emmer of Minnesota as their whip, the No. 2 job in the party's House leadership. In a secret ballot on Tuesday, November 10, Emmer beat Rep. August Pfluger of Texas 103 to 76, according to Politico and Punchbowl News.

It's a notable result in a week of big change. Speaker Mike Johnson stepped aside, and Jim Jordan beat Majority Leader Steve Scalise to become the next Republican leader. Emmer is the only one of the top three outgoing Republican leaders to keep his post. When the new Congress starts on January 3, he'll be minority whip, serving under Jordan. We covered the rest of the leadership races here: Republicans pick their leaders after midterm losses: Thune stays, Jordan beats Scalise.

What a whip does

The whip counts votes. Before a big vote, the whip's team finds out who's a yes, who's a no and who's wavering, and then works to bring members in line. In the minority, the job is harder in one way and simpler in another. Republicans won't control what comes to the floor anymore, but they'll need to stay united to block Democratic bills, win over a few Democrats on close votes, and look like a team that deserves its majority back.

The race

Pfluger, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, the House's largest conservative caucus, ran as the change candidate. In a letter to colleagues on November 5, he wrote: "I believe the 119th Congress had far greater potential, and we left a lot on the field." He pushed back on blaming the midterm losses on things "outside of our control" and called for changes in how House Republicans operate, according to Alpha News, citing Politico.

Emmer didn't run away from the loss either. In his own letter on November 4, he wrote: "There is no sugarcoating the failure we just experienced." But he added, "We are down, but we are not out." After he won, he said: "Today is not a day for celebrating. We lost last Tuesday and I take it personally, as do my colleagues."

Emmer's main selling point was his record. He has been majority whip since the start of the 118th Congress in 2023. Before that, he chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP's campaign arm. He points out that Republicans gained 15 House seats in 2020, when they had been expected to lose as many as 24, and won the majority in 2022.

Where he stands on crypto

Emmer is one of the best-known supporters of the digital asset industry in Congress. In March 2025, he and Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres started a bipartisan Congressional Crypto Caucus. He's an original cosponsor of the CLARITY Act, a bill that sets rules for the crypto market, and he has opposed a government-run digital dollar, according to Cointelegraph. As whip, he'll have a say in which bills House Republicans rally behind, but in the minority, Democrats will decide what gets a vote.

What it means for House Republicans

The vote says a lot about where the party is after its defeat. Republicans lost more than 40 House seats in the midterms, according to CBS News. As of Tuesday, Democrats held 254 seats and Republicans 166, with 15 races undecided, according to ABC News. That's a deep hole.

In the top job, Republicans chose change: Jordan, one of the House's most combative conservatives, over Scalise, the long-time No. 2. In the whip job, they chose experience. Keeping Emmer gives the new team someone who has counted votes on hard bills before, and who knows how to run a House campaign. That's a sensible balance. A minority party has two jobs: stick together on votes, and win back seats. Emmer has done both before.

The 76 votes for Pfluger shouldn't be ignored, though. That's a big share of the conference saying it wanted a shake-up all the way down. How well Jordan and Emmer work together, and whether they can keep that frustrated wing on board, will decide how effective House Republicans are over the next two years.

What it means for your wallet

Not much right away. Whoever is whip in the minority doesn't set the agenda. But a united Republican minority can still shape big money fights in the next Congress, from government funding and the debt limit to taxes. The more votes Republicans can hold together, the more leverage they have in those deals.

What to watch next

• Who Jordan and Emmer pick as chief deputy whip and for other leadership posts.
• Whether Pfluger's supporters get a bigger say in the conference.
• How House Republicans vote on the December 11 government funding deadline.