The Republican nominee for Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tom Emmer, has dropped out hours after being nominated.

His failure to gain enough support from his own party members makes him the third candidate to fall short.

In an internal poll earlier on Tuesday, Mr Emmer, from Minnesota, emerged as the party’s choice.

More than 20 Republican lawmakers – and Donald Trump – said they would not support him.

Since Kevin McCarthy of California was ousted on 3 October, the House has been without a Speaker and bills have not been passed.

After Mr. Emmer dropped out of the race, Republicans are back at the beginning of their search for a candidate who can win the support of almost all party members.

In a meeting on Tuesday evening, Republican lawmakers nominated six new candidates: Byron Donalds of Florida, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Mark Green of Tennessee, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and Roger Williams of Texas.

South Carolina’s Ralph Norman said House Republicans should “stay as long as it takes” to get a new nominee.

Since Republicans hold a narrow majority in Congress’ lower chamber, their nominee can only afford to lose a handful of votes from their own party.

Prior to this, Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio failed to secure enough support to replace Mr McCarthy.

The same thing has happened to Mr Emmer, who won the nomination after successive rounds of voting by Republican legislators eliminated eight candidates one by one.

In the final round of the election, Emmer defeated Mike Johnson of Louisiana, but opposition to his nomination became apparent almost immediately.