Republicans met behind closed doors in the House basement Tuesday to elect a new nominee for speaker among seven lawmakers running for the position.

The position has been empty since Oct. 3 thanks to intense disagreements within the GOP over the direction of the conference.

The list shrunk from nine candidates declared on Sunday. Reps. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania and Gary Palmer of Alabama dropped out of the running.

House Republicans will vote to whittle down the list to a single nominee who can with a majority of GOP votes.

The winning candidate will then have to overcome the same problem that pushed out ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and blocked Rep Jim Jordan of Ohio and Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana: Winning the support of 217 GOP lawmakers on the House floor, where Democrats also cast a vote for speaker and plan to back their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Some Democrats say they’ll help Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota win the job by sitting out the vote, which would make it easier for Mr. Emmer to win even with some likely GOP holdouts who want a more conservative lawmaker to lead the chamber. But those Democrats will seek an accompanying spending deal in exchange for helping Mr. Emmer that most Republicans would oppose.

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.

• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.