Pro-crypto US Representative Tom Emmer has been elected House Republican minority whip, securing the party's second-highest leadership position as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress in January.

Emmer, who has represented Minnesota's 6th Congressional District since 2015, defeated Texas Representative August Pfluger in a 103-76 secret ballot vote, according to Politico. He previously served as House Republican majority whip and will remain the party's No. 2 leader, this time under incoming Minority Leader Jim Jordan.

As minority whip, Emmer will be responsible for rallying Republican votes, coordinating the party's legislative strategy and helping maintain unity on key bills in the incoming Congress. The vote-counting role carries particular significance for the digital asset sector: legislation Emmer has championed would rely on his whip operation to help tally and secure Republican support should it reach the floor.

The Minnesota Republican has been one of the leading voices on digital assets on Capitol Hill. He co-chairs the Congressional Blockchain Caucus and was briefly the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House in October 2023 before withdrawing from the contest. In March 2025, he and Representative Ritchie Torres announced the formation of the bipartisan Congressional Crypto Caucus, an initiative aimed at mobilizing support for digital asset legislation, including stablecoin and market structure bills. How those bills fare in the incoming Congress will be an early indication of the influence Emmer can wield from leadership.

Emmer is also an original cosponsor of the CLARITY Act, a market structure bill that seeks to divide digital asset regulatory authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which seeks to clarify that blockchain developers and infrastructure providers who do not control customer funds are not money transmitters under federal law. He has additionally sponsored the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, legislation designed to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail central bank digital currency.

"Tom has been one of the strongest advocates for digital assets in Congress, and he has led the fight against a government-controlled CBDC and stood up for American innovators," Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis said in a post on X.