With eight candidates left in the race to be speaker of the House, the vast majority of the GOP is promising to unify after the candidate is officially chosen on Tuesday morning. Still, the narrow margin of the Republican majority and threats from President Trump could quickly extinguish that optimism. 

On Monday evening, the House Republican conference met in a Capitol Hill office building to hold a candidate forum, during which time all eight candidates were given the opportunity to deliver remarks and answer questions from their colleagues. 

Emerging from the meeting, one candidate, Congressman Kevin Hern, told the Sun that the forum was “great.”

“It’s always great to get questions from our fellow members who have concerns about where we’ve been,” the Oklahoma congressman said.

Another speaker candidate, Congressman Pete Sessions, said “everybody produced a good product,” referring to his competitors for the nomination. When asked what was discussed during the forum, Mr. Sessions said, “Winning, like being together … coming together as a group.”

One of the main sticking points for the House GOP is what to do about aid to both Israel and Ukraine, the former being a unanimous priority among the conference and the latter dividing members along ideological lines. 

Shortly before the candidate forum began, Congressman Dan Crenshaw, a defense hawk and Navy SEAL, told reporters that he and the “majority” of the conference want to make a compromise foreign aid package with the White House that supplies significant aid to both Ukraine and Israel, while also securing the southern border.

Speaking outside of the Capitol building, Mr. Crenshaw, along with three colleagues who are also veterans, said Ukraine funding must be used as leverage with President Biden if the House GOP ever hopes to pass a border security bill. Mr. Biden sent to Congress a supplemental funding bill that does just that on Friday. 

One leading candidate for speaker, though, Congressman Byron Donalds, told the Sun that he would never put such a package on the floor if he were elected. “This supplemental, as it exists, is not something that should be all together,” he said as he walked into the candidate forum. “We’re going to need to split that thing up.”

Congressman Dan Meuser, who had been vying for the speakership for only a few days, told his colleagues he would drop out of the race shortly before the candidate forum began on Monday night. 

Despite the fresh air of optimism that emerged from that closed-door meeting on Tuesday, there. is no guarantee a speaker will be elected in the coming days. On Monday, Congressman Thomas Massie — who supported the former speaker, Congressman Kevin McCarthy; the one-time speaker nominee, Congress Steve Scalise; and the latest speaker-designate to fall by the wayside, Congressman Jim Jordan — said there was only a “40 percent” chance that a speaker will be elected this week, according to ABC News. 

The sheer narrowness and ideological diversity of the House Republican majority makes it a nearly impossible task for any person to be elected speaker. Mr. McCarthy did not even win a full House majority when he was first elected to the speakership in January — he merely convinced enough Republicans to vote “present” in order to lower the requisite number to 216 from 218. 

President Trump has also reportedly weighed in on the race behind the scenes. The Messenger’s Marc Caputo and Stephen Neukam reported that Mr. Trump’s aides are now sending a “dossier” on the record of another speaker candidate, Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota, to his colleagues in the House. The memo reportedly bashes the majority whip for his votes to certify the 2020 election results, his support for federally protected same-sex marriage, and the two times Mr. Emmer was arrested for driving under the influence — in 1981 and in 1991. 

The former president has taken a heavy hand in these speaker races before. Earlier this year, he was speaking on the phone with holdouts who refused to support Mr. McCarthy on the first 14 ballots. He also endorsed Mr. Jordan over Mr. Scalise when the two fought for the nomination, though Mr. Scalise prevailed in that contest. 

Messrs. Emmer, Donalds, Hern, and Sessions all told reporters that they had spoken with the former president over the weekend.