Freedom Caucus set for revamp as big names depart Congress |
Freedom Caucus set for revamp as big names depart Congress
The House Freedom Caucus will undergo a transformation next year, as a number of the confrontational conservative group’s most high-profile members depart Congress — with the changing membership sure to impact the group’s relationship with Republican leadership and with President Trump.
Six members of the group will depart the House after opting to seek higher office instead. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) lost his primary to be Texas Attorney General. Former caucus chair Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) are running for governor of their respective states. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) is aiming for the Senate.
Roy, Norman, and Biggs in particular have been at the forefront of many contentious legislative battles in the House in recent years, from funding matters to demands for rules changes that were at the center of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) historic 15-ballot initial Speakership election in 2023.
But Freedom Caucus members say that the group’s commitment to fiscal restraint and enthusiasm for using every leverage point possible to extract concessions — often to the frustration of their Republican colleagues — will endure.
“We’re going to have plenty of members. We have incredible enthusiasm among people who are running around the country and who have won primaries. We’ll have plenty of people to lead the charge,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the current Freedom Caucus chair. His term ends at the end of this year, and a new chair will be elected for the next Congress.
Harris and other Freedom Caucus members have pointed to up-and-comers in their first or second terms, like Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), who will be leading voices for the group in the future.
Self, for his part, said that he wants to “support the younger folks that are ambitious” when asked if he would be interested in being chair of the group.
The group is keeping some longtime members, too — like its founding chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.), who has said the driving force behind the group is to make Republicans “do what you said you would do.”
Still, there is some uncertainty even within the caucus about what its future could look like.
“It’s terrifying,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said about the future of the group given its looming departures.........