Months before the chairmanship of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus becomes available, conservative firebrands are already lined up to run for the position.
Several members of the Freedom Caucus are openly pursuing the top post or are considered as contenders as the caucus begins to explore a successor to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), whose term will expire at the end of this year. Representatives Dan Bishop (North Carolina), Ralph Norman (South Carolina), Chip Roy (Texas), Bob Good (Virginia), and Warren Davidson (Ohio) are all Republicans.
The Freedom Caucus board is notoriously divided and anti-leadership, so they are paying close attention to how the contenders for chair want to work with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team.
This year has been especially difficult for Perry, who has had to manage the Freedom Caucus through its split over the January speakership vote and its subsequent historic decision to oust Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga).
Initial discussions with a dozen members suggest Roy is a frontrunner, but they also revealed vast disagreements over the group’s future course and the most efficient means of achieving conservative policy goals. The Freedom Caucus should promote either a hard-core warrior or a strategic thinker. No one seems to agree on anything just yet.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) noted that official Freedom Caucus positions require 80 percent support from members, thus “some qualifying factors” are not only a person’s position on votes and policies but also their ability to articulate that viewpoint and get the rest of the team on board. That’s why you need a leader that can bring everyone together and have them all on the same page without being overbearing.
Among the current candidates for the Freedom Caucus leadership, only Davidson did not initially oppose McCarthy’s campaign for speakership in January along with the other 20 conservatives. Good is the only current candidate for leadership of the Freedom Caucus who did not fall in line to back McCarthy by the end of the 15-ballot election. This group of holdouts campaigned for what some of them now describe as a power-sharing deal with McCarthy.
Roy, a libertarian, led negotiations with the dissenters and was hailed for his efforts by conservatives and McCarthy loyalists alike. Some of the respect he had acquired was lost during the struggle over the debt ceiling in the spring, when regular representatives complained that Roy, a member of the influential House Rules Committee, had voted against bringing that bipartisan accord to the floor.
In the Freedom Caucus, where some members had looked his vote to certify President Joe Biden’s election with scepticism, Roy’s action on the debt bill won him greater credibility.
Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, referred to Roy as the “Yoda” of the House Freedom Caucus, in an apparent reference to the wise Jedi master from “Star Wars.”
When asked if he was interested in the part, Roy remained silent.
Bishop is the only Freedom Caucus member who has publicly considered running for office, and he has said he is “more likely” to run for attorney general in North Carolina. The North Carolina representative was the first to suggest that McCarthy may be removed from office as a result of the debt ceiling agreement with Biden, suggesting that he could be one of the more combative candidates.
Bishop stated, “I’m not ruling it out,” when asked if he would consider running for Freedom Caucus chair, adding that he still had “hurdles to clear” at home before making a decision on a run for higher office.
One Freedom Caucus member talked honestly on the condition of anonymity about Norman’s interest in the leadership of the party. Norman is described as a friendly businessman with a focus on the budget. By sitting on the Rules Committee, Norman has been able to influence legislation in the direction of the Freedom Caucus, continuing the leadership-engagement paradigm Perry introduced to the position.
Norman and Davidson both lost earlier bids for chairperson to Perry.
Davidson, the most libertarian candidate, replaced retiring Ohio Republican John Boehner as Speaker of the House. Davidson, a former Army Ranger and successful businessman, is one of the two Freedom Caucus leaders who strongly back McCarthy for speaker. The other is Ohio Republican Jim Jordan.
However, the group’s conflict over how closely to identify with party brass was mirrored in the vote to expel Greene, so Davidson’s ties to leadership could work against him. Because of this schism, Perry has had an especially challenging go of it this year.
“It has been quite difficult. We have faced challenges we have never faced before. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said the conservative victory in getting the House to enact a more right-leaning defence policy measure last week made the country stronger. The people at the helm right now are terrific. Whatever the person at the top, I hope to see the same kind of leadership continue.
Others have mentioned Good as a potential candidate for the Freedom Caucus’ most aggressive future chair, in the event that its members decide to stick it to leadership and, possibly, the rest of the conference.
Most of Good’s colleagues outside of the group do not like him very much, and this has led to several other Republicans making disparaging wordplays on his last name. Republicans in the lower ranks have recalled Good making comments in secret conference meetings in which he compared members with whom he disagreed to Democrats.
In response to questions about whether he would run for chairman, Good said he would not because he does not discuss “internal Freedom Caucus developments.”
Many members of the group are now preoccupied with appropriations and other ongoing legislative endeavours this year, but they anticipate a resurgence of the race following the August recess.
When asked who he thought would be the greatest match for the post, co-founder and previous chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) didn’t give much away, saying only, “I’m sure it will be somebody good.”
Perry has stated, “I haven’t scheduled a vote and no one has spoken to me” on their interest in running for office at this time.