Conservative firebrands are already lining up to vie for the chairmanship of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus — months before the helm comes open.
As Freedom Caucus members start to discuss a successor to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), whose term will expire at the end of this year, several of them are clearly eyeing the top role or seen as contenders to lead the group. That list includes GOP Reps. Dan Bishop (N.C.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Chip Roy (Texas), Bob Good (Va.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio).
The Freedom Caucus board will likely decide who takes over, but the famously fractious and anti-leadership group is paying especially close attention this time to how chair candidates plan to deal with Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s team.
Perry has faced a particularly turbulent year so far, managing the Freedom Caucus as it split over the January speakership vote and later held an unprecedented vote to evict Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Early conversations with a dozen group members suggest that Roy is among the frontrunners, but they also revealed very different views on their future direction — and how best to achieve conservative policy goals from the majority. Should the Freedom Caucus elevate a brass-knuckle fighter or more of a strategic thinker? There’s no clear consensus yet.
"Some qualifying factors, obviously, are their position on votes and policies, but also how they can communicate that position and get the rest of the team on board,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said, noting that official Freedom Caucus positions require 80 percent support from members. “So you have to have a leader who can unify everyone and get them on the same page without being unreasonable,” she added.
Importantly, Davidson is the only current Freedom Caucus chair contender who didn't join the group of 20 conservatives initially resistant to McCarthy's speakership bid in January. That group of holdouts pushed for what some of them now describe as a power-sharing agreement with McCarthy; among them, Good is the only current contender to lead the Freedom Caucus who didn't fall in line to support McCarthy by the end of the 15-ballot race.
Roy, who leans more libertarian, was a lead negotiator of those holdouts, earning praise from conservatives and McCarthy allies alike as they reached an agreement. Some of the goodwill he earned got erased during the spring debt ceiling fight, as rank-and-file members complained that Roy — who sits on the powerful House Rules Committee — broke precedent by voting against taking that bipartisan agreement to the floor.
But his move on the debt bill earned Roy more credibility within the Freedom Caucus, where some members skeptically eyed his vote to certify President Joe Biden's election.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) described Roy as the “Yoda” of the House Freedom Caucus, referring to the wise Jedi of "Star Wars."
Roy declined to comment when asked about interest in the role.
Bishop is the only Freedom Caucus member who's openly weighing a bid, but he admitted in an interview that he's "more likely" to run for attorney general in the Tar Heel State. The North Carolinian was the first to raise the prospect of a forced vote to oust McCarthy for that debt-ceiling deal with Biden, signaling that he may be among the feistier choices in terms of the Freedom Caucus chief's relationship with the speaker.
“I’m not ruling it out,” Bishop said of a possible run for Freedom Caucus chair, adding that he's still facing unspecified "hurdles to clear" before he can decide on a statewide bid back home.
Norman, an affable businessman with a budget focus, is said to be very interested in the Freedom Caucus leadership, according to one group member who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity. Seen as a continuation of the leadership-engagement model that Perry brought to the role, Norman has also used his Rules Committee perch to sway legislation more in the Freedom Caucus' direction.
Both Norman and Davidson previously ran for the chairmanship and lost to Perry.
Davidson, perhaps the most libertarian out of the five contenders, took the seat of former Speaker John Boehner after the Ohio Republican's retirement. An Army Ranger and businessman, Davidson joined Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as the two most vocal Freedom Caucus supporters of McCarthy's speakership bid.
But that tie to leadership could work against Davidson in a group that's still plainly divided over how closely to align with party brass — a tension reflected by the vote to remove Greene from its ranks. That divide has made the job uniquely difficult for Perry at times this year.
“It's absolutely been tough. We've dealt with things we've never dealt with before. And I think we're stronger for it,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who praised conservatives' success in forcing the House passage of a more right-leaning defense policy bill last week. “Our current leadership is great. And I look forward to continuing that leadership — whichever name is at the top, but the same type of leadership.”
Finally, others have raised Good's name as an option who would serve as the Freedom Caucus' most aggressive future chair, should members elect to stick it to leadership — and perhaps the rest of the conference, too.
Good isn’t particularly well-liked by most of his colleagues outside of the group, sometimes inspiring other Republicans to create critical wordplays on his last name. Some of that reputation stems from his remarks during private conference meetings, where rank-and-file Republicans have recalled Good comparing fellow members whom he disagreed with to Democrats.
Good declined to talk about his interest in the chairmanship race, saying he does not discuss “internal Freedom Caucus developments.”
For now, many group members are focused on appropriations and other brewing legislative pushes this year, but they expect the race to pick up after the August recess.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a co-founder and former chair, didn’t tip his hand when asked who he saw as the best fit for the role: “I’m sure it will be somebody good," he said.
For the moment, Perry said that "I haven’t scheduled a vote and no one has spoken to me” about their interest in running.
