As the House Freedom Caucus prepared to elect a new leader, Republican Rep. Warren Davidson, a member of the far-right faction, sent his colleagues a rather provocative letter. The Ohioan conceded that Republican Rep. Bob Good of Virginia was likely to become the group’s next chair, but Davidson insisted this would be unwise.
“I am concerned that our group often relies too much on power (available primarily due to the narrow majority) and too little on influence with and among our colleagues,” the letter read. “I ask that we consider how to best increase our influence while preserving our power to move policy in the right direction. I strongly feel that Bob Good as Chairman will impair that objective.”
Davidson concluded with an appeal to “prayerfully consider electing someone else as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus,” adding that the group’s members “must not miss the opportunities to achieve what can be done.”
Those concerns were ignored. NBC News reported:
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., has been elected the new chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, the group of far-right rabble-rousers who frequently clash with GOP leadership, a lawmaker confirmed. … Good, who ran unopposed and was recommended by the Freedom Caucus’ board, will replace current Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., in January.
Chances are, most Americans haven’t heard of the Virginia Republican — Good has only been in Congress for three years — but he’s quickly earned a reputation on Capitol Hill. Indeed, The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank referred to the congressman has a “legislative terrorist” in his latest column, which helped summarize perceptions of the GOP lawmaker.
Before Good arrived in Congress, the Virginia Republican made headlines in December 2020 when he called the pandemic a “phony“ crisis. More recently, Good has championed the impeachment crusade against President Joe Biden, pushed a debt ceiling crisis, and was part of the GOP faction that ousted…
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