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Nov. 14, 2018 / 12:58 PM GMT / Updated 1:00 PM GMT
By Leigh Ann Caldwell and Alex Moe
WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are set to elect a new slate of leaders on Wednesday as the party braces for the new reality of divided government.
Soon to be in the minority, House Republicans will head into the next congressional session with a smaller, more conservative and less diverse caucus. And, they will find themselves with much less power, a new experience for House GOP members who have been in the majority since 2010.
“Let’s face it, when you are in the minority, your job is just to vote no on what goes on. You don’t control the hearings, you don’t control the legislation. So it is going to be a different world for all of us,” said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who was re-elected last week despite facing federal charges of insider trading.
Most of the leadership is expected to look same, with the major exception of current House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is leaving Congress after not seeking re-election.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who has served as the party’s majority leader under Ryan, is expected to beat back a challenge from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in the race for the now-top spot of minority leader.
Jordan is a founding member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose bid for leadership represents a show of conservative force. McCarthy has been the heir apparent, however, since Ryan announced his resignation last year.
McCarthy told reporters after a GOP conference meeting Tuesday night that his goal is to “continue to move American forward.”
He said GOP members talked about the Democrats’ agenda that he said centers on “trying to impeach the president” and “investigation” of the administration. “I just think America is too great for such a small vision, so we will continue to work to make America move forward and our second goal is to make sure we win the majority back,” McCarthy said.
One demand from members of the new leader is to come up with an alternative to the Democrats’ online fundraising platform, Act Blue, and to commit to raising more money than they did last cycle where Democrats vastly outraised them, even with a $30 million cash infusion from GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.
Whoever wins, however, is set to lead a more conservative conference after many of their more moderate, suburban members lost their seats in the midterm elections.
And it will be a less racially and gender diverse conference. Fewer Republican women will serve in the next Congress despite record-breaking numbers of female Democrats who will serve. All but one of the 31 Republican freshman, whose races have been decided so far, are white men, resulting in a conference that is nearly 90 percent white and male. That is a stark comparison to House Democrats, where fewer than 40 percent of their House members are white men.
The GOP leadership ranks will still have one woman, however. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, who is conference chair, decided to bow out of the race after Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., announced she was running for the post.
“I think it’s always good to have as many women as possible to have as much diversity as possible represented, but I think at the end of the day what really matters is our policies,” Cheney said. “I’m really looking forward to having the chance of being able to talk about why those republican policies are the right ones for both women and men.”
Senate Republicans, who retained their majority, will also hold leadership elections on Wednesday. The Senate will see far fewer changes in leadership structure and will have at least one more seat as a result of the midterm elections, perhaps two depending in the final outcome of Florida’s senate race.
Sen. Mitch McConnell is running unopposed as majority leader, but there will be a shake-up in the positions below him as all the other leadership spots are subject to term limits, leaving McConnell able to continue his record-breaking rein as the longest serving Senate Republican leader.
Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, will vacate his spot, enabling other members in leadership to run for the next spot up the ladder. That leaves the fifth position, vice chair of the Republican conference, open.
Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, are running for vice chair against each other, ensuring that a woman will serve in leadership for the first time since Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was an elected member in 2010.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is running to replace Cornyn as whip.
