In recent years, Rep. Chip Roy has frequently been a thorn in House GOP leaders’ side, and now that the Republican lawmaker is giving up his seat to run for statewide office in Texas, it’s likely they won’t be sorry to see him go. The Texas Tribune reported:
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, announced a run for Texas attorney general Thursday, joining a crowded Republican primary field vying to replace Ken Paxton. A conservative but often rebellious member of Congress, Roy served as Paxton’s top deputy for two years before becoming an outspoken critic of his former boss.
Time will tell how Roy fares in his upcoming primary campaign, but as he prepares to walk away from Capitol Hill, he joins a number of other House Freedom Caucus members who are also planning their exit from Congress. In alphabetical order:
- Rep. Andy Biggs is running for governor in Arizona
- Rep. Byron Donalds is running for governor in Florida
- Rep. Barry Moore running for Senate in Alabama
- Rep. Ralph Norman is running for governor in South Carolina
- Rep. Chip Roy is running for state attorney general in Texas
Their departures suggest the Freedom Caucus is poised to lose some of its highest-profile and more influential members.
This comes on the heels of the right-wing faction kicking out some of members — including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Randy Weber of Texas — and losing its former chair, Virginia’s Bob Good, who came up short in a GOP primary last year.
Around the same time, Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas said didn’t approve of the way the group had ousted Davidson, so he quit, too.
What’s more, the contingent’s troubles aren’t limited to personnel. On the contrary, the House Freedom Caucus has also spent 2025 setting its credibility on fire. Consider the recent list:
- In January, House Freedom Caucus members said they were prepared to derail House Speaker Mike Johnson’s bid for a second term with the gavel, and then they caved.
- In March, House Freedom Caucus members said they were opposed to a stopgap spending measure needed to prevent a shutdown, and then they caved.
- In April, House Freedom Caucus members slammed their party’s budget resolution, and then caved.
- In May, House Freedom Caucus members railed against their party’s reconciliation package, and then they caved.
- In July, House Freedom Caucus members condemned the Senate’s version of the GOP megabill, and then caved.
As a recent Washington Post analysis summarized:
Each threat from leaders of the House Freedom Caucus ended with the same result: capitulation. After caving on each round of threats, these far-right conservatives vowed that the next time would be different — if their demands were not met precisely as they sought. This collection of several dozen Republicans, after a decade of rabble-rousing that helped push aside three other speakers, has yet to fully buck Johnson … on any major initiative this year.
That was in early April. Months later, the group looks even worse.
In recent years, the Freedom Caucus managed to earn a reputation as unrelenting hard-liners who rejected compromises, were indifferent to party leaders’ pleas, and who had no qualms about derailing GOP proposals they deemed insufficiently conservative. As a recent NBC News report explained, “They didn’t fear government shutdowns; they welcomed them. Their signature move was to collectively withhold votes unless House GOP leaders met their demands. Before this year, most members of the conservative crew had never supported a stopgap spending bill or debt ceiling increase in their entire House careers.” That, however, was before Donald Trump became president and the attack dogs became obedient lapdogs. As its members prepare to exit the chamber, the House Freedom Caucus isn’t just losing, it’s evaporating. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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