House Republicans convened to decide who will lead the party in its minority ranks next Congress and lead the party’s effort to regain a majority in 2028.
Texas congressman August Pfluger (R-TX) garnered a strong base of support to lead as minority whip, with Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) backing him for the position, but he ultimately lost the secret vote. Those chosen to lead the party include Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) for minority leader, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) for whip and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) as conference chair.
Although much of the conversations surrounding leadership were kept private, Rep. Moran told reporters that House Republicans had what he described as a constructive and hopeful “family discussion” about what the future should look like.
“Because when you have a defeat like we saw last week, we certainly have to reevaluate where we are and how do we get back to the majority and that’s where the hopeful discussion is,” Rep. Moran said.
In addition to Rep. Pfluger, Rep. Moran said ahead of the secret vote that he is looking to support leadership candidates who could best speak to the party’s conservative voter base, as well as those who did not support Republican candidates in last week’s midterm elections.
“We’ve got to speak to those swing districts and swing voters that went to the Democratic side this time,” he said. “We lost this election because we had a number of Independents cross over, [and] Republicans, decide to move to the Democratic side of the ticket.”
Rep. Moran stressed that these voters are “critically important” to win back if Republicans want to regain a House majority in 2028. The way to do that? Rep. Moran says it’s to speak as a “unified voice” to Americans across the political spectrum.
“We have to be unified behind whoever we select [as leaders],” he said. “We’re in a dogfight, and we cannot just look to our base to win the election in the next 2028.”
