Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is planning to run for House GOP conference chair, putting up a roadblock to Rep. Elise Stefanik's (R-NY) ambition to take the position.
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky File
Many righties on social media this afternoon are suddenly excited about this news, for reasons I don’t understand. Roy has no chance. If he challenges Stefanik, it’ll be tantamount to a stunt.
As it usually is when the Freedom Caucus makes a stand on something.
McCarthy and Scalise sought out Stefanik to run for Cheney’s seat in part because they concluded they need a woman in the role. “If Chip Roy runs & wins, then the Republican woman who staked her reputation on electing Republican women will have helped drive out the only woman in Republican leadership to replace her with a man,” said one lefty about Stefanik’s history of supporting women candidates. McCarthy doesn’t want to be saddled with that narrative. And he certainly doesn’t want any more storylines about him having lost control of the caucus, which is what he’d get if Roy upset his handpicked Cheney replacement.
<figcaption> U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, in his Washington, D.C. office on July 15, 2019. <cite>Credit: Leigh Vogel for The Texas Tribune</cite>
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The Austin Republican has expressed skepticism about installing Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York as the new GOP conference chair, suggesting she's not conservative enough.