Washington – The Caucus de la Libertad de la Casa faces an existential moment with Some of its most prominent members who look at new jobs in the 2026 elections, questioning the future of the extreme right -wing band.
The representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, the leader of the group’s thinking and most open legislators, is postulated to the state attorney general.
Barry Moore, R-an., Postulates for the Senate.
Ralph Norman, RS.C.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., They run for governor. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., He is considering running for governor. And others that face difficult reelections or threats of redistribution of districts could disappear at the end of next year.
With about three dozen members, the Freedom Caucus of the Chamber has created persistent headaches for Republican leaders since its foundation in 2015 as a home for fiscal conservatives willing to use aggressive tactics to get out of his own.
In recent years, the ultraconservative group has been involved in public internal struggles when its members faced the direction of Caucus. In 2023, the members started Marjorie Taylor Greene, republican of G-G., Outside the group for her support for the then talkative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, and after she cursed her partner Lauren Bobert, Color Republican.
This year, the hard line caucus has softened and has accessed the wishes of President Donald Trump on the issues that he never used to commit, such as government financing.
A current member of Freedom Caucus said Tuesday that he was contemplating to leave the group, but has decided to stay after having heard that Roy and other “attention seekers” who “kidnapped” Caucus will not apply for re -election to the house in 2026.
“Chip Roy is an intelligent guy. Legislatively, he knows his s —, but it is a damn pain in the back,” said the legislator.
When asked to respond to that description, Roy accepted him as a “badge of honor” and joked: “I could say the same. As someone described as a frequent discomfort for leadership, that is what I am trying to achieve, in terms of changing the game and making them respond to the broader electorate.”
And Roy added that he is not worried about the future of the group after the exits.
“Freedom Caucus has a decade and has had a significant impact on the entire culture and panorama of Washington’s politics, and will continue to do so,” he said.
Over the years, the group has pushed the legislation of the right to the right, forcing moderate Republicans to difficult positions. Some of the legislators who leave will not be surprised by those colleagues.
“Not all the Freedom Caucus are the same, but some have undermined the speaker at each step and divided to the team,” said Don Bacon, a NB Republican., A member of the Swing-District district who retires after 2026. “The teams that work together are much more and win.”
In other cases, the ideological tests of the litmus in which the group was founded has been greatly dissolved into one that has come to define the game more widely: loyalty to Trump.
Last year, Trump helped defeat the president of Freedom Caucus, then repetition. Bob Good, R-VA., In his primary career of the Republican Party after the good backed to the governor of Florida Ron Desantis about Trump in the presidential primaries. At the beginning of that year, the members voted to expel Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, of the group after the main challenger of Good.
And this March, Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of F-Fla, resigned from the group after her colleagues were enraged with her impulse to force a vote to allow the remote vote of legislators who become new parents, as she did in 2023.
Freedom Caucus member, who spoke on condition of anonymity to sincerely discuss current colleagues, has been frustrated by the “obstruction” of the members of the Caucus of the Trump’s agenda, including the “great and beautiful bill” of Trump.
“They voted for everything they were against four or five different occasions, but not until they had to go and sit in the White House and receive attention or telephone calls from Trump,” said Freedom Caucus member. “And so I don’t know what your reason is, and I doubt you get offers.”
“We have a majority of two seats. Let us show people what our principles are, what are our values,” the Caucus member continued. “But at the end of the day, we have to go with the play that calls the coach. And we do not need to make this look like a damn circus here.”
Roy, who also supported Desantis about Trump in the primary of 2024, has argued that he and others initially opposed the “great and beautiful bill” to ensure “key victories”, including the realization of additional expenses cuts, eliminate the fiscal credits of clean energy and make changes in the medical and food assistance programs.
“The next Texans Attorney General must have a proven struggle to preserve, protect and defend our legacy, a general prosecutor without fear of fighting, without fear of winning,” Roy said in a campaign announcement. “That is why I struggled to ensure our border and help President Trump deliver results.”
Meanwhile, other leaders of Freedom Caucus face a questionable future.
Scott Perry, Republican of PA-PA., Has a difficult re-election battle in its increasingly competitive district while preparing for a possible revenge with Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former local news presenter. Perry won his confrontation last year for about 5,000 votes.
And Andy Harris, R-MD., The current president of Freedom Caucus, could be expelled from his district after Maryland’s Democratic governor, Wes Moore, said he could follow a new map of the Chamber in the blue state, although state Democrats have already tried to extract Harris in 2021, and a state court hit that map as a grayrandora of non-administration. Even so, he raises the possibility that Harris can become a victim of a battle that Texas Republicans began this year with a redistribution of unusual districts of the middle of the decade.
Harris suggested in a statement that the redistribution threats of Moore districts could lead to more Republicans being chosen for Congress in Maryland: “If the Democrats want to throw the dice, let them throw the dice.”
A spokeswoman for Freedom Caucus praised the members who leave the group, saying that they had fought for conservative priorities and “will bring that fight to leadership roles throughout the country, strengthening movement in new sands.”
“While the faces can change, our principles remain the same and will continue to echo through each legislative battle and each victory won in Capitol Hill,” said spokeswoman Anna Adamian.
Caucus Freedom has already changed its initial version, when it was willing to join and vote the priorities of Republican leaders to achieve their goals, even occasionally opposing Trump in his first mandate. But that will has dissipated in his second term. The group that opposed continuous resolutions and debt limit voted for both this year. The faction that was designed as fiscal hawks that would not vote to increase national debt supported a bill that is projected to increase it by $ 3.4 billion.
This year’s Freedom Caucus has developed a reputation to flutter with threats to vote against bills, only to fold and vote yes when the time comes.
Roy insisted that there are many strong conservatives in the group, which does not maintain a public list of its members, to continue the fight as he and others continue.
“It has a lot of new blood and new members actively involved in the fights,” Roy said. “It is a strong organization that is deeper than any individual. It has a long legacy that does not worry me in the least.”
Some of Freedom Caucus founding members have previously used the group as a springboard for larger roles or state offices. Two founders, Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows, went to work at Trump’s White House during his first term; Mulvaney was Trump’s budget director and interim cabinet chief, while Meadows, former president of Freedom Caucus, was chief of staff.
Desantis has been the governor of Florida since 2019, while former representative Raúl Labrador has been the Idaho Attorney since 2023. Another founder, former representative John Fleming, served in Trump’s first administration before winning the race for Louisian’s treasurer in 2023.
The founding president of Caucus, Jim Jordan de Ohio, has chosen to remain in Congress and is president of the powerful judicial committee. Since then it has become an ally of the leadership of the Republican party, although it still has roles with Caucus.
A former member of Freedom Caucus said there has always been a lot of rows. The last exits will give the newer members, such as Brandon Gill, R-Texas, Eric Burlison, R-MO., And Eli Crane, R-Ariz. – The opportunity to assume larger roles with the group.
“This will open a new opportunity for leadership,” said the former member.
