Congress

Texas exodus underscores the state’s fading relevance in the House GOP

Published

7 months ago

December 4, 2025

The Lone Star State is used to having a Texas-sized impact on the House Republican Conference. And, by the numbers, its influence should be larger than ever.

If a bold redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump goes forward, Texas could have a massive 30-member GOP delegation come 2027. And yet by the measures of clout and seniority — the real markers of power inside the House — the state is clearly on the wane.

Six members are retiring — some to pursue other political ambitions, others quitting cold turkey. Assuming the redistricting plan is approved — a Supreme Court ruling on the matter could come as soon as Thursday — another five Republicans would be freshman back-benchers from a state that once racked up committee gavels.

The turnover has left many in the already huge delegation unsettled and wondering how the state’s clout declined so precipitously. Rep. Pete Sessions, Texas’ longest-serving Republican, said in an interview that it’s “the biggest change of any redistricting period” he has been through in a nearly 30-year career.

“The timing of this across the board has been difficult to get your hands around,” Sessions said. He noted the redistricting and other retirements will “add youth and opportunity to the Texas delegation but a lot of the inexperience and a lot of things that come at a time when my party needs a lot of teamwork and collegiality.”

A younger colleague, Rep. Jake Ellzey, also said the delegation is facing a “drastic change” over the coming years: “There’s going to be a lot of introductory lunches, that’s for sure.”

Already there has been a remarkable shift since the beginning of Trump’s first term, when Texans held sway over seven House committees — including the powerful Armed Services, Financial Services and Ways and Means panels — as well as three coveted Appropriations subcommittee chairs.

The GOP delegation was known for zealously guarding its influence, holding weekly lunches to strategize, amassing seats on the influential steering committee that doles out committee assignments and often voting as a bloc on key matters.

Today Texans hold only three committee gavels, all on relatively backwater panels, and just one Appropriations subcommittee chair. One of those chairs, Budget’s Jodey Arrington, is retiring. No Texans serve in the House GOP’s elected leadership.

“We were powerful,” said Rep. Roger Williams, who chairs the House Small Business Committee, recounting what the delegation was like when he first arrived in 2013. “But that all cycles.”

No single member approaches the influence of the most formidable Texan in recent House Republican history — former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was often said to be more powerful than the speaker he served with, Dennis Hastert.

Rep. Michael McCaul, who announced his retirement plans in September, was the top Republican on two key committees for 12 years. In an interview, he remembered DeLay brokering power when he was first elected. “And there was a time when I was one of seven committee chairs from Texas, and we had the majority of the chairmanships,” McCaul added.

There are still some pockets of ambition in the delegation’s ranks, including Rep. August Pfluger, who heads the 180-plus-member Republican Study Committee. Many Republicans expect Pfluger to vie for an elected leadership role in the next Congress.

But the fact that the redistricting push proceeded at all reflects the state’s relative impotence in Trump’s Washington. The president used Texas as the tip of the spear in his aggressive campaign to rewrite congressional districts midway through the usual Census-driven cycle, and wary Republicans folded in the face of an unrelenting pressure campaign from Trump’s top political advisers.

One Texas Republican relayed his surprise and frustration to a group of fellow House Republicans on the floor as the push unfolded.

“What the hell did we do to deserve this?” he said, according to one of the Republicans present.

Since then, a fifth of the delegation has announced plans to leave. McCaul announced his plans to retire in September, as did Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a highly recruited former Navy SEAL. Arrington followed, and Rep. Chip Roy launched a campaign for state attorney general, while Rep. Wesley Hunt decided to take on incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn.

Last week, Rep. Troy Nehls made a surprise announcement that he would be retiring, and some Texas Republicans believe there could be at least one more in their ranks who could call it quits before the state’s Dec. 8 ballot qualifying deadline.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former White House doctor, has spoken privately to other Republicans in the past about leaving for a possible administration job, but he has filed for reelection. A spokesperson said Jackson is “committed to strengthening the House Republican majority and supporting President Trump’s agenda in Congress.”

Even the Texas Republicans who are sticking around are showing signs of frustration in the House rank-and-file. Some conservatives in the ranks are privately expressing unease about the millions of Texans set to get hammered with higher health care costs before next year’s midterms and are concerned about Republicans’ lack of a counterattack as they get hammered by Democrats.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran, who represents a deep-red east Texas district, stood up during a recent closed-door GOP conference meeting to confront party leaders on why they haven’t been working on a plan to address expiring Obamacare tax credits until just weeks before the year-end deadline.

Moran said in an interview this week that Democrats were making headway against the GOP with what he called a “sound bite policy” on health care. “So I would like to see … Republicans come to the forefront” with more substantial plans, he said.

Other senior Republicans note that the cohesion of the big delegations including Texas’ has withered under speakers Kevin McCarthy and now Mike Johnson, who have continued a trend of centralizing decisionmaking in the leadership suites. Younger members are not given enough senior mentorship, according to another senior Republican, and White House officials “run wild” across the Capitol forcing members to march in lockstep with Trump.

For more than four decades, the Texas delegation has scheduled regular Thursday lunches in the Capitol during session weeks to build camaraderie and discuss strategy. But because Johnson often aims to wrap up House business by 10:30 a.m. Thursdays, Republicans note, members are often scattered to catch flights by lunchtime — including younger members who are most eager to get home.

“Certainly that change of schedule has thrown into play the integrity of the ability of a delegation to meet and speak and gather their balance and equilibrium,” Sessions said.

Members are generally shrugging off the retirements. Moran said “it’s a natural cycle” to life in Congress while Arrington said in an interview that “Texans are more inclined to see it as a temporary calling to serve temporarily and go home.”

“For some people, that’s six years. For some, it’s eight years, and for others, it’s 10,” said Arrington, who is leaving after eight years even though he has the chance to continue at least one additional term as Budget chair if Republicans keep the majority.

Those who choose to leave have different perspectives on the experience. Nehls and Luttrell have identical twins. Nehls is behind his brother Trever’s bid to replace him in the House, but Luttrell said he didn’t expect his twin brother Marcus, also a retired SEAL, to do the same.

Asked if he would encourage him to consider it, Luttrell laughed: “No, I would never do that.”

Congress

Johnson-backed plan to combine Pentagon and election bills advances to floor

Published

20 minutes ago

June 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Rules Committee advanced a procedural measure aimed at breaking an intra-Republican deadlock Monday night. But GOP leaders are still facing a major battle Tuesday to regain control of the House floor.

The panel approved on party lines a measure to set up Republicans’ $1.1 trillion defense policy bill, a government funding bill and other GOP bills for floor debate. It would then combine the Pentagon bill, once passed, with the contentious elections overhaul known as the SAVE America Act and send it to the Senate as one piece of legislation.

That maneuver, telegraphed by Speaker Mike Johnson earlier Monday, is aimed at appeasing House GOP hard-liners who have blockaded the floor, demanding the Senate pass the elections bill that has languished there for months.

However, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, the Republican leading the blockade, said in an interview Monday before the Rules Committee acted that Johnson’s plan is not sufficient — raising the possibility she and allies could vote down the measure on the floor. Other House GOP hard-liners say there are other outstanding issues to battle over Tuesday.

Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Rules Democrat, called the merger move “a big waste of time.” The panel voted down a motion by McGovern to remove the provision to combine the two bills in a party-line vote.

The Senate is set to debate its own version of the defense bill next month, and it is likely that the elections overhaul will be removed in negotiations between the two chambers — as McGovern acknowledged Monday and House GOP leaders privately concede.

“The Senate will just strip the SAVE Act out,” he said at the meeting. “There is a zero percent chance SAVE ends up in the [Pentagon bill] because of this rule today.”

The defense bill faces a tight vote if Republicans can pass the procedural measure. Most Democrats are expected to oppose the measure over its massive price tag, which they contend is wasteful.

The panel is set up debate on 312 amendments to the bill. The slate includes GOP measures to codify a Trump executive order to block transgender people from serving in the military, prohibit coverage of gender-affirming care, block aid to arm Ukraine and strip Democratic-backed protections for collective bargaining for Pentagon civilian workers.

The committee also voted down Democratic proposals to slash $150 billion from the bill’s topline and limit the war against Iran.

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Congress

Pentagon and elections bills could be combined in bid to unfreeze House floor

Published

3 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday he plans to deploy an unusual procedural maneuver in a bid to unfreeze the House floor this week, seeking to send the annual Pentagon policy bill and the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act to the Senate in a single package.

That is likely a recipe for a continued standoff between the two chambers over the SAVE America Act, which has stalled in the Senate for months due to internal GOP divides. Under Johnson’s plan, the annual defense policy bill, which typically passes every year with large bipartisan majorities, could become a collateral victim of the impasse.

Asked in brief interview if he had talked to Senate Majority Leader John Thune about his plans, Johnson replied, “I have to do my job in the House, and they’ve got to do their job in the Senate, so we’ll see what happens.”

Johnson is seeking to placate House conservative hard-liners, led by Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who have threatened to oppose the procedural measures that give Republicans control of the floor unless they agree to tougher tactics meant to force the Senate into passing the elections bill.

House GOP leaders discussed the plan to merge the two bills over the weekend as Luna pushed to amend the defense bill directly.

She did not say in an interview Monday whether Johnson’s gambit would suffice: “We want it baked together, not able to be stripped out,” she said.

But the Senate is free to work its own will, and members of that chamber are likely to reject any defense bill that has the partisan elections bill attached. That would set the stage for GOP leaders to strip it out when the House and Senate hash out the differences between their competing Pentagon bills later this year.

Johnson, meanwhile, is pushing a separate plan to pass a slimmed-down version of the SAVE America Act through the party-line budget reconciliation process — an option hard-liners have all but rejected.

“I don’t think that that can be done,” Luna told reporters Monday.

He’s also facing another complication: The version of the SAVE America Act he is proposing to attach to the Pentagon bill doesn’t include the latest demands for the bill from President Donald Trump — including a near-total ban on mail voting that is opposed by many Republicans.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Top Trump officials face bipartisan questions in first all-member Iran briefings

Published

4 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Lawmakers of both parties questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff Monday in the first broad congressional briefings on President Donald Trump’s Iran deal.

While Democrats asked some of the sharpest questions, participants in an afternoon conference call with House members said, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) at one point pressed the administration officials on the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.

According to two people granted anonymity to disclose the private remarks, Witkoff and Rubio repeated assurances the administration has privately made to select lawmakers in prior briefings — that the goal is to negotiate a final deal that would prohibit Iran from keeping its highly enriched uranium.

The memorandum of understanding Trump signed earlier this month, they said, was meant to launch those negotiations. Witkoff, the people said, added that the technical team involved in that part of the talks was traveling from Switzerland to Qatar, where talks between the U.S. and Iran are set to happen Tuesday.

Democrats, meanwhile, pushed the administration for more details on what financial benefits Iran could reap under the memorandum — including proceeds from previously sanctioned oil sales.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) went back and forth with Rubio and Witkoff over the lifting of the oil sanctions, two other people granted anonymity on the House call said. The officials eventually cut off the conversation and ended the call.

At another point, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) raised concerns about Witkoff’s business interests in the Middle East as he’s negotiating with Iran, prompting a sharp defense from Rubio, those people said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Rubio and Witkoff about the oil sanctions during a separate all-senators call Monday, saying in a statement afterward that they “confirmed to me that Iran will reap billions in oil revenue while retaining dangerous leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.”

“If this is the administration’s defense behind closed doors, Secretary Rubio should make it under oath, in public, before the Foreign Relations Committee,” Schumer added, calling the briefing “delayed, deficient, and devoid of details.”

An administration official granted anonymity to speak candidly countered on Schumer’s characterization, noting that he had previously gotten a briefing of the deal as part of a group of top leaders engaged on national security matters. Schumer, the official said, had the opportunity to ask multiple follow-up questions on the Senate call.

A separate group of White House officials briefed top congressional leaders and key committee chairs in a classified briefing in the Capitol later Monday.

The administration has faced bipartisan skepticism over multiple provisions of the memorandum of understanding — particularly the lifting of oil sanctions and a $300 billion reconstruction fund that many Senate Republicans fear will help fuel Iran’s military and regional proxies.

Rubio and Witkoff sought to ease concerns about the slow reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the critical trade route whose closure has sparked higher fuel and fertilizer costs. Both officials said more mine removal is required, and Witkoff indicated that Iran broke the terms of the Trump-signed deal by launching a drone attack on a passing ship over the weekend.

They also sought to assure lawmakers that Iran has received no money under the memorandum — especially not directly from American sources. Administration officials have previously pledged in smaller briefings that the reconstruction fund won’t include U.S. funds.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) called the Senate briefing a “productive conversation” but said “much of what I heard today is similar to what I heard last week” during a dinner at Vice President JD Vance’s residence.