To see more on the impact following U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary loss, go to MyAJC.com.
U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning primary loss and sudden resignation brought swift jockeying for top leadership posts, with key Georgia Republicans staying out of the fray — for now.
U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Roswell, who is seen as the Georgia delegation’s best shot to reach a position of high power, was tight-lipped when asked about his plans Wednesday and did not appear to be mounting a leadership campaign.
“What we need to do now is meet as a Republican family and walk through the way forward,” Price said. He added little more as he exited said “family meeting,” in which Cantor announced his plan to step down at the end of July and House Speaker John Boehner told members they will vote for a new majority leader next week.
The early contenders include House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California and a pair of Texans who could seek to upend the normal line of succession, Pete Sessions and Jeb Hensarling.
Price and U.S. Reps. Tom Graves of Ranger and Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County could challenge for lesser leadership posts, depending on how the dominoes fall. If they do, it could mitigate some of the state’s loss of clout, with three Georgia House Republicans ditching their seats to run for the U.S. Senate.
If McCarthy moves up, there will be a race for whip. Deputy Whip Peter Roskam of Illinois and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, were reportedly making early moves to run for whip.
Westmoreland is the second in command at the National Republican Campaign Committee and led the party’s redistricting efforts ahead of the 2012 elections. He told News 95.5 & AM 750 WSB that he is keeping his options open.
“You’ve got an open mind about everything I guess, and we’re talking to some folks,” he said. “But I mean I’m not officially throwing my hat in the ring, but it’s good to talk and see how people feel, so we’ll see.”
Graves lost to Scalise — who had leadership backing — for RSC chairman in 2012. He has since won plaudits on the right for forcing the leadership’s hand during the government shutdown debate, when he rallied members from all wings of the House GOP to his plans to insist on defunding the Affordable Care Act in exchange for extending government funding.
But Graves has voted with leadership at key moments, including on a controversial bipartisan budget deal and subsequent yearly spending bill, and he has acted as a liaison at times between the the GOP’s most conservative House members and party leaders. Graves fielded a lot of calls Tuesday and Wednesday, but more as one who could move a bloc of votes for other leadership hopefuls than one who would run himself.
Price is in line to become Budget Committee chairman next year, but his past as a head of the RSC and holder of the No. 5 leadership post gives him credibility in many corners of the caucus. Price lost to leadership-backed U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state for the No. 4 post in the House GOP, and McMorris Rodgers said Wednesday that she’s going to stay put there.
Price, who kicked the tires on a U.S. Senate run for months last year before deciding against it, is being typically methodical about any move he makes in the post-Cantor scramble.
He gave a speech on austerity Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation conservative think thank — planned far in advance of the Cantor news — that included a rebuke to some all-or-nothing conservatives. It’s a message he has used before, but one that was all the more striking in the context of speculation on a leadership run.
“Now some have suggested that incremental changes fail to recognize the apparent severity of the challenges we face,” Price said. “On the contrary, conservative incrementalism seeks to address the present crises and to prevent future ones in a principled, logical and strategic way. It is a sure way to secure real gains.”
U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall of Lawrenceville said he is a big booster of Price but had not heard from him about any interest in leadership. Woodall touched on the frustration of many core House Republicans that the top leaders right now all hail from Democratic states, instead of the home of the party base.
“We need some Southern leadership in these spots,” he said. “We need some red states in these spots, and certainly there would be no one better than Tom Price. But all I can do is encourage him. He’s got to make those decisions for himself.”
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