On Friday House Republicans voted 134-46 to elect Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) over Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) to the Republican Conference Chair, the 3rd ranked Republican party member. The position was left vacant after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-W.Y.) was recalled by voice vote on May 12th. Cheney has been one of the staunchest critics of former President Donald Trump and his claims about election fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election. House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) justified the removal by arguing Cheney’s focus on Trump was distracting the GOP. Rep. McCarthy said in a letter to his colleges “Each day spent re-litigating the past is one less day we have to seize the future.”
Whether or not the decision to remove Cheney from her position was strategically the right move will be judged by future elections. However, what Stefanik’s victory proves is that being pro-Trump is by no means anti-establishment anymore. By nearly every metric Roy is the more conservative candidate. Rep. Roy Buck (R-CO) went as far as to say, “I think she’s Liberal.”
Rep. Stefanik was also able to secure an endorsement for Trump for the Party Conference Chair. Rep Stefanik voted to object to the certification of the electoral votes to Pennsylvania. Given their respective records it seems clear that Trump was more concerned with Roy’s refusal to vote against the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results than his conservative credentials.
McCarthy has stated, “I don’t think anybody is questing the legitimacy of the Presidential election.” Given that a considerably more moderate Republican defeated one of the most conservative members of congress based largely on her stance regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 election seems to disprove this. Regarding his uphill bid for the Conference Chair position, Roy stated that “I am glad that we did, because it demonstrates a large block of our colleagues across the ideological spectrum agree.” Unfortunately, I’m forced to disagree with this assessment. What I believe this vote proved is that too many members of the GOP are more concerned with proving loyalty to Trump than they are with actual conservative Principles.