Up until two weeks ago, the drama and larger-than-life personalities of the 2016 presidential race rendered the House an afterthought. It took a looming government funding/debt ceiling showdown and Speaker John Boehner's resignation to bring the chaos within the House GOP to the foreground, and the ongoing struggle reflects the larger, complex identity crisis within the party as a whole. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's withdrawal from the speaker's race has multiplied that chaos. The 40-member House Freedom Caucus's decision Wednesday to endorse renegade Florida Rep. Dan Webster - whose district is currently slated for elimination in 2016 - over McCarthy spoke to the desperation of the party's right flank to overturn the status quo. But it's likely no candidate for speaker could totally appease the group. Some would argue that in endorsing Webster, the Freedom Caucus was simply trying to extract more concessions from McCarthy before he inevitably eked out the necessary 218 votes. After all, zero absolutist conservatives have put themselves forward for the speaker's job. It's telling that Rep. Jason Chaffetz had been running to McCarthy's right, but
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.