On the eve of an expected vote to remove U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership post, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Austin) cautioned that U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), the consensus candidate to replace her, is not conservative enough.
“We must avoid putting in charge Republicans who campaign as Republicans but then vote for and advance the Democrats’ agenda once sworn in,” Roy said in a memo to colleagues (PDF). Roy was one of seven Texas Republicans who voted to accept Arizona’s electoral votes for Joe Biden, and he initially defended Cheney’s vote to impeach Trump over the January 6 insurrection as a vote of conscience. []
Roy said his decision to recall Cheney is “about her general failure to lead the conference … on a path forward to restore election integrity,” and not because of her position on the 2020 election. “This is the kind of unified ‘election’ message that Liz unfortunately did not develop [and] that we should embrace now.”
Roy’s reasoning notwithstanding, Cheney is arguably being removed as the No. 3 Republican in the House for insisting that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen from President Trump. “Freedom only survives if we protect it,” Cheney said today (Tuesday) on the floor of the House. “We must speak the truth. The election was not stolen.” Trump’s attorneys and supporters have not produced credible evidence to support any claim that the election was somehow stolen.
“Unfortunately, each day spent relitigating the past is one day less we have to seize the future,” said U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in a letter to colleagues about the vote to remove Cheney from leadership. “These internal conflicts need to be resolved so as to not detract from the efforts of our collective team” to take back the House in 2022. “We are a big tent party,” McCarthy said. “Unlike the left, we embrace free thought and debate.”
Trump has endorsed Stefanik’s candidacy for Cheney’s leadership post.
CD5: Dallas artist and former U.S. State Dept. official Kathleen Cordelia Bailey established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell) as a Democrat.
Arlington: The Michael Glaspie campaign announced that all of his former rivals who failed to make the mayoral runoff have endorsed him. The five candidates – Doni Anthony, Kelly Burke, CJ Ocampo Jr., council member Marvin Sutton and Dewayne Washington – collectively received 21% of the vote (Sutton accounted for 15%.). Attorney and restaurateur Jim Ross finished first with 47% of the vote, which placed him in the runoff with Glaspie (31%). Ross has the support of Mayor Jeff Williams, who is term-limited. The runoff is June 5.
San Antonio: State Republican chair Allen West endorsed challenger Patrick Von Dohlen in the June 5 runoff over council member John Courage. Von Dohlen has been endorsed by several prominent conservative groups in this and his previous election bid. Courage unsuccessfully challenged Donna Campbell as a Democrat for what was then open SD25 in 2012. In a statement, Courage said he is “not seeking, nor have I been endorsed by, nor will I accept any partisan endorsements from anyone.” This is Von Dohlen’s third race against Courage, who won the 2019 general election, 54%-41%. Von Dohlen finished third in a 10-way race in 2017.
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