Reps. Yakym, Houchin make intentions, ambitions known
When election week ended, it looked like two Hoosiers with not even five years of total congressional service between them would be making credible bids for leadership roles in their party . . . and (spoiler alert) while their respective candidacies didn’t end as they envisioned, that’s not a bad thing for them, either.
We’ve told you that U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym (R), a finance guy at heart, was making feelers about seeking the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, a role in which he would spend lots of time traveling the country and on the phone rounding up campaign cash for candidates – and recruiting hopefuls for open seats. That’s a great way to ingratiate yourself with colleagues and build chits for any number of things, whether it is legislative support or backing for higher leadership roles within the volatile caucus.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin (R) also decided to make a bid for a top House GOP leadership role. The communications professional joined the race for Republican conference chair, the fourth-ranking post in House majority leadership – the same job held by then-U.S. Rep. Mike Pence (R) from 2009 – 2011. The conference chair role requires strong comms skills, a key selling point in the Pence election (recall that the former radio talk show host had a small studio built for his House office).
Rep. Houchin distributed a two-page letter to her Republican colleagues stressing her comms experience as the owner and operator of a small public relations firm, honed in the Indiana Senate and her House campaigns. She stressed her understanding of cultural forces and attendant comfort level with new media, and pointed to the podcast she debuted to help better communicate to constituents as an example of how she planned to integrate non-traditional media into the party’s comms strategy.
Rep. Houchin promised “conservative and clear” conference messaging, and emphasized that she would be “committed to working with each of you to support President Trump, hone our message, communicate it effectively, and support all your communication needs.”
Rep. Yakym’s run for NRCC leader was derailed when U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), the current campaign panel chair, opted to seek a second term, citing his work against headwinds in helping maintain an apparent GOP House majority. He advised against change heading into a fraught midterm election cycle. “Without a steady hand and seasoned leadership at the NRCC, Democrats could steal this majority and spend the final two years of President Trump’s term bogging down his agenda with sham investigations and impeachments. We cannot let that happen,” Hudson cautioned colleagues.
Rep. Yakym had earlier hinted that he would not run if Rep. Hudson decided to remain at the helm after a productive cycle. He did not ultimately challenge the incumbent . . . but had made his ambitions known without any unpleasantness.
The brief bid may also serve him well in another pursuit: Rep. Yakym, the Republican co-chair of the House Municipal Finance Caucus, is pushing for a seat on the House Committee on Ways and Means, a panel on which his predecessor had served.
As for Rep. Houchin . . . she was in the race for just a few days before stepping aside to support the ultimate winner, U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), and instead running for conference secretary – the post that Rep. McClain was vacating to seek the top spot. “Her leadership, vision, and dedication to our conservative values will unite us in our message to the American people,” Rep. Houchin wrote about Rep. McClain.
In touting her own candidacy for conference secretary, Rep. Houchin reiterated some of the same points she raised in her earlier letter announcing her availability for chair. “My experience as the Elected Leader for the Freshman Class, the owner of a public relations firm, and a former state senator makes me well-suited for the role, and I hope to earn your support.” She concludes, “The people have spoken loudly. Let’s get to work to deliver conservative results and restore American prosperity!”
She learned a lesson from her brief Indiana Senate leadership run as the original lieutenant for Sen. Travis Holdman (R) the last time the Senate GOP leadership ranks turned over, and she also left that race when it became clear that a Holdman win would depend upon a different consigliere.
While Rep. Houchin’s quick exit from the race for the top House GOP conference spot reflected reality, like Rep. Yakym, she effectively put her colleagues on notice that she was interested in moving up the leadership ladder going forward.
One advantage to drawing upon 35 years of covering Indiana politics and Hoosier politicos is that we’ve seen this movie before.
Sometimes, as then-Rep. Pence expressed to your favorite newsletter in 2006, after House Republicans had just lost 30 seats in the election, you just have to put yourself out there for certain posts out of a sense of obligation to a movement and other movers, even if you know it will be a losing battle. That’s when Pence took on then-U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) for House Republican leader. “It’s a choice between reaffirming our current leadership or choosing new faces and new voices to lead our party back to the majority in 2008,” Pence declared then. “We didn’t just lose our majority. We lost our way.” But despite strong backing from conservatives outside Congress, the Pence challenge fell far short (to the tune of 168 – 27).
Even so, two years later, a chastened Rep. Pence was back running for House Republican Conference chair – the same office sought by Rep. Houchin this month – and this time won overwhelmingly, with the backing of a beneficent Boehner.
Rep. Houchin won her faceoff for conference secretary against U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), a 69-year-old physician, and U.S. Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO), a 61-year-old former small business owner and former TV news anchor. Her candidacy was boosted by support from the Main Street Caucus.