Republican hopes for a “red wave” in last week’s midterm congressional elections fell short, but GOP lawmakers elected for the next Congress that convenes in January will still begin Tuesday to select their leaders for 2023 as the party is projected to regain a narrow majority in the lower chamber.
“It’s going to be a very interesting week,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleishmann, R-Ooltewah, said in a telephone interview ahead of Tuesday’s closed-door GOP caucus meeting. “Frankly, I was surprised we didn’t do better, but Republicans will win back the House by a very slim majority, and that narrow margin will have major implications in the next Congress.”
Fleischmann, a 60-year-old Chattanooga attorney who was overwhelmingly elected last week to his sixth term in Congress, is expected to become a so-called “cardinal” in the U.S. House of Representatives as a chairman of one of the subcommittees on the House Appropriations Committee that determines how the nearly $6 trillion federal budget is allocated each year.
Fleischmann, who has pledged his support for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as the next speaker, isn’t sure yet what panel he may be heading as leadership roles take shape in the coming weeks ahead of the 118th Congress.
Fleischmann said he is confident McCarthy will win a majority of Republicans during the caucus vote to succeed Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as the next Speaker of the House. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed McCarthy for speaker, as have such potential rivals such as U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, one of the leaders of the conservative and pro-Trump Freedom Caucus.