Former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy used his status as a Fox News host to criticize the current crop of House Republicans, many of them former colleagues, during an interview segment with network contributor and GOP operative Karl Rove.
The criticisms come after Republican control of the chamber over the past year has been tumultuous, to say the least, thanks to self-inflicted crises.
“Republican lawmakers have raised eyebrows ever since the party narrowly flipped the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections,” Newsweek reports. “The GOP lawmakers have found little to agree on since they took control of the House, starting their tenures with a tumultuous House Speaker vote that eventually saw Kevin McCarthy’s election as speaker and his subsequent downfall nine months later.”
Earlier this fall, Republicans finally managed to elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as Speaker, but whether he’ll have any influence over the most rebellious faction of the party ahead of next year’s elections is unclear.
The GOP lawmakers aim to secure a majority in both congressional chambers by flipping the Senate in 2024 and retaining control of the House. However, Gowdy expressed skepticism about the feasibility of achieving that goal during a discussion on Sunday with Rove regarding the current state of House Republicans.
“The House, my old stomping grounds, has been a disaster as of late,” said Gowdy, who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina’s fourth congressional district from 2011 to 2019, Newsweek noted. “They replaced a speaker out of personal spite. They cannot even bring a Republican bill to the floor. Will there be a residue from that come next fall, or will it not matter in a year?”
Rove responded by saying the outcome of next year’s elections will rest on how the party behaves over the next 11 months, adding if the infighting continues, the GOP will have a tougher time even keeping control of the House.
“It depends on what happens between now and then,” Rove said. “If we keep doing what we’re doing in the House, then it will matter. Republicans in the House have made their chances of keeping the majority more difficult by how they’ve acted, and a small group has continued to basically block the ability of the House of Representatives to advance a broad, optimistic, upbeat agenda that causes them to say ‘well, this is what I’m for.'”
Next year, all 435 House seats are up for election to two-year terms, while 33 Senate seats are up for reelection.
Republicans currently hold ten of those seats, compared to Democrats’ twenty, and three Independents who caucus with Democrats. In addition, there is a special election to fill the seat of former GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska.
While Democrats have a very slim 51-49 majority in the U.S. Senate, keeping or expanding it next year is looking increasingly daunting for President Joe Biden’s party.
According to Newsweek in a separate report earlier this month, the election map for the Senate looks even bleaker after West Virginia moderate Dem Sen. Joe Manchin announced he won’t be seeking reelection, though he was expected to face an uphill battle against GOP Gov. Jim Justice, who is seen as popular in the Mountaineer State.
“The senator’s decision adds further pressure to Democrats, who are likely to struggle to retain control of the Senate next year as they are confronted with a difficult election,” Newsweek noted further, adding:
Six Democratic senators are facing reelection in states that former President Donald Trump won at least once in the last two presidential elections—including the crucial swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, while President Joe Biden is once again seeking the Democratic nomination. There are no Republican senators facing reelection in states that Trump lost in either of the last two presidential elections.
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