What a post-midterm House Freedom Caucus could look like

The House Freedom Caucus is heading into 2027 with a leadership shake-up and a new opportunity to shape how the influential conservative bloc operates, as several of its most prominent figures prepare to leave Congress.

The caucus’s current policy chair, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), and a number of other influential members, including GOP Reps. Ralph Norman (S.C.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), Tom Tiffany (Wis.) and Barry Moore (Ala.), are leaving the House.

Their exit raises big questions about how the Freedom Caucus will operate — and how much influence it will wield — in the next Congress. 

To be sure, if Democrats win control of the House, the caucus — along with all Republicans — will lose a great deal of power.  

With the GOP in charge of a narrowly divided chamber, the Freedom Caucus has leverage as Republican leaders have needed to win their support before big votes. Democrats are not going to come calling.

Even so, President Trump will still control the White House, and Freedom Caucus members say they have no plans to ease up on their priorities — or their own leadership when it comes to fighting for conservative policies. Several pledge to push even harder to advance the caucus’s agenda and push GOP leaders to resist bipartisan deals that fall short of that goal. 

Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) told The Hill that he expects everyone in the Republican conference to be a “flaming conservative” if the party loses the House majority.

“I will tell you, we will continue to do what we’ve done in the Congress’s past,” Self said, referring to how the caucus has pushed for a ban on central bank digital currency, Second Amendment protections, codifying Trump’s border policies and pushing the Senate to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility........

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