Chip Roy, that is, the Ted Cruz minion in the House that no one said they needed.
Rep. Chip Roy
Freshman Rep. Chip Roy, who squeaked into office last year, has spent his first months in Congress establishing himself as a brash and unapologetic conservative — and someone who is utterly unconcerned about what his colleagues think of him.
The 46-year-old Texan was the lone Republican in May to block swift passage of a disaster-relief package for millions of Americans, including those in Texas. In recent weeks, he has spent several nights sitting in a mostly empty House chamber demanding roll-call votes on dozens of uncontroversial amendments in what he billed as an attempt to prod Congress into addressing the crisis at the Southern border.
The practical effect of Roy’s campaign was to delay the passage of a pair of Democratic spending bills, detain lawmakers of both parties on the House floor for several marathon voting sessions, and generate plaudits for himself in the conservative media as well as gripes on the House floor.
“This is an exercise in representative democracy designed to make lots of noise and not much else,” groused Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-Okla.) amid a two-hour vote series.
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Following veteran Rep. Lamar Smith’s retirement, Roy emerged from an 18-candidate GOP primary and narrowly beat Democrat Joseph Kopser in November’s midterm elections. He won with strong backing from political action committees affiliated with the Club for Growth and the House Freedom Caucus, a group that he has since joined and whose confrontational tactics he has fully embraced.
“He’s a sharp guy, and he’s not afraid to step forward and lead,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one of the group’s co-founders, who stood alongside Roy and other conservative hard-liners at a news conference pushing for action on the border.
But few Freedom Caucus members had as close a race as Roy, and Democrats have taken notice. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has moved Roy’s seat up its target list, and a well-known Texas Democrat with proven fundraising potential — former state senator Wendy Davis — is mulling a 2020 challenge in a district that could be swinging away from Republicans.
“It’s a growing district with people who are not ideologically extreme, so it’s been a surprise that he’s taken some of the most right-wing positions in the Congress,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) who represents a neighboring San Antonio district.
I mean, the guy was a top henchman for both Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton, so I’m pretty sure he doesn’t much care about anything other than his own ideology. He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do, and it’s on the rest of us to take the scissors out of his hands. On that score, it’s been a bit more than three weeks now since Wendy Davis said she’s make a decision in about three weeks. Maybe we’ll hear something soon. In the meantime, I will remind you that there is a declared candidate in this race, Jennie Lou Leeder, who I can attest has been busy with the fundraising emails. We’ll know soon enough how successful she’s been at that. As long as we have someone who can give this guy a strong challenge, that’s all I ask.