WASHINGTON — The House Freedom Caucus faces an existential moment with some of its most prominent members eyeing the exits for new jobs in the 2026 election, calling into question the future of the band of far-right rebels.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, the group’s thought leader and most outspoken lawmaker, is running for state attorney general.
Barry Moore, R-Ala., is running for the Senate.
Ralph Norman, R-S.C.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., are all running for governor. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., is considering running for governor. And yet others facing tough re-elections or redistricting threats could be gone by the end of next year.
With about three dozen members, the House Freedom Caucus has created persistent headaches for Republican leaders since its founding in 2015 as a home for fiscal conservatives willing to use aggressive tactics to get their way.
In recent years, the ultraconservative group has been embroiled in public infighting as its members clashed over the direction of the caucus. In 2023, members booted Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., out of the group over her support for then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and after she cussed out fellow member Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
This year, the hard-line caucus has softened and acceded to President Donald Trump’s wishes on issues it never used to compromise on, such as government funding.
A current Freedom Caucus member said Tuesday that he was contemplating dropping out of the group himself but has decided to stay on after having heard that Roy and other “attention seekers” who “hijacked” the caucus won’t be running for re-election to the House in 2026.
“Chip Roy is an intelligent guy. Legislatively, he knows his s—, but he’s a total freaking pain in the ass,” the lawmaker said.
Asked to respond to that description, Roy accepted it as a “badge of honor” and quipped: “I might say the same thing. As somebody described as a frequent nuisance to leadership, that’s what I’m trying to accomplish, in terms of changing the game and making them respond to the broader electorate.”
And Roy added that he’s not worried about the group’s future after the departures.
“The Freedom Caucus is a decade old and has had a significant impact on the entire culture and policy landscape of Washington — and will continue to do so,” he said.
Over the years, the group has pushed House legislation to the right, forcing moderate Republicans into difficult positions. Some of the departing lawmakers won’t be missed by those colleagues, either.
“Not all Freedom Caucus are the same, but some have undermined the speaker at every step and divided the team,” said Don Bacon, R-Neb., a centrist swing-district member who is retiring after 2026. “Teams that work together get much more done and win.”
In other cases, the ideological litmus tests the group was founded on have largely dissolved into one that has come to define the party more broadly: loyalty to Trump.
Last year, Trump helped defeat the Freedom Caucus chairman, then-Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., in his GOP primary race after Good endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Trump in the presidential primaries. Earlier that year, members voted to oust Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, from the group after he publicly backed Good’s primary challenger.
And this March, Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., resigned from the group after her colleagues grew infuriated with her push to force a vote to allow remote voting for lawmakers who become new parents, as she did in 2023.
The Freedom Caucus member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss current colleagues, has been frustrated by some caucus members’ “obstruction” of the Trump agenda, including Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.”
“They voted for everything that they were against on four or five different occasions, but not until they got to go over and sit in the White House and get attention or phone calls from Trump,” the Freedom Caucus member said. “And so I don’t know what their motive is, and I doubt they’re getting any deals.”
“We’ve got a two-seat majority. Let’s tell people what our principles are, what our values are,” the caucus member continued. “But at the end of the day, we got to go with the play the coach calls. And we don’t need to make this look like a freaking circus up here.”
Roy, who also endorsed DeSantis over Trump in the 2024 primaries, has argued that he and others initially opposed the “big, beautiful bill” to secure “key wins,” including making additional spending cuts, eliminating clean energy tax credits and making changes to Medicaid and food assistance programs.
“Texans’ next attorney general must have a proven record of fighting to preserve, protect and defend our legacy, an attorney general unafraid to fight, unafraid to win,” Roy said in a campaign ad. “That’s why I fought to secure our border and help President Trump deliver results.”
Meanwhile, other Freedom Caucus leaders face a questionable future.
Scott Perry, R-Pa., has a difficult re-election battle in his increasingly competitive district as he prepares for a possible rematch with Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former local news anchor. Perry won their matchup last year by about 5,000 votes.
And Andy Harris, R-Md., the current Freedom Caucus chair, could get drawn out of his district after Maryland’s Democratic governor, Wes Moore, said he might pursue a new House map in the blue state — though state Democrats already tried to draw out Harris in 2021, and a state court struck down that map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. Still, it raises the possibility that Harris could become a casualty of a battle that Texas Republicans kicked off this year with an unusual mid-decade redistricting.
Harris suggested in a statement that Moore’s redistricting threats could result in more Republicans’ being elected to Congress in Maryland: “If the Democrats want to roll the dice, let them roll the dice.”
A Freedom Caucus spokeswoman praised the group’s departing members, saying they had fought for conservative priorities and will “carry that fight into leadership roles across the country, strengthening the movement in new arenas.”
“While faces may change, our principles remain the same and will continue to echo through each legislative battle and every hard-won victory on Capitol Hill,” spokeswoman Anna Adamian said.
The Freedom Caucus has already shifted from its initial version, when it was willing to band together and vote down the priorities of GOP leaders to achieve its goals — even occasionally opposing Trump in his first term. But that willingness has dissipated in his second term. The group that resolutely opposed continuing resolutions and debt limit increases voted for both this year. The faction that styled itself as fiscal hawks who wouldn’t vote to grow the national debt supported a bill that’s projected to increase it by $3.4 trillion.
The Freedom Caucus this year has developed a reputation for bluffing with threats to vote against bills, only to fold and vote yes when the time comes.
Roy insisted that there are plenty of strong conservatives in the group, which doesn’t maintain a public list of its members, to carry on the fight as he and others move on.
“It’s got a lot of new blood and fresh members actively involved in the fights,” Roy said. “It’s a strong organization that goes deeper than any one individual. It’s got a long legacy that I’m not worried about in the slightest bit.”
Some of the Freedom Caucus’ founding members have previously used the group as a springboard to bigger roles or statewide office. Two founders, Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows, went to work in the Trump White House during his first term; Mulvaney was Trump’s budget director and acting chief of staff, while Meadows, a former Freedom Caucus chairman, was chief of staff.
DeSantis has been Florida’s governor since 2019, while former Rep. Raúl Labrador has been Idaho’s attorney general since 2023. Another founder, former Rep. John Fleming, served in the first Trump administration before he won the race for Louisiana treasurer in 2023.
The founding caucus chairman, Jim Jordan of Ohio, has opted to remain in Congress and is chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee. He has since become an ally of GOP leadership, though he still holds roles with the caucus.
A former Freedom Caucus member noted that there has always been churn within its ranks. The latest departures will give newer members — like Brandon Gill, R-Texas, Eric Burlison, R-Mo., and Eli Crane, R-Ariz. — the chance to take on bigger roles with the group.
“This will open up a new opportunity for leadership,” the former member said.
