How GOP centrists have an opportunity in the new majority

A narrow House majority in divided government will be an opportunity for moderate and pragmatic House Republicans to prove the value of their style and philosophy of working in earnest across party lines on achievable legislative priorities. 

But they will face a tough environment next year, with ideological polarization and confrontational tactics from the House GOP’s right flank potentially complicating their hopes of acting on any middle ground. 

Those in favor of Republicans taking a pragmatic approach to a GOP House majority say that midterm election results, which included GOP losses for some hard-right candidates and wins for more centrist Republicans, give them a mandate on their stylistic approach. 

“We’re the group that’s the majority-makers,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), chair of the more centrist Republican Governance Group. “We don’t come from districts where we’re going to get reelected no matter what. We come from districts that honor our commitment to trying to get things done, and they respect the fact that we go back to our districts and tell them the truth — certain things are achievable, but certain things aren’t achievable.” 

“We’re not interested in making noise or interested in making a point. We’re interested in getting things done,” Joyce said.  

Much attention has been placed on how a slim majority can empower a handful of hard-line Republicans to shape the direction of the chamber, as evidenced by a small number of opponents complicating House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) path to the Speakership. But the dynamic can cut both ways, giving those more willing to work across the aisle a greater opportunity to shape policy. 

“Working together is what the American people want to do,” said Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), a co-chair of the Main Street Caucus. “And we don’t have to leave our founding principles, those conservative principles, to get legislation across the floor. We can work with our legislators on both sides of the aisle to deliver for the American people.” 

GOP members of the Republican Governance Group, formerly known as the Tuesday Group, pragmatic conservatives in the Main Street Caucus and bipartisan coalition-seeking Republicans in the Problem Solvers Caucus are more likely to see working across the aisle as an opportunity to create better policy rather than as a roadblock to getting their priorities through Congress. 

“I believe in two-party solutions. I don’t think that any one party has a monopoly on good ideas. I don’t think anyone’s party has a monopoly on good people,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a co-chair of the Problem Solver’s Caucus. 

The infrastructure bill signed into law last year, Fitzpatrick said, was a prime example of those in the middle coming together. Opposition from some progressive Democrats over tactical choices meant that it could not pass the House without support from Republicans, and 13 House GOP members broke with their party to support it. 

And legislation that starts with bipartisan support in the House, pragmatists say, has a better chance of making it through a Democratic-controlled Senate. 

“You don’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. You’d rather get 80 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing. You come to the center, you build consensus, you move forward,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s how [Americans] manage their relationships, their families, their businesses, and they just want this chamber to function the same way.” 

That ethos contrasts with the aggressive leverage-maximizing tactics favored by those in the right-wing House Freedom Caucus. And the role of the Republican Study Committee, the largest conservative caucus in the House, is to push Republicans toward more aspirational conservative policies. There is, however, some overlap in membership with those caucuses and the more pragmatic ones. 

Opportunities to reach agreements with Democrats on major legislation may be few and far between in the next Congress. A Pew Research Center analysis from March found that Republicans and Democrats in the current Congress are further apart ideologically than at any other point in the last 50 years. 

Republicans’ shift to the right has been larger than Democrats’ shift to the left, the analysis found, which sets up centrist Republicans to likely face battles within their own party as they try to reach across the aisle. 

Hard-line conservative members have called on leadership to use must-pass items like raising the debt ceiling and government funding bills to pressure Democrats and the Biden administration into securing conservative priorities, such as spending cuts. 

“We don’t feel like being held hostage by a much smaller group. So people need to negotiate in good faith when you get an 85 percent deal, whatever it may be, you coalesce and you work together as a team. None of this, ‘I demand 100 percent or I’m gonna pack my bags and go home,’” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), another co-chair of the Main Street Caucus. 

The break in tactical styles could be a challenge for McCarthy, who has indicated that he plans to use the debt ceiling to leverage spending cuts but has rejected other tactical calls of the hard-line Republicans.  

But the pragmatic Republicans are optimistic nonetheless. 

“I think you’re going to see the conference unified on some things where we have common goals and beliefs, like border security and election security and the like. And then there’s going to be other areas where, you know, you’re going to continue to see our Problem Solvers work together to advance solutions that are being blocked on the floor,” Fitzpatrick said.