As Republicans struggle to keep their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, the GOP is campaigning against itself, much to Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) dismay.
Johnson said he opposed House Republicans fighting fellow members this primary season, reportedly telling them to “cool it” last week at the House GOP retreat in West Virginia.
“I’ve asked them all to cool it,” Johnson told CNN. “I am vehemently opposed to member-on-member action in primaries because it’s not productive. And it causes division for obvious reasons, and we should not be engaging in that.”
Here are four representatives at risk of losing their seats as fellow Republicans challenge them:
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX)
Gonzales, a centrist Republican, is facing a runoff challenge after he voted to enact a bipartisan gun control act after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“Look, what happened in Uvalde should have never happened,” Gonzales said in defense of his vote in favor of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. “Not because he was 18 years old, not because it was an AR, because he was f****** crazy. Crazy people should not have access to kill innocent people.”
He also stood behind his vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, which codified same-sex marriage into law.
“Whatever gay is, I’m about as further away, farther away, from that as possible, but I’ve served with all kinds of people in the military,” Gonzales said. “You name it. I look at, you know, the merit of an individual.”
Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL)
The chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Bost faces opposition from Darren Bailey, who referred to the congressman as “Amnesty Mike.”
Bailey is backed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Gaetz and Bost have a long history of arguments and fighting in the House. After the lower chamber voted to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, Bost reportedly almost lunged at Gaetz in a heated debate, saying, “If you don’t sit down, I’ll put you down.”
Rep. William Timmons (R-SC)
Timmons is being challenged by Adam Morgan, the leader of South Carolina’s Freedom Caucus. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) is turning on his fellow statesman and looking for ways to host a “big event” for Morgan’s campaign.
“We have to make some drastic changes,” Norman told CNN. “We’re losing our country. We’re going bankrupt. He just had to take a leadership role in my opinion. And we’ve got a man now that’s heading the Freedom Caucus in South Carolina. He will fight for freedom. And he will be one of us.”
Timmons is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and is trying to defend his historically conservative voting record.
“I don’t think it’s about me, I think they’re fighting over other things,” Timmons said to CNN. “But you know, at the end of the day, if you’re not friends with somebody that votes with you 94% of the time, you’re not going to have a lot of friends.”
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ)
Crane voted not to oust McCarthy late last year after the then-speaker struck a deal with House Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. Crane says he is being targeted by fellow House Republicans for that vote.
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“You know how this town works,” Crane told CNN. “You can’t come up here and just start making waves and not pay for it, right? So the way I see it is good. It just reaffirms that I’m doing what I came here to do.”
“I would love nothing more than to just go after Democrats,” Gaetz, who led the move to oust McCarthy, told CNN. “But if Republicans are going to dress up like Democrats in drag, I’m going to go after them too. Because at the end of the day, we’re not judged by how many Republicans we have in Congress. We’re judged on whether or not we save the country.”
