With House Republicans within striking distance of winning the majority in 2022, lawmakers aren’t sure what to make of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s working relationship with GOP pollster Frank Luntz, a critic of former President Donald Trump.
Luntz, a longtime pollster and friend of McCarthy, who helped coordinate focus groups and messaging for the Republican Party, has expressed similar views as the strongest Trump critic in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who House Republicans recently removed from her leadership role.
“The 2020 election was more than 6 months ago,” Luntz tweeted back to journalist Sharyl Attkisson Tuesday. Attkisson had tweeted out a statement by Trump “on alleged 2020 election fraud in Wisconsin and Michigan.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Luntz predicted Trump would cost Republicans the 2022 midterm elections over his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“It is working. … What Donald Trump is saying is actually telling people it’s not worth it to vote. Donald Trump single-handedly may cause people not to vote,” Luntz said. “And he may be the greatest tool in the Democrats’ arsenal to keep control of the House and Senate in 2022.”
He tweeted out a video clip of Cheney’s floor address Tuesday night, in which the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney lambasted Trump’s claims about the 2020 election being stolen.
“These words should not be considered even slightly controversial,” Luntz tweeted in defense of Cheney.
Luntz and Trump-aligned conservatives have parted ways on other issues. While Trump and conservatives in the Republican Party have called to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which would remove certain legal protections for Big Tech social media platforms that Twitter and Facebook currently have, Luntz has argued such a move would be counterproductive.
On immigration issues, while Trump and party conservatives campaigned on building a physical wall on the southern border, Luntz recently told Axios that his polling shows that Republicans should compromise with Democrats who want a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as minors in exchange for a “barrier.”
“I’ve changed ‘wall’ to ‘barrier.’ It’s more accurate and less ugly, both visually and verbally,” Luntz said.
House Republican lawmakers remain torn over whether Luntz should continue advising the conference.
“I like Frank Luntz, and I think he has brought a lot of value to the conference in helping us to message things,” Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia told the Washington Examiner. “At this point, I’m uncertain of whether he should, he should remain or not. I will defer to the minority leader and have him put the conversation to him as to whether they should continue or not.”
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio simply stated the decision to keep or dump Luntz’s services to the party should stay between the minority leader and Luntz.
Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas told the Washington Examiner that Luntz was helpful to him and his staff when he was first elected to Congress but that he’s not too sure what advice he’s given recently.
The Texas Republican noted he ends up doing what he wants anyway.
“Some people were concerned about the words he suggests we use and that that may be a change in our policy, but I haven’t listened to him,” Gohmert said, adding that Luntz suggested in 2014 that he improve his relations with then-GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor to improve his position in the conference a month before Cantor’s surprise Virginia GOP primary loss.
Still, Luntz continues to hold favor with McCarthy and was even found to be renting residential space to the Republican leader in his spacious Washington, D.C., condo, a point seized upon by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
The Washington Examiner asked McCarthy, and reached out to Luntz, about the condo rental arrangement issues and did not receive a response. The Washington Examiner also asked Luntz if he thinks the rank-and-file of the House GOP conference can now trust his thoughts on policy matters because Cheney was ousted from her leadership post.
McCarthy, on Fox News, defended his rental arrangement with Luntz, who gave a presentation at the Republican House retreat in Orlando last month. “I didn’t know how this was controversial,” McCarthy told Fox & Friends host Steve Doocey. “Frank has been a friend of mine for more than 30 years.”
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“Yeah, I rented a room from Frank for a couple of months, but don’t worry, I’m going back to where I am normally … back to the couch in my office,” he added. “We paid fair-market rent.”
