Freedom Caucus Praises DeSantis

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) took shots at Republican leadership in Congress on Friday and urged the party to model itself after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s “unapologetic” approach to governance.

Roy, in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, faulted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for the “unforced errors” he says led to a tepid showing in the midterm elections. While Republicans are projected to secure enough seats for a majority in the House, an expected “red wave” did not materialize on Tuesday night.

CHIP ROY: TO STOP INFLATION, REPUBLICANS MUST STOP NEW BIDEN SPENDING

“We have to fight for something,” Roy wrote. “Doing so requires a willingness to take on real political risk to fight for the American people. It requires taking the kind of political risk Gov. Ron DeSantis has unapologetically taken in Florida — a key to why he crushed his Democratic competition.”

DeSantis, the governor of Florida and a possible 2024 contender, won reelection Tuesday in a landslide.

“We, congressional Republicans, have taken no such political risk thus far,” he continued. “Our leadership has not demonstrated the willingness to use all the tools at our disposal to check a radical White House and fight for the American people suffering from its policies.”

Roy called out McConnell by name, blasting him for not putting forth a Republican agenda for the midterm elections, and called McCarthy’s “Commitment to America” an “eleventh-hour tepid and weak” agenda that “few Americans knew about much less cared about and which said both everything and nothing.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

His criticism comes after McCarthy announced his bid for speaker of the House on Wednesday. As of yet, no one has mounted a challenge to him, and he received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement Tuesday night.

Roy is an outspoken member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which notably derailed McCarthy’s 2015 bid. Some in the caucus are reportedly pushing to delay leadership elections, with members like Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) saying Thursday they were still deciding whether to back McCarthy’s bid.