GOP leaders and their allies are so worried about a Jim Jordan candidacy that they've begun buttonholing Rep. Trey Gowdy to run. | AP Photo GOP's latest Freedom Caucus headache: Oversight chairmanship

Speaker Paul Ryan and House GOP leaders are facing their worst nightmare: a Freedom Caucus-run House committee.

But Trey Gowdy might bail them out.


House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz’s announcement last week that he might soon resign from Congress has triggered a behind-the-scenes battle for one of the highest-profile chairmanships on Capitol Hill. And the power vacuum has the potential to cause GOP leaders serious heartburn.

That’s because the committee, which is charged with investigating the executive branch, is stacked with prominent Freedom Caucus members whom House GOP leadership doesn’t trust. Chief among them is Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a ringleader of the group of far-right agitators. Jordan has made a name for himself as one of the most aggressive Oversight interrogators, but he’s also been a huge problem for leadership over the years.

Jordan is next in line if the most senior member, Rep. Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee, decides not to run. Former Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa of California is third in seniority, but he’s chaired the panel before.

So GOP leaders could face a quandary whether to reward someone whose past behavior has tripped up their agenda and infuriated most of the GOP conference.

Jordan wouldn’t say whether he would run, though people close to him believe he will.

“We’ll see,” was all Jordan would say when asked Wednesday whether he wanted the gavel. “Right now, Chaffetz is the chairman, and I want to continue to support the chairman.”

But sources told POLITICO that they’re not sure Jordan can win the post, and not just because of his rocky relationship with GOP leaders. Many members of the House Steering Committee that chooses chairmen — and is composed entirely of leadership loyalists — don’t like him, either.

GOP leaders and their allies are so worried about a Jordan candidacy that they've begun buttonholing Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) — the former chairman of the House Benghazi Committee and a dark-horse candidate for the Oversight post — to run, according to multiple House sources. While Gowdy often jokes that he hates the high-profile nature of his job and would rather be home watching Hallmark movies with his wife, insiders say he is now considering a bid.

Gowdy’s office declined to comment.

In the meantime, several other Oversight Committee members are quietly jockeying for potential bids as well. Rep. Dennis Ross of Florida, a deputy whip and longtime leadership loyalist, told Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday that he plans to run — as long as Gowdy doesn’t.

“I think Trey Gowdy would be exceptional for that … but if he chooses not to do that, I would definitely choose to be in the running for that position,” Ross said in an interview. “I think I’ve got as good a shot as anybody if Trey decides not to do it, so I’m going to make a push for it.”

Ross, a lawyer who also sits on the House Financial Services Committee, chaired the the Oversight Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and the U.S. Postal Service several years ago. He has a good relationship with Oversight panel Republicans as well as Democrats, but he’s 14th in seniority behind Jordan.

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), another Freedom Caucus member who is fourth in line in seniority on Oversight after Jordan, is interested in the gavel as well. He told POLITICO that he’s “making preliminary queries into how realistic or unrealistic a run would be.”

Sanford acknowledged that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for any Freedom Caucus member to win a race for a full committee chairmanship after having antagonized party leaders and their own colleagues for years. In his case, Sanford said he's taken some unpopular stances that may further hurt his cause, such as calling on President Donald Trump to release his tax returns. Sanford could try to argue that would make him a strong check on the president, but it's unclear how far that might get him.

"I think as a generality, it could be tough for a Freedom Caucus member to end up with a chairmanship," Sanford said. "And then add a layer to the cake of I've been fairly robust in calling for the president [to release] his tax returns. I think historically in that [OGR] role, they've generally wanted someone quiet, or compliant, you pick the word, as it relates to the administration in power" being from the same party.

Issa also could run for chairman again. While he was term-limited out last Congress, when Chaffetz took over, House rules would allow him to run again after a reprieve from the post. And a source said he hasn't ruled it out, though his office declined to comment.

Jordan is one of the most influential members of the House, though not always in a constructive way for leadership. He was even floated as a potential long-shot challenger to Ryan for speaker last fall.

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In an interview with POLITICO last fall, Jordan said his favorite part of the job was being on the Oversight dais and grilling people he believes are hiding information from him. Indeed, the hard-nosed former wrestling champion is best known for his interrogation of the IRS commissioner and former staffers in the middle of the tea party targeting scandal in 2013.

Jordan also served on Gowdy’s Benghazi committee, receiving praise from right-leaning commentators for challenging the Obama’s White House talking points about the terrorist attack.

Gowdy’s reputation as an unforgiving questioner, however, is just as strong as Jordan’s — and the former federal prosecutor is better liked within the House Republican Conference.

“I think Jordan is obviously a top choice. Gowdy’s great, too, so fortunately we have a lot of good candidates,” said Oversight member Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, also a member of the Freedom Caucus.

