Enlarge By Chris Kenning, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal Supporters of GOP candidate Todd Lally hold signs at a June rally criticizing Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth. REMAKING THE GOP REMAKING THE GOP Some candidates are supported by Tea Party groups, others are backed by national Republican figures, but all have run anti-establishment campaigns for Congress. USA TODAY's John Fritze looks at the candidates hoping to be the new faces of the House GOP: Trey Gowdy, S.C.— Gowdy toppled six-term Rep. Bob Inglis in the primary and is the front-runner in November. The district covers the Greenville-Spartanburg area in northwest South Carolina. Vicky Hartzler, Mo. — Hartzler emerged from a field of nine candidates to win the primary and faces Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, Missouri's longest-serving member of Congress, in a race drawing national attention. Jesse Kelly, Ariz. — Kelly, who has criticized Palin for not being conservative enough, upset a former centrist state lawmaker in the GOP primary. He is running against Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in southeast Arizona. Raul Labrador, Idaho — Labrador, backed by Boise's Tea Party group, beat a candidate in the primary who had support from the Republican Party and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. This fall, he'll face conservative Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick for a western Idaho seat. Todd Lally, Ky. — Lally, a pilot for UPS, knocked off a candidate backed by the Republican Party in the state's primary and is in a tight race against two-term Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., in a Louisville-based district. Keith Roufus, Pa. — Rothfus ran to the right to beat a former U.S. attorney by a 2-1 ratio in the primary. He's up against Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire in western Pennsylvania. Enlarge By Orlin Wagner, AP Vicky Hartzler beat nine candidates in the Republican primary. INTERACTIVE INTERACTIVE Gallery Track House, Senate and governor races in your state. See USA TODAY projections for which party will win which seats in November. WASHINGTON  They're not well-known outside their home districts, but a handful of U.S. House candidates are poised to reshape the Republican Party — and its agenda — when a new Congress gets underway in 2011. From a county prosecutor who knocked off a six-term South Carolina lawmaker to a Tea Party-backed lawyer in Idaho who beat one of his party's top recruits for the House this year, the candidates describe themselves as the new blood of the GOP. "People rejected the Republicans because they weren't sticking to their principles," said Raul Labrador, who beat a better-funded House candidate in Idaho's GOP primary. "This new young crop of congressmen is going to make a difference." Labrador, who was endorsed by the Boise Tea Party group, will face conservative Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick in November. Minnick, who has voted with Republicans on key legislation, is the only Democrat who received an endorsement from the California-based Tea Party Express. But some Republicans, including longtime South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis, worry that the more conservative wing of the party could make it difficult to find compromise on critical issues facing the country. Inglis lost his seat to Trey Gowdy, a more conservative candidate, in a runoff election in June. "What we're doing is dividing the country into partisan camps that really look a lot like Shia and Sunni," Inglis told the Associated Press. "It's very difficult to come together to find solutions." Tea Party candidates for Senate have received attention this year for upsetting "establishment" Republicans in primaries. Political novice Rand Paul, for instance, beat Kentucky's secretary of State Trey Grayson to win the GOP Senate nod. In Delaware, Christine O'Donnell upset nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in the state's GOP Senate primary. While conservative candidates for House seats have made less of a splash, they stand to have a big impact on policy in Congress if Republicans win back control of the House in November. To capture control of the House, Republicans will need to win 39 districts currently held by Democrats. Some, but not all of the candidates are backed by the Tea Party movement. Others are endorsed by conservatives such as former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint. All of them ran as outsiders, toppling more moderate members of the GOP in primaries. They have embraced a platform of lower taxes, limited government and in most cases have taken a hard line against President Obama. "I see the future of the party as being a conservative future," said Jesse Kelly, a Marine veteran who beat a former state lawmaker for the Republican nomination for a House seat in Arizona. Voters, he said, "are upset about a government that won't listen to them." In the general election, Kelly will face Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a race the non-partisan Cook Political Report considers competitive. If they win the majority, the first test of the GOP's ability to hold together will come on spending measures, predicted Republican strategist John Feehery. Some Republicans, including Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, have raised the possibility of shutting down the government if a GOP-majority came to an impasse with the White House. "Their basic job is to stop Obama from going any further," Feehery said of a potential new GOP House majority. "The big place where this plays out and the most important place is on keeping the government open." The last government shutdown occurred in 1995, when then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Clinton could not reach an agreement on spending. A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll at the time found that Americans blamed the GOP more than Clinton for the shutdown by nearly 2-to-1. In addition to budget bills, House Minority Leader John Boehner and other GOP lawmakers unveiled a policy agenda last week, a "Pledge to America," that they hope will drive next year's Congress. The proposal included ideas that have been rallying points for the Tea Party movement, including repeal of the nation's new health care law. Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, declined to speculate on the role the new conservatives could play in helping advance the agenda next year, saying only, "We're 100% focused on November and winning a majority of the House." Gowdy, the county prosecutor who beat Inglis, said he is confident the party will be effective next year. He said he rejects the storyline, which he said is perpetuated by some news outlets, that "an uncivil, hot-headed crowd ousted an otherwise reasonable Republican." Gowdy said the party needs to adopt a legislative model that focuses on whether policies are constitutional and affordable. But he added that compromising for the sake of "getting along" is not what his constituents want. "I'm going to support what I have supported for the last 18 months, principled conservatism," Gowdy said. "Bipartisanship and compromise can be virtues, but they are not inherently virtuous." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more