Trey Gowdy (left) said the public’s ongoing displeasure with Congress imperils current members . No safe seats for House GOP frosh

The 87 House freshmen who helped the GOP seize the majority by capitalizing on a deep reservoir of anti-establishment resentment are discovering that anger hasn’t gone away — and it could even threaten their fledgling careers.

Some tea party darlings from 2010 are fearful of tea party challengers in 2012, facing charges they’ve turned their backs on the movement’s small-government beliefs.


The continuing rancor serves as a warning flag to freshmen about the hostile climate likely to rage in 2012.

Once one of the tea party’s favorite sons, Florida Rep. Allen West, found himself facing sharp criticism from the very activists who helped turn him into a conservative icon. New York Rep. Michael Grimm, who labeled himself a “conservative warrior” during his 2010 campaign, has faced similar tea party tensions over his opposition to a spring government shutdown. Neither has a primary challenger yet, but both have sought to ease the tensions surrounding their perceived apostasies by meeting with tea party groups in their respective districts to explain their votes.

“Certainly, the House of Representatives has not been as conservative and steadfast as some Republicans would have wanted us to be. Primaries will be a way for us to figure out if those voters are in a majority or a minority,” said Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, a freshman who ousted then-Rep. Parker Griffith in a 2010 GOP primary but who has not yet drawn an opponent of his own.

There are few cases in which freshmen have announced primary opponents. In some cases, prospective challengers are waiting for final congressional maps to be drawn or for the political environment to gain clarity or are waiting for incumbents to reveal the size of their fundraising war chests before making their bids official.

But a handful of foes have emerged. Tennessee Rep. Chuck Fleischmann is facing a challenge from Weston Wamp, the 24-year-old son of his immediate predecessor, former GOP Rep. Zach Wamp. Former Tennessee GOP Chairwoman Robin Smith, whom Fleischmann defeated in a 2010 primary, is also considering the race. Indiana Rep. Larry Bucshon is facing a rematch against Kristi Risk, who has criticized the incumbent’s vote to raise the debt ceiling and his support for an extension of the PATRIOT Act.

“I think if anything, the energy is building,” said Risk, who narrowly lost to Bucshon in the 2010 primary. “Definitely the momentum has grown.”

Mississippi Rep. Alan Nunnelee is staring down a likely race against his 2010 opponent, former Eupora Mayor Henry Ross, who has called the congressman insufficiently conservative. Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick could have a challenge from an Americans for Prosperity official who has criticized his posture on labor issues.

Freshman Republicans who fended off tea-party-inspired primary challenges in 2010 are finding that they could face more of the same. Alabama Rep. Martha Roby, a former Montgomery City councilwoman who beat back a conservative 2010 primary foe, was the subject of a scathing post last week by RedState founder Erick Erickson, who wrote that Roby “has led on nothing conservatives care about and voted against conservatives on much that they do care about.” He added: “If the tea party wants a do-over, AL-02 would be a good place to start.”

South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, a freshman who unseated veteran Rep. Bob Inglis in a 2010 GOP primary, said the public’s ongoing displeasure with Congress imperils current members — including Republican freshmen like himself, who vigorously campaigned against Washington.

Even House Speaker John Boehner, Gowdy pointed out, has a 2012 primary foe.

“When your approval rating is 9 percent, which is just below sharks and contract killers, everyone should be worried about reelection,” said Gowdy, who so far has avoided drawing a primary opponent. “The same ‘throw the bums out’ attitude that existed last time will exist this election, and the election after, and the election after that until we do something to address the views of Congress.”

Gowdy, who’s quickly established himself as one of the most conservative voices in the House, acknowledged that he’s earned some detractors of his own. His vote for a temporary extension of the PATRIOT Act — a no-go for some conservatives in his Spartanburg-area district — prompted a flood of angry calls to his office.

Shielding themselves from primaries has been a focus for freshmen during their nine months in office. Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a past National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, said ongoing concern about addressing the desires of conservatives has been a constant source of discussion among the first-termers. The freshmen recognize that the pulsating conservative energy that carried them to Washington hasn’t subsided, Cole said.

“I think it’s still there,” said Cole. “If you talk to people at town halls, they aren’t like they were during the health care debate but they are still loud.”

Still, there are reasons to believe that 2012 will see far fewer competitive GOP primaries than 2010.

Critical to the freshman class’s effort to avoid primaries has been its laser focus on spending — the issue closest to the tea party’s heart. FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey, a former House majority leader, said his tea-party-aligned group will defend many of the House GOP first-termers as a “thank you” for their record on deficit-cutting.

Armey recalled many of his former newly elected House GOP colleagues facing primaries two years after the 1994 wave that swept the party into the majority — and said he didn’t want to see it happen this time around.

“These guys came in and said they would focus on spending — and they’ve done that,” he said. “They’ve framed the debate in Congress over cutting spending.”

Tim Phillips, a longtime GOP operative and president of the conservative Americans for Prosperity, said backing primary challengers to freshmen was “always a possibility if these guys veer off the reservation, but it’s not a focal point.”

“When a lot of people look at what the House has done, I do think there is an appreciation that they’ve taken some tough votes,” he said. “They’ve held the banner.”

While grass-roots conservatives made altering the direction of the House GOP a key goal in 2010, some believe they are now more likely to focus on ousting President Barack Obama from the White House and seizing control of the Senate — the two largest electoral prizes at stake in 2012.

“I think it’s going to focus on the Senate and the presidential race because that’s where the opportunities are,” said Rob Collins, a former American Action Network president and former top aide to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Another factor that could dissuade those who might try to unseat a House GOP freshman: the exceeding difficulty of taking out an incumbent in a primary. In 2010, just two challengers — Brooks and Gowdy — succeeded in races against House Republican incumbents.

“The threat of a primary race really hasn’t materialized yet,” Collins said. “And it didn’t materialize at the height of the tea party movement last year either.”