House Republicans will select a new chairman for the prominent Homeland Security Committee on Monday night in the wake of former Republican Tennessee Rep. Mark Green’s retirement.

The House GOP Steering Committee will select a new chair from four candidates: Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Michael Guest (R-MS), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Clay Higgins (R-LA).

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Each contender is popular within their caucuses, giving House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) a complicated task, particularly as the steering committee looks to him for a nod in the direction he wants the selection to go.

The speaker has four of the 38 votes, with Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) holding two, and the other members on the panel given one.

Garbarino, a member of the Steering Committee, is running on his experience with cybersecurity policy, given that he is chairman of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection subcommittee. He is seventh in the line of seniority on the Homeland Security Committee.

He is a strong contender for the chairmanship and would be a win for centrist Republicans, given his position as co-chairman of the SALT Caucus and his work in securing a deal for the state and local tax deduction cap in the budget reconciliation process.

In his letter declaring his candidacy, Gimenez wrote that he wants to lead a “relentless effort to close the gaps in our homeland defenses.” Among those include confronting the rise in “unmanned aerial systems,” strengthening defenses against cyberattacks from China and Iran, and preparing for global events such as the FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

He is chairman of the Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee and fifth in line for seniority.

Guest is chairman of the Ethics Committee and also chairs the Border Security and Enforcement subcommittee, two popular assignments to have within the Republican conference. He is fourth in line for seniority on the Homeland Security Committee, having been on the panel since entering the House in 2019.

Higgins would be the most controversial choice, yet he is likely the favorite among conservatives and the Freedom Caucus, of which he is a vocal member. He is ranked third in seniority on the Homeland Security Committee.

The Louisiana congressman was the target of a censure resolution by the Congressional Black Caucus for comments he made about Haitians that Democrats condemned as racist. He also once physically pushed a protester outside the Capitol while at a press conference.

However, Higgins has numbers on his side. Louisiana members hold seven of the 38 steering votes: Johnson, Scalise, and Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA).

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Whoever becomes the next chair will be at the forefront of House Republicans’ immigration agenda, spearheading hearings on border security and sanctuary cities as the GOP continues to push President Donald Trump’s orders to stop the influx of illegal immigrants at the southern border.

The selection will also send a message about how much conservatives hold sway over Johnson, particularly as they have held up several procedural votes in the last few weeks to negotiate with leadership on contentious legislation such as the “big, beautiful bill” and several cryptocurrency bills.