House Republican drama and Washington infighting is spilling into Republican primaries across the country, pitting far-right rebels against the center-right establishment. The rebels are losing.
Hard-line conservatives have come up short in efforts to replace more moderate Republicans with anti-establishment candidates.
At the same time, establishment Republicans are wading into primaries in efforts to oust far-right members of Congress who have caused headaches for the conference.
In a half dozen or more primary races this cycle, Republican lawmakers have targeted their colleagues by lending time, money or both to candidates seeking to unseat incumbents.
In most of the contested races, the incumbent has faced or will face a conservative newcomer backed by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good of Virginia.
So far, none of the attempts to eject an incumbent has been successful.
The latest lawmaker to prevail in the primary war is Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina.
On Tuesday, he defeated state legislator Adam Morgan, who chairs the South Carolina Freedom Caucus and was backed by Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Good and other national Freedom Caucus members, by 4 percentage points.
Two weeks earlier, a primary battle in Texas’ 23rd District was decided by less than 2 percentage points. Rep. Tony Gonzales won against YouTube star Brandon Herrera, who was backed by the conservative duo.
Mr. Gonzales told The Times that the primary competition is healthy but the time and resources Republicans invest in competing against colleagues distract from the party’s larger goal.
“I think Republicans should focus on winning the majority and winning the White House and winning the Senate,” Mr. Gonzales said. “But a lot of people have a lot of free time on their hands.”
Mr. Good told The Times that his establishment colleagues fired the first shot in endorsing his challenger, John McGuire, in next week’s Virginia primary.
“That began in this conference with the group who endorsed against me, and the speaker failed to intervene and to prevent that from happening,” the Virginia Republican said. “And so members on the conservative side began to endorse in some races as well.”
Member-on-member fights outside the halls of Congress are not out of the ordinary, but current and former leaders of the House Republicans’ campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Times that the number of incumbent primary battles this cycle stands out.
“I mean, it’s not unusual, but yeah, I think you’ve got more right now,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who previously chaired the NRCC.
Rep. Elijah Crane, who endorsed Mr. Morgan, Mr. Herrera and other far-right candidates, told The Times he is trying to mold the House into a more conservative body. Other Freedom Caucus members who have endorsed against establishment incumbents share his goal.
“I say all the time, whether people like it or not, I don’t think we’re going to save this country with the people that we have here,” the Arizona Republican said.
The far-right conservatives are also being tested. Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Good, and Mr. Crane face primary battles against opponents backed by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is out for revenge against the lawmakers who ousted him in October.
Mr. McCarthy lost his first test Tuesday when Rep. Nancy Mace, South Carolina Republican, demolished the primary challenger he backed, Catherine Templeton, by 27 percentage points.
“The McCarthy revenge tour is sort of off to the same start as his speakership,” said Mr. Gaetz, the ringleader of the eight Republicans who voted to depose Mr. McCarthy. He cited the former speaker’s inability to field candidates to run against Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Tim Burchett of Tennessee, the challenger he found to run against Mr. Crane sharing the same name as Jack Smith, the Justice Department official prosecuting former President Donald Trump’s federal case, and Ms. Mace’s decisive victory as signs of Mr. McCarthy’s waning influence.
“So I’m pretty excited about how our team is doing,” said Mr. Gaetz, who faces an opponent in his August primary whom he is expected to defeat.
Mr. Good, however, is in a tough race against Mr. McGuire, who has endorsements from more than a dozen Republican members of Congress and, more important, Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Rep. Don Bacon, who pummeled his primary opponent that Mr. Good endorsed, said he is backing Mr. McGuire to teach the hard-liner a lesson.
“So I donated $3,000, gave a good endorsement quote to McGuire, and I called my wealthiest donors to ask them to support McGuire,” Mr. Bacon told The Times. “And so maybe Bob Good will learn a lesson, but I don’t like it. It’s not healthy.”
Rep. Derrick Van Order endorsed Mr. McGuire and had a “wonderful conversation” with Mr. Gaetz’s primary opponent, former Navy officer Aaron Dimmock.
“The reason that this Congress is so discombobulated lies directly on Bob Good and Matt Gaetz’s shoulders,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “They feed off of people’s fear and anger, and they’re bullies.”
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said his endorsements against far-right Republicans are about “getting more serious legislators elected who want to come here and find a way to get things done rather than finding a way to stop things from happening.”
The Alabama Republican warned that if his party does not tame its rebels, the far left will be emboldened to deploy similar tactics and create a permanently dysfunctional House.
“Their nuts are watching our nuts and learning from them,” Mr. Rogers said. “So you watch, they’re going to start replicating some of these tactics unless we demonstrate that these tactics are not going to be tolerated. And that’s why you’re seeing a lot of us get engaged in primaries to try to get more reasonable, productive members into office.”
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.