The 5 groups in McCarthys House majority that wield power

September 2024 · 14 minute read

Republican leadership

Kevin McCarthy (Calif.)

Speaker of the House

Steve Scalise (La.)

Gary Palmer (Ala.)

Majority Leader

Policy Committee Chair

Tom Emmer (Minn.)

Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)

Majority Whip

Conference Chair

Garret Graves (La.)

Elected Leadership Committee Chair

Problem

Solvers

Caucus

Republican

Main Street

Caucus

Republican

Study

Committee

House

Freedom

Caucus

Republican

Governance

Group

Brian Fitzpatrick

(Pa.)

David Joyce

(Ohio)

Dusty Johnson

(S.D.)

Kevin Hern

(Okla.)

Scott Perry

(Pa.)

29 members

Republican leadership

Kevin McCarthy (Calif.)

Speaker of the House

Steve Scalise (La.)

Gary Palmer (Ala.)

Majority Leader

Policy Committee Chair

Tom Emmer (Minn.)

Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)

Majority Whip

Conference Chair

Garret Graves (La.)

Elected Leadership Committee Chair

Republican Study

Committee

Problem Solvers

Caucus

Republican Governance

Group

Republican Main

Street Caucus

House Freedom

Caucus

Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)

David Joyce (Ohio)

Dusty Johnson (S.D.)

Kevin Hern (Okla.)

Scott Perry (Pa.)

29 members

Republican leadership

Kevin McCarthy (Calif.)

Speaker of the House

Steve Scalise(La.)

Majority Leader

Tom Emmer (Minn.)

Majority Whip

Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)

Conference Chair

Gary Palmer (Ala.)

Policy Committee Chair

Garret Graves (La.)

Elected Leadership Committee Chair

Problem Solvers Caucus

Brian Fitzpatrick

(Pa.)

29 members

Republican Governance Group

David Joyce

(Ohio)

Republican Main Street Caucus

Dusty Johnson

(S.D.)

Republican Study Committee

Kevin Hern

(Okla.)

House Freedom Caucus

Scott Perry

(Pa.)

It all started with a meeting that then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) convened after the midterm elections. He wanted to discuss how a razor-thin Republican majority would operate — and whether he still had a pathway to lead the fractious Republican conference and become speaker of the House.

As lawmakers streamed out of the leadership office late last year, many emerged with mixed reactions to the meeting. But one common observation emerged: McCarthy had intentionally brought in representatives from each of the Republicans’ five ideological caucuses, reminiscent of how “the five families” in “The Godfather” met to strategize in an effort to keep the peace.

The comparison stuck.

Each week the House is in session, the chairs of the five caucuses meet in the speaker’s office to discuss how lawmakers in their individual factions feel about bills that are set to be voted on in the near term and strategize about how to reach common ground on more consequential items that must be addressed in the not-so-distant future.

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The “five families” represent a range of views, from the most moderate who are willing to work with Democrats to the ultraconservative who often push leadership to accept their demands in return for their votes.

Most Republicans belong to at least one group, but many claim membership in more than one because of personal interests and political leanings.

Fourteen Republicans choose not to be a part of any of the five families. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has notoriously become an independent voice within the conference, a badge he wears proudly by not belonging to any group. Others would rather focus on their district or belong to an issues-based caucus, such as the longest-serving Republican in the House, Rep. Harold Rogers (Ky.), who founded the Prescription Drug Abuse Caucus.

As the top Republicans overseeing a four-vote majority, McCarthy and his leadership team have an incentive to ensure that all factions feel included as they face the daunting tasks of raising the debt ceiling and keeping the government funded this year, among other must-pass items. McCarthy’s chances of keeping the speakership largely hinge on how he navigates the demands within his conference, especially after several far-right members, mostly from the Freedom Caucus, almost prevented him from taking the speaker’s gavel. He succeeded after he relented to their specific demand to change a rule that would allow him to be ousted from his position in a recall vote that could be demanded by a single lawmaker.

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To ensure that a wide variety of members’ input is heard, McCarthy tasked Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), a trusted ally, to chair the Elected Leadership Committee (ELC). The group is significantly larger than the five chairs meeting, with over a dozen participants from each family, giving more members an opportunity to directly express their opinions for leaders to consider.

Yet not all Republicans love the “five families” reference; in “The Godfather,” the relationship eventually ends in bloodshed. Leaders in particular bemoan the moniker because it assumes that instead of keeping the peace, Republicans will ultimately turn on one another this congressional term.

To determine the ideological makeup of each group, The Washington Post approximated each member’s score below using a measure called DW-NOMINATE, which estimates each lawmaker’s ideology based on voting records.

More moderate

More hardline

Problem Solvers Caucus

Governance Group

Main Street Caucus

Study Committee

Freedom Caucus

No affiliation

More moderate

More hardline

More hardline

More moderate

Problem Solvers Caucus

Christopher

H. Smith

Brian

Fitzpatrick

Governance Group

David Joyce

Elise Stefanik

Main Street Caucus

Stephanie I. Bice

Dusty Johnson

Steve

Scalise

Kevin

Hern

Study Committee

Marjorie

Taylor Greene

Scott

Perry

Jim

Jordan

Freedom Caucus

Kevin

McCarthy

Matt

Gaetz

No affiliation

More moderate

More hardline

More moderate

More hardline

Christopher

H. Smith

Brian

Fitzpatrick

Problem

Solvers

Caucus

David

Joyce

Elise

Stefanik

Governance

Group

Stephanie I. Bice

Dusty Johnson

Main Street

Caucus

Steve

Scalise

Kevin

Hern

Study

Committee

Scott

Perry

Jim

Jordan

Marjorie

Taylor Greene

Freedom

Caucus

Kevin

McCarthy

Matt

Gaetz

No

affiliation

More moderate

More hardline

While membership in these groups is not always publicly available, The Post identified affiliations based on publicly available lists, verifying allegiances with conference staff members and checking with individual offices. Learn more about each group below and see a full list of members, according to our reporting.

Problem Solvers Caucus

Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)

Republican Co-Chair

Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.)

Don Bacon (Neb.)

Vice Chair

Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)

Republican Co-Chair

Nicole Malliotakis

(N.Y.)

Don Bacon

(Neb.)

Vice Chair

The Problem Solvers Caucus is the only bipartisan ideological group in the House, making it the most moderate of the five families. Established in 2017, its membership is quite exclusive because a lawmaker can only be accepted if a member from the opposing party joins at the same time. Sixty-three members now make up the group after 12 Republicans joined this term.

The group is led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.). Both serve as the caucus’s co-chairs, but only Fitzpatrick plays an outsize role in meetings with GOP leadership as a close McCarthy ally.

Given their bipartisan nature, the Problem Solvers, many of whom represent swing districts, influence the legislative process by pushing policies that could realistically achieve consensus. The group serves as a key gauge for leaders because they can reliably get an early sense of how many votes they can lose within their own party once informed about how many in the opposing party will cross the aisle and cast a vote with the majority.

See full list

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Republican Governance Group

David Joyce (Ohio)

Young Kim (Calif.)

Blake Moore (Utah)

Vice Chair

Vice Chair

David G. Valadao (Calif.)

ELC Representative

David Joyce (Ohio)

Young Kim (Calif.)

Blake Moore (Utah)

Vice Chair

Vice Chair

David G. Valadao (Calif.)

ELC Representative

The Republican Governance Group or “RG2,” as it is informally called in the GOP conference, was first established in 1994 as the home for conservatives after Republicans swept back into the majority for the first time in decades. Since then, the group has undergone a name change — it was once known as the “Tuesday Group” after the day its members would gather — and it has moved more toward the center as a fiscally conservative and socially moderate Republican group, with most members voting in support of the Respect for Marriage Act last year. The group remains open to finding consensus with Democrats.

Its influence waned under majorities with larger margins. But with only four votes to spare for the GOP majority this Congress, the group is working to exert leverage in policy negotiations and is fiercely defensive over ensuring that its most vulnerable colleagues do not take hard votes that could risk the majority in 2024. Chairman David Joyce (Ohio) made it explicitly clear to McCarthy during the speakership fight that McCarthy must run any decisions or deals he may strike with more conservative caucuses through RG2 because the group has always had McCarthy’s back.

See full list

Republican Main Street Caucus

Dusty Johnson (S.D.)

Stephanie I. Bice (Okla.)

David G. Valadao (Calif.)

Lisa C. McClain (Mich.)

Randy Feenstra (Iowa)

Executive Board

Executive Board

Executive Board

Dusty Johnson (S.D.)

Stephanie I. Bice (Okla.)

David G. Valadao

(Calif.)

Lisa C. McClain

(Mich.)

Randy Feenstra

(Iowa)

Executive Board

Executive Board

Executive Board

The Republican Main Street Caucus stands at the center of all the ideological caucuses, but don’t mistake its members for moderates. Lawmakers hail from ruby-red areas to swing districts that Joe Biden won handily in 2020 and represent a range on the ideological spectrum. The through line for them is their willingness to cut deals to ensure common policy goals get passed through the House with only Republican votes. Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.), who hails from a swing district, relaunched the group at the beginning of the last Congress, but it is now under the direction of Chair Dusty Johnson (S.D.) and Co-Chair Stephanie I. Bice (Okla.).

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Republican Study Committee

Kevin Hern (Okla.)

Steve Scalise (La.)

Mike Johnson (La.)

Jim Banks (Ind.)

Jeff Duncan (S.C.)

Executive Committee

Executive Committee

Executive Committee

Executive Committee

Kevin Hern (Okla.)

Steve Scalise

(La.)

Mike Johnson

(La.)

Exec. Committee

Exec. Committee

Jim Banks

(Ind.)

Jeff Duncan

(S.C.)

Exec. Committee

Exec. Committee

The Republican Study Committee remains the largest ideological group, with more than half of the House GOP conference claiming membership. With more than 170 members, the RSC reflects the most common conservative ideals of the Republican Party as it often has over its 50-year tenure.

Given its wide appeal, touting members from Problem Solvers to Freedom Caucus, the RSC has been traditionally known for releasing socially and economically conservative policy proposals that could serve as a road map for the GOP conference. Since 1995, the RSC has released a budget blueprint that consistently advocates for cuts in nondefense spending.

It has also become a launchpad for further ambition. Several of its chairmen have gone on to enter the top echelons of House leadership, such as Scalise, or national politics, such as former vice president Mike Pence. Last term’s chairman, Jim Banks (Ind.), tried to elevate the RSC’s national profile by proposing policies closely aligned with former president Donald Trump, while the current chairman, Kevin Hern (Okla.), has tried to return the committee to its studious roots.

See full list

House Freedom Caucus

Scott Perry (Pa.)

Jim Jordan (Ohio)

Chairman Emeritus

Lauren Boebert (Colo.)

Chip Roy (Tex.)

Warren Davidson (Ohio)

Communications Chair

Policy Chair

Scott Perry (Pa.)

Jim Jordan (Ohio)

Chairman Emeritus

Lauren Boebert

(Colo.)

Chip Roy

(Tex.)

Warren Davidson

(Ohio)

Policy Chair

Communications

Chair

The most ideologically conservative group among congressional Republicans is the House Freedom Caucus. Known for pushing Trump’s “America First” vision, the Freedom Caucus has historically been a thorn in leadership’s side. The group, founded in 2015 as the far-right offshoot of the RSC, bonded over dislike of then-Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). Its power was on display when it worked to oust Boehner and, later, Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) as the top Republican in the House. This year, the group made it painfully difficult for McCarthy to assume the speakership.

With roughly 35 members on its roster — which has never been made public — the group remains the smallest ideological faction of just Republicans. But this majority’s slim margin makes the Freedom Caucus influential in any negotiation, with many members already drawing red lines ahead of budget debates. The group also includes many who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election and are against sending funds to Ukraine to support its forces against Russia’s invasion.

The group is currently led by Chairman Scott Perry (Pa.), but it has previously been under the leadership of Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Reps. Mark Meadows (N.C.) and Mick Mulvaney (S.C.), who went on to serve as Trump chiefs of staff.

See full list

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If you’re curious about what ideological caucus each representative has chosen to belong to, explore the full list of affiliations among House Republicans below.

Filter by family

Member

Problem Solvers

Governance Group

Main Street

Study Committee

Freedom Caucus

Aderholt

Ala. 4th

Alford

Mo. 4th

Allen

Ga. 12th

Amodei

Nev. 2nd

Armstrong

N.D. At large

Arrington

Tex. 19th

Babin

Tex. 36th

Bacon

Neb. 2nd

Baird

Ind. 4th

Balderson

Ohio 12th

Banks

Ind. 3rd

Barr

Ky. 6th

Bean

Fla. 4th

Bentz

Ore. 2nd

Bergman

Mich. 1st

Bice

Okla. 5th

Biggs

Ariz. 5th

Bilirakis

Fla. 12th

Bishop

N.C. 8th

Boebert

Colo. 3rd

Bost

Ill. 12th

Brecheen

Okla. 2nd

Buchanan

Fla. 16th

Buck

Colo. 4th

Bucshon

Ind. 8th

Burchett

Tenn. 2nd

Burgess

Tex. 26th

Burlison

Mo. 7th

Calvert

Calif. 41st

Cammack

Fla. 3rd

Carey

Ohio 15th

Carl

Ala. 1st

Carter

Ga. 1st

Carter

Tex. 31st

Chavez-DeRemer

Ore. 5th

Ciscomani

Ariz. 6th

Cline

Va. 6th

Cloud

Tex. 27th

Clyde

Ga. 9th

Cole

Okla. 4th

Collins

Ga. 10th

Comer

Ky. 1st

Crane

Ariz. 2nd

Crawford

Ark. 1st

Crenshaw

Tex. 2nd

Curtis

Utah 3rd

D'Esposito

N.Y. 4th

Davidson

Ohio 8th

De La Cruz

Tex. 15th

DesJarlais

Tenn. 4th

Diaz-Balart

Fla. 26th

Donalds

Fla. 19th

Duarte

Calif. 13th

Duncan

S.C. 3rd

Dunn

Fla. 2nd

Edwards

N.C. 11th

Ellzey

Tex. 6th

Emmer

Minn. 6th

Estes

Kan. 4th

Ezell

Miss. 4th

Fallon

Tex. 4th

Feenstra

Iowa 4th

Ferguson

Ga. 3rd

Finstad

Minn. 1st

Fischbach

Minn. 7th

Fitzgerald

Wis. 5th

Fitzpatrick

Pa. 1st

Fleischmann

Tenn. 3rd

Flood

Neb. 1st

Foxx

N.C. 5th

Franklin

Fla. 18th

Fry

S.C. 7th

Fulcher

Idaho 1st

Gaetz

Fla. 1st

Gallagher

Wis. 8th

Garbarino

N.Y. 2nd

Garcia

Calif. 27th

Giménez

Fla. 28th

Gonzales

Tex. 23rd

Good

Va. 5th

Gooden

Tex. 5th

Gosar

Ariz. 9th

Granger

Tex. 12th

Graves

La. 6th

Graves

Mo. 6th

Green

Tenn. 7th

Greene

Ga. 14th

Griffith

Va. 9th

Grothman

Wis. 6th

Guest

Miss. 3rd

Guthrie

Ky. 2nd

Hageman

Wyo. At large

Harris

Md. 1st

Harshbarger

Tenn. 1st

Hern

Okla. 1st

Higgins

La. 3rd

Hill

Ark. 2nd

Hinson

Iowa 2nd

Houchin

Ind. 9th

Hudson

N.C. 9th

Huizenga

Mich. 4th

Hunt

Tex. 38th

Issa

Calif. 48th

Jackson

Tex. 13th

James

Mich. 10th

Johnson

La. 4th

Johnson

Ohio 6th

Johnson

S.D. At large

Jordan

Ohio 4th

Joyce

Ohio 14th

Joyce

Pa. 13th

Kean Jr.

N.J. 7th

Kelly

Miss. 1st

Kelly

Pa. 16th

Kiggans

Va. 2nd

Kiley

Calif. 3rd

Kim

Calif. 40th

Kustoff

Tenn. 8th

LaHood

Ill. 16th

LaLota

N.Y. 1st

LaMalfa

Calif. 1st

LaTurner

Kan. 2nd

Lamborn

Colo. 5th

Langworthy

N.Y. 23rd

Latta

Ohio 5th

Lawler

N.Y. 17th

Lee

Fla. 15th

Lesko

Ariz. 8th

Letlow

La. 5th

Loudermilk

Ga. 11th

Lucas

Okla. 3rd

Luetkemeyer

Mo. 3rd

Luna

Fla. 13th

Luttrell

Tex. 8th

Mace

S.C. 1st

Malliotakis

N.Y. 11th

Mann

Kan. 1st

Massie

Ky. 4th

Mast

Fla. 21st

McCarthy

Calif. 20th

McCaul

Tex. 10th

McClain

Mich. 9th

McClintock

Calif. 5th

McCormick

Ga. 6th

McHenry

N.C. 10th

McMorris Rodgers

Wash. 5th

Meuser

Pa. 9th

Miller

Ill. 15th

Miller

Ohio 7th

Miller

W.Va. 1st

Miller-Meeks

Iowa 1st

Mills

Fla. 7th

Molinaro

N.Y. 19th

Moolenaar

Mich. 2nd

Mooney

W.Va. 2nd

Moore

Ala. 2nd

Moore

Utah 1st

Moran

Tex. 1st

Murphy

N.C. 3rd

Nehls

Tex. 22nd

Newhouse

Wash. 4th

Norman

S.C. 5th

Nunn

Iowa 3rd

Obernolte

Calif. 23rd

Ogles

Tenn. 5th

Owens

Utah 4th

Palmer

Ala. 6th

Pence

Ind. 6th

Perry

Pa. 10th

Pfluger

Tex. 11th

Posey

Fla. 8th

Reschenthaler

Pa. 14th

Rogers

Ala. 3rd

Rogers

Ky. 5th

Rose

Tenn. 6th

Rosendale

Mont. 2nd

Rouzer

N.C. 7th

Roy

Tex. 21st

Rutherford

Fla. 5th

Salazar

Fla. 27th

Santos

N.Y. 3rd

Scalise

La. 1st

Schweikert

Ariz. 1st

Scott

Ga. 8th

Self

Tex. 3rd

Sessions

Tex. 17th

Simpson

Idaho 2nd

Smith

Mo. 8th

Smith

Neb. 3rd

Smith

N.J. 4th

Smucker

Pa. 11th

Spartz

Ind. 5th

Stauber

Minn. 8th

Steel

Calif. 45th

Stefanik

N.Y. 21st

Steil

Wis. 1st

Steube

Fla. 17th

Stewart

Utah 2nd

Strong

Ala. 5th

Tenney

N.Y. 24th

Thompson

Pa. 15th

Tiffany

Wis. 7th

Timmons

S.C. 4th

Turner

Ohio 10th

Valadao

Calif. 22nd

Van Drew

N.J. 2nd

Van Duyne

Tex. 24th

Van Orden

Wis. 3rd

Wagner

Mo. 2nd

Walberg

Mich. 5th

Waltz

Fla. 6th

Weber

Tex. 14th

Webster

Fla. 11th

Wenstrup

Ohio 2nd

Westerman

Ark. 4th

Williams

N.Y. 22nd

Williams

Tex. 25th

Wilson

S.C. 2nd

Wittman

Va. 1st

Womack

Ark. 3rd

Yakym

Ind. 2nd

Zinke

Mont. 1st

Chris Alcantara contributed to this report.

correction

A previous version of this story said Rep. Ronny Jackson is a member of the House Freedom Caucus. He sometimes appears with the caucus but is not an official member. A previous version of this story incorrectly used a photo of Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.) in place of Rep. Blake D. Moore (Utah). It has been corrected.

About this story

Leadership and membership data from the Problems Solvers Caucus, the Republican Governance Group, the Republican Main Street Caucus and the Republican Study Committee comes from the group’s websites and Post reporting. The House Freedom Caucus does not provide a list of members, so membership was determined by press releases and Post reporting, including photos of Freedom Caucus events.

Ideology scores come from DW-NOMINATE as of March 23, a spatial model of voting patterns that distributes members based on their congressional voting history. Newer members have taken fewer votes, so their positioning on the ideological spectrum is subject to more fluctuation.

Nonvoting House members are not included in this analysis.

The data behind this project is publicly accessible here.

See something we missed? Let us know.

Editing by Kevin Uhrmacher and Annah Aschbrenner. Copy editing by Gaby Morera Di Núbila.

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