Gowdy Being Recruited to Run for House Majority Leader

Candidates include Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, No. 3 on the leadership team, and Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, chairman of the House Budget Committee.

“Chairman Gowdy is focused on the Benghazi Committee and will serve in that capacity so long as the committee exists”, a spokesperson said.

Many caucus members have consistently opposed Boehner since he began his first term as speaker in 2011 and were expected to challenge him for a fourth term after next year’s elections.

“Trey Gowdy as majority leader would be heaven-sent”, Chaffetz said, according to Politico.

The current “Republican” majority leader – liberal California lawmaker Kevin McCarthy – is the odds-on favorite to replace John Boehner, who moved the GOP to the left on a whole host of issues after he became Speaker in 2011.

“I actually think he’ll do it if we get behind it and support it”, Chaffetz said on Fox. “While I think he would have been a great majority leader, I absolutely respect this decision”.

Another lawmaker – U.S. Rep. Mia Love of Utah – publicly endorsed Gowdy, saying he had “impressive communication skills, genuine compassion and the tenacity of a prosecutor”. It’s hard to be majority leader if you can’t handle personal conflict.

Support for Gowdy to succeed McCarthy remains minimal, which first emerged after a Republican conference gathering on Tuesday morning, with the endorsement of New York representative Lee Zeldin as well.

Liberal U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State – the fourth-highest ranking “Republican” in Washington, D.C. – said she would not seek the position. “He wants to focus on his work on the Benghazi commission”.

“He made it clear to me, in no uncertain terms, that upon further reflection last night and today, he is OUT of any consideration for any leadership position”, Mulvaney wrote. “Trey’s a very project-oriented guy – he would never leave a case in the middle – and I think he looks at Benghazi the same way”.

However, Gowdy possesses an aversion to “personal conflict” which would make it hard to tackle the challenges being majority leader would bring, Mulvaney said.