Like Missouri, Idaho's senior Republican senator removed Freedom Caucus members from committee leadership positions last November and blasted their anti-senator sentiments. Since refusing to campaign against other Republican MPs, Freedom Caucus members in South Carolina have been banished from the House Republican caucus for a year.
In Georgia, the Senate Republican caucus fired an outspoken Freedom Caucus member who sought to urge colleagues to impeach a Democratic prosecutor for indicting Trump. Last September, the Georgia Senate GOP caucus stated Sen. Colton Moore's public pressure campaign had produced “unnecessary tension and hostility” and put colleagues “at risk of personal harm”
Moore is still excluded from the Republican caucus, but the Senate is investigating whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis misappropriated state funds to prosecute Trump and others. Moore said the research supports his “a lot more aggressive” approach.
In several places, Freedom Caucus members are revealing “that there are a lot of Republicans in state legislators who are enabling bigger government and locking arms with the Democrats to do so,” said State Freedom Caucus Network president Andrew Roth. After being called out, they react punitively.”
Roth claimed Freedom Caucus members helped pass anti-abortion legislation in Wyoming, change Louisiana's congressional primaries, and stop Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs' nomination for the Department of Health Services, despite such conflicts.
However, several Freedom Caucus actions failed. The group's Montana effort to seek a January property tax cut special session failed. Mississippi's chapter collapsed when most members retired or campaigned for government. Freedom Caucus chapters remain active in Democratic-led Illinois, Republican-led South Dakota, and politically split Pennsylvania.
In the early weeks of South Carolina's legislative session, group members have caused Republican tensions. Freedom Caucus members accused Republican colleagues of watering down a measure barring transgender kid treatments by adding changes such forcing teachers to notify parents immediately when youngsters change gender identification. The Freedom Caucus amendments were seen by other Republicans as a ploy to force tough votes.
The South Carolina Freedom Caucus responded to the Republican governor's State of the State address last week with a novel twist. The 16-person group's head, Republican Rep. Adam Morgan, criticized the state's “liberal Republicans.” Morgan, who just declared a congressional run, called a House GOP caucus rule banning campaigning against Republicans a “crony loyalty pledge.
Republicans like state Rep. Micah Caskey have resisted rhetorically. Caskey called the Freedom Caucus “political terrorism for their own selfish narrow ambitions.” “They have bamboozled people into believing that their fiery rhetoric and preference for anarchy is conservative,” Caskey remarked. They hinder conservative policy goals.
STAY TURNED FOR DEVELOPMENT