Balance of power: Jockeying begins for House Freedom Caucus top spot after leader's unprecedented primary loss
Rep. Bob Good's primary defeat marks the first time a House Freedom Caucus chair has lost in a re-election bid
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The House Freedom Caucus is discussing who could take the lead of the ultra-conservative group with its chairman, Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., expected to step aside.
Multiple people granted anonymity to speak with Fox News Digital indicated they expect Good to step aside from his role after he lost his primary race in June and a subsequent recount Thursday night by a few hundred votes. Good had previously said that he would do so.
It puts the GOP rebel group in uncharted territory. A chairman has never stepped down before the end of a term, and a sitting chair has never lost re-election.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two sources familiar with the discussions said they expected a previous Freedom Caucus chair, Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., or Scott Perry, R-Pa., specifically, to step in for the remainder of Good’s term.
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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good is expected to step aside from his role after losing his primary and a subsequent recount. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Both sources, however, said discussions were leaning slightly toward Biggs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I am going to push for Andy Biggs to take over during the remainder of Bob’s term. He supported Trump, and he knows how to be the chair already," one Freedom Caucus member told Fox News Digital.
Biggs did not comment when reached via spokesperson by Fox News Digital. A spokesperson for Perry also declined to comment.
One of the two earlier sources told Fox News Digital Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, the group’s policy chair, has also been floated as a possible replacement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Roy, who also chairs the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution and limited government, has not publicly indicated interest in the role.
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Rep. Andy Biggs, a former Freedom Caucus chair, is being considered a possible replacement for the remainder of Good's term. (Getty Images)
Freshman Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has also shown interest in the role, according to another source. But it’s not immediately clear if he would be interested in serving out the remainder of the year filling in for Good or whether he’d want to run in the group’s closed-door election for a new term, which usually takes place at the end of the year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ogles' office did not respond to a request for comment, while Roy declined, via spokesperson, to discuss private conversations.
Politico reported last week that Perry and Biggs were both in consideration to finish out the remainder of Good’s term.
Both have a significantly better relationship with former President Trump than Good does, a divide that drove his political unraveling.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump backed Good’s primary rival, John McGuire, and actively spoke out against the Virginia conservative’s re-election. Good had originally endorsed Trump’s primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, before switching to the ex-president when DeSantis dropped out.
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Good had originally endorsed Trump’s primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, before switching to the ex-president when DeSantis dropped out. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
Good’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital about whether he would follow through on stepping aside.
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A Freedom Caucus spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "HFC does not comment on membership or internal processes."
Good’s tenure as chairman has been a bumpy one, and multiple members left the group this year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Most recently, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who opposed Good’s chairmanship, was voted out of the Freedom Caucus shortly after he endorsed McGuire in the primary.
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, resigned in protest of Davidson’s ouster on the same day.