The 45-member group finds themselves increasingly divided into two camps first-years. There are members who have swung suburban swings and rejected Trump’s false allegations of voter fraud – a group that includes single mothers and Cuban and Korean immigrants. And then there are those like Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who have won deep red districts where loyalty to the president is paramount and conspiracy theories are commonplace.
The warring factions in the first-year class reflect the broader rift in the GOP, where there is a larger gap between a Trump-loving base and the moderate wing that could help make Republicans a majority party in 2022.
And some freshmen were more outspoken than others. One standout is South Carolina Rep Nancy Mace, who won a GOP seat in the Lowcountry and emerged as the most outspoken critic of Trump and the “QAnon wing” in her class.
Mace excited some Republicans about their potential role in inciting the violent mob on January 6, and asked them to investigate and other possible consequences such as mistrust – which would mean a burning reprimand from a colleague.
“It is very important that we all hold ourselves accountable, and I hope that people will be investigated to the full extent of the law – from the president’s point of view. Including members of Congress, ”Mace said, noting that” all options “should be on the table. “We allowed QAnon conspiracy theorists to guide us.”
However, Mace said she was not worried about the possible setback because she criticized her new colleagues: “I do not work out of fear.”
But she is also not blind to the risks facing her and her family’s physical safety. Mace said she applied for a concealed carry permit and sent her children home from DC early after receiving threats for the promise to confirm the election of President-elect Joe Biden.
Meijer, meanwhile, said he was now investing in armor after joining just nine other Republicans to vote for indictment. He also suggested that fears for personal safety influenced some of his colleagues to support Trump’s election challenges.
“It was for many of us, especially those who decided to vote for accusation, one of the worst weeks of our lives, one of the hardest votes we have ever had to take,” Meijer told MSNBC. “I’ve talked to a number of colleagues and just felt nauseous.”
To the frustration of some IDP legislators, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has advised some of the freshmen on which states to object to and even warned of potential primary challenges if they do not, POLITICO reports first.
And in the hours after the January 6 riots, when Congress began resuming the election certification process, some freshmen were still reporting on how to vote and had asked the council for more senior lawmakers, according to sources familiar with the talks.
In the end, the majority of the new Republicans of the House objected to the result, along with more than 120 GOP legislators. Several freshmen even led Biden’s victory and spoke on the House floor, including Boebert, Greene, and first-year representative Madison Cawthorn (RN.C.).
The strong differences in style and content led to some clashes between the freshmen. Mace and others criticized Boebert during a GOP conference call for suggesting that Capitol police officers were involved in the riot and that he tweeted the speaker directly during the siege. Boebert replied that this was not her intention, and asked her colleagues not to accuse her of anything.
And the next day, Axios reported that Mace Greene had slammed into a private text chain among all the new GOP members, calling her the ‘literal QAnon lady’. Greene’s office said different views could be expected in such a large class, but said the congresswoman was particularly concerned about the invasion of privacy.
Greene responded to Axios with a similar sentiment: “Who is the first-year representative who betrays everyone’s trust and makes our group chat leak to the press?”
McCarthy tried to maintain unity in his ranks and repeatedly warned members not to attack each other over their position on the issue.
“I want everyone to understand: emotions are high,” McCarthy said during a GOP conference this week, according to a source familiar with the conversation. “What you say matters. Let us not endanger other people. Let’s see what words we use and certainly do not use other members’ names in any media. ”
Amid the riots and accusations, few incoming first-year classes experienced the first few weeks as chaotic in the office. And the political implications of their votes will resonate over the coming months: the House Democratic campaign arm is already using their votes on accusation and voting power to use as a button in 2022.
GOP recruiters have been raving about the rising stars expelling the Democrats in November, a diverse number of candidates they hoped to improve the party’s image in suburban America and dominate the spotlight. There are representatives. Young Kim, one of the first Korean American women in Congress; Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, whose family fled Communist Cuba; and Mace, the first woman to graduate from military college The Citadel.
But the large number of retirements by older major republics in the Trump era means the party has also seen an addition of new representatives from safe, red seats. The most important are Greene and Boebert, who are both won before the election suggested that they believe in aspects of the far-right QAnon movement.
Many of these new members were eager to emulate the president’s clumsy and often offensive style. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) Had to apologize during her first week in office for praising Hitler in a speech addressed by Trump supporters. Meanwhile, the Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) Deleted his personal Twitter account after complaining that there were “more arrests for stealing a podium” on January 6 than for an election on November 3. Then there is Cawthorn, who urged a crowd to ‘lightly threaten’ their members of Congress if they wanted to motivate their voices and actions.
The coronavirus – and how serious it is to take – has also created a rift in the new GOP class. Newcomer Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), A hardline Conservative who ousted libertarian Denver Riggleman in a primary position, suffered a setback for calling Covid a “false pandemic” in a December speech in downtown Washington, DC
And Greene sometimes refused to wear a mask, claiming it was ‘my body, my choice’.
To which Mace shot back in her own subtweet: “My body. My choice. And I choose to wear a mask. ‘
Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.