By Scott Wong - 09-29-15 12:37 PM EDT
Republicans trying to draft conservative Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to run for House majority leader say they’re confident he will jump in the race for the No. 2 leadership job.
“He said he would join if he was asked to serve,” said freshman Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), a close friend who had recently spoken to Gowdy about a potential bid. “I am confident he would run."
“I do think he will run,” added fellow Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
A run by Gowdy, 51, a former federal prosecutor, would add a dynamic, high-profile candidate to the race, which is shaping up to be the marquee leadership contest. For the past year, Gowdy has served as chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi.
It was his special panel that discovered the existence of a private email account former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used to conduct government business. The Democratic presidential front-runner will publicly testify about her email before Gowdy’s committee next month.
If Gowdy enters the race, he would become the third red-state Southern conservative running for majority leader. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) have been reaching out to GOP colleagues since Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Friday that he was resigning from Congress at the end of October.
But it's not entirely clear whether Gowdy wants to enter the race.
Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), after saying he would back Gowdy, later tweeted that he had spoken with Gowdy for 20 minutes and was certain he would not run.
After talking w' @TGowdySC for 20 mins, he made it clear that he is OUT of any consideration for any leadership position.
— Rep. Mick Mulvaney (@RepMickMulvaney) September 29, 2015
In a statement, Gowdy spokeswoman Amanda Duvall didn’t directly answer a question about whether her boss planned to join the leadership race.
“Chairman Gowdy is focused on the Benghazi Committee and will serve in that capacity so long as the committee exists,” Duvall said. “He appreciates the confidence of his colleagues and looks forward to tonight's conference discussion” about the future of the GOP.
Gowdy backers say he would be a unifying force at a time there is a chasm between establishment Republicans like Boehner and Tea Party conservatives.
“We have good, strong candidates, but Trey Gowdy is unique in his ability to bring the most conservative members together with the most moderate,” Chaffetz said. “He is also by far the best orator, he can make the case and persuade a jury better than anyone else I’ve ever met.”
The current majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), is expected to succeed Boehner, creating a vacancy in the No. 2 post.
Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) dropped out of the race for majority leader Monday night after support didn’t materialize, but another blue-state lawmaker, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), is mulling a bid.
Chaffetz, chairman of the Oversight Committee, launched a “Draft Gowdy” campaign during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday morning, saying his entry into the race would be “heaven sent.”
Love, who watched the most recent GOP presidential debate with Gowdy, followed suit, pitching the idea of a Gowdy run to GOP colleagues Tuesday inside a closed-door meeting of House Republicans, sources told The Hill.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who serves on the Oversight Committee and leads the conservative House Freedom Caucus, spent part of the morning huddling privately with Gowdy during a committee hearing on Planned Parenthood. Afterward, he said it was too soon to offer a full endorsement for Gowdy, who also belongs to the Freedom Caucus.
"Trey Gowdy is a good guy, but as a group, we’re looking at this whole thing, and I think its going to be fluid and dynamic process and I think we should wait a while before we have these elections," Jordan said during a hearing break.
Others joined the effort as well. Freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), the only Jewish Republican in Congress, endorsed Gowdy, calling him an “effective leader with tremendous intellect, moral character, charisma, vision and heart.”
Another South Carolina Republican — Rep. Joe Wilson — said Gowdy would have his backing as well.
Wilson has already committed to another candidate in the leader’s race but said he would change his commitment if Gowdy announced a bid.
“Gosh, he’d be great,” Wilson told The Hill.
Sarah Ferris contributed.
- Updated at 2:33 p.m.
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