Georgia rep running for leadership spot

Republican Study Committee Chairman Bill Flores (R-Texas) has some competition in his race for a House GOP leadership spot.

{mosads}Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) told The Hill on Thursday that he’s running against Flores for vice chairman of the House Republican Conference.

Collins said he made the decision after this week’s election and began phoning his colleagues Wednesday seeking their support.

“I’ve always felt one thing we need to continually get better with is our communication, not only to the world but to help members take conservative issues and explain them to voters in conservative districts and some less conservative districts,” said Collins, a pastor and chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve who served in the Iraq War.

“Speaking and communicating, I’ve done that my whole life. We need to take our policies and our message and blend that with the new [Donald Trump] administration coming in.” 

Collins, a former state lawmaker elected to Congress in 2012, is pointing to his experience on the Judiciary and Rules committees. He also said he spent the past several weeks traveling around the country campaigning for some of his GOP colleagues in tough races, including Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.), Kevin Yoder (Kan.) and Rod Blum (Iowa).

“This is not about me and Bill Flores. This is about our message to the public who will be looking at us with new eyes,” Collins said. “I want to see us succeed in this new administration. This is a new opportunity.”

Flores has one advantage: organization. He has the 178 members of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus on Capitol Hill, on speed dial.

At this point, it’s a two-man race for the low-level leadership job. Current Vice Chairwoman Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), who is considering a run for governor in 2018, isn’t seeking reelection to that post.

The other open leadership job is GOP conference secretary. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who occupies that role, is expected to step down so she can focus on her new post as chairwoman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other top leaders may be looking to recruit other GOP women to run for either of those lower-tier posts, since the departure of Jenkins and Foxx leaves Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) as the only woman on Ryan’s team.

House Republicans will hold their internal leadership elections next Tuesday, a day after they return to Washington following Trump’s historic presidential upset.