The Republican center could be making a comeback

Fifty years ago, I was an executive assistant to Sen. Clifford Case (R-N.J.). Case was a leading member of a breed of legislators that has since become nearly extinct — the moderate to liberal Republican.  

Back in those days, every Wednesday that the Senate was in session, Case would have lunch to plan strategy with a small group of similarly minded Republicans, including Jacob Javits (N.Y.), Edward Brooke (Mass.) and Charles “Mac” Matthias (Md.). 

In a signature declaration, Case stated, ”I am a Republican, and I believe in the Republican Party. But I have my own convictions as to what the Republican Party should stand for, and I intend to fight for them as hard as I can. And I will not be driven away from my Republicanism simply because some Democrats happen to agree with me on certain issues — and some Republicans don’t.” 

Many Republicans today would like to make similar statements, but the prospect of being attacked from the right in a primary has lessened their willingness to follow suit. Indeed, Case and Javits both lost their seats after being “primaried” — a word that did not even exist in their time. Today, many Republicans fear that they will meet the same fate, and they are reluctant to oppose the extreme direction in which their party’s base has moved.   

Case used to say that the ability of Republican moderates to shape legislation was at its peak when there was a Democratic president, as there is today. While the senator and his Wednesday lunchmates were always a minority in their own party, they often represented the margin of victory in key votes. In the process, they were able to inject their ideas and priorities into legislation that eventually passed. Prime examples were the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the legislation setting up the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. 

In today’s Senate, it is highly unlikely that Republicans will emerge to play a similar role. There are simply not enough moderates left in that body to overcome the need for 60 votes to break a filibuster. However, the House may well present a different story. There is a PAC of about 45 centrist members, called the Republican Governance Group that was originally named the “Tuesday Lunch Bunch.” Their ranks presumably will be strengthened by the addition of seven new GOP representatives from the largely blue states of New York and California. Moderation could well make a comeback.  

Obviously, not all these members will be inclined to work across the aisle. But with the Republican majority in the House expected to be no more than three or four seats, it will not take too many of them to actually move legislation forward. Thus, centrists could be key players in helping to overcome the polarization and anger that have become so prevalent in American politics. 

Certainly, Republicans who work with Democrats to pass legislation would still have to fear being primaried, but that would seem to be a less likely prospect for representatives coming from blue states. The outgoing Republican governors of Maryland, Larry Hogan, and Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, have shown how to make this work. 

Issues such as raising the debt limit and dealing responsibly with the environment could be prime targets for centrist Republican involvement. Republican supporters would need not be passive supporters of the Democrats, but like their predecessors in the Senate, their moderate input could be very constructive.    

Republicans like Clifford Case were not interested in being partisan warriors who blocked the other party’s agenda. They saw their job as making things happen for the common good. The country would be much better off if their Republicans’ successors were to follow their example. 

John Marks is the managing director of Confluence International. He was an executive assistant to Sen. Clifford Case (R-N.J.) from 1970 to 1973. Marks subsequently founded Search for Common Ground, which he headed for 32 years.