WASHINGTON — The House Freedom Caucus is poised to look very different next year, with several stalwarts of the hard-line conservative bloc moving on.

Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Byron Donalds of Florida and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin are all running for governor.

Alabama Rep. Barry Moore is favored to win election to the Senate.

Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Chip Roy of Texas lost primaries for other elective offices this year, while Tennessee’s Andy Ogles fell short in his House primary. And a few members face competitive reelection fights in November, including former Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

But a new crop of caucus leaders stands ready to steer the influential group and shape the Republican policy agenda next year – no matter which party controls the chamber.

“It’s a time of transition,” Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins said in an interview, but “the Freedom Caucus will continue to be the deep rudder … to steer the policies of the Republican Conference deeper into the conservative spectrum.’’

The caucus has provided a home for GOP hardliners – and created headaches for party leaders – since 2015, when it sprung from the roots of the tea party movement. Along the way, though, it has at times been dogged by internal strife; in 2023, the group voted to remove Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of its most prominent members, after a verbal altercation with fellow caucus member Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

Still, with Republicans holding only a narrow majority in the House, the caucus has exercised outsize influence this Congress, slowing down the passage of legislation and pushing policies to the right.

That approach won’t change if Democrats take control of the chamber.

“If we’re in the minority, every member of the Republican Conference will be a raging conservative,’’ said Rep. Keith Self of Texas.

And, as Higgins put it, if the GOP loses its majority, the group would shift to a “defensive posture to protect the gains that we have made.’’

What’s not in doubt, according to Matthew Green, a politics professor at The Catholic University of America, is that the caucus will find a way to wield power no matter which party controls the House in January.

Under a GOP majority, “the caucus can probably continue to exercise leverage as being a pivotal bloc,” said Green, the author of “Legislative Hardball,” a book about the Freedom Caucus. “If they are part of a minority party … they serve as a kind of ideological/messaging vanguard for the party. They’ll be out there doing a lot of stuff on the floor, giving a lot of speeches, doing media hits to get the message out for their part … because you can’t really do a lot of legislating” in the minority.

It’s a role familiar to many Freedom Caucus members, who are “used to being the ones that take all the slings and arrows,” said Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison. “We’re the battle-hardened Special Forces team that isn’t afraid of a fight.”

Burlison, Self and Higgins have all been mentioned as potential chairs of the caucus, though none would definitively say that they intend to seek the post. (The current chair, Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, is term-limited.)

Remaining loyal to President Donald Trump, and pushing for passage of his voter ID legislation known as the SAVE America Act, remains a priority for the group. But Self outlined a broader policy agenda that included an issue that could have bipartisan reach.

“The surveillance state is real … from the FISA issue … to the Flock cameras,” he said. “And that’s something that could be a natural area of bipartisan cooperation.’’

Burlison concurred as he blamed the “swampy middle” for “selling out the privacy of Americans.”

“It turns out there are people on the left that also don’t like being surveilled, and if they want to work with us, I’m happy to work with them,’’ he added.

Growing the caucus

The full membership of the Freedom Caucus won’t be decided until after the election, when prospective members will be vetted.

But already, the Freedom Caucus Fund, the group’s political arm, has been playing a significant role in several key races in the midterm election cycle.

In addition to spending significantly to support Perry, the fund is backing a handful of newcomers, including former Florida state Rep. Mike Beltran, who is running to unseat Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor in a Tampa-area district redrawn to favor Republicans. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates both the Florida and Pennsylvania races as Toss-ups.

Other newcomers endorsed by the fund include gun influencer Brandon Herrera, running in a sprawling border district in Texas; Air Force veteran David Flippo, who is competing for an open seat in northern Nevada; and former Arizona sheriff Mark Lamb, who is running to succeed Biggs.

Higgins says he counts a dozen prospective caucus members from among the potential freshman class.

“New members of Congress have to prove themselves by their vote and by their behavior, and they have to remain free of scandal,” he said.

The caucus would also recruit members already serving in the House, Higgins added. “It’s a good time to take a close look at members of Congress that are already performing and maybe have not felt completely welcomed within the Freedom Caucus” in the past.

Burlison noted that it takes a special type of lawmaker to serve in the caucus.

“We have members who will get in a tough primary and they suddenly want to be a member of Freedom Caucus,” he said. “And we’d love to have [them] in the trenches with us.”

“But are we giving [them] access to the brand … without actually being willing to storm the castle when necessary?”

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