http://thehill.com/homenews/house/255284-draft-gowdy-campaign-builds-steam By Scott Wong - 09/29/15 12:37 PM EDT
Republicans trying to draft conservative Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to run for majority leader say they’re confident he will jump in the race for the No. 2 GOP 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 GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
The entrance of Gowdy, 51, a former federal prosecutor, would add a dynamic, high-profile candidate to the leader’s 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 — emails the Democratic presidential frontrunner will publicly testify about 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 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.
The current majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), is expected to succeed Boehner, creating a vacancy in the No. 2 post.
GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) dropped out of the majority leader race on Monday night after support didn’t materialize, but another blue-state lawmaker, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), is mulling a bid.
In a statement, Gowdy spokeswoman Amanda Duvall didn’t directly answer whether her boss, who heads a special committee investigating the 2012 terrorists attacks in Benghazi, Libya, 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 massive 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.”
Chaffetz, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, launched the “Draft Gowdy” campaign during an appearance on Fox News early 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.
Others joined the effort as well. Freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), the only Jewish Republican in Congress, gave a full-throated endorsement to Gowdy, calling him an “effective leader with tremendous intellect, moral character, charisma, vision and heart.”
Two other South Carolina Republicans — Reps. Mick Mulvaney and Joe Wilson — said Gowdy would have their backing as well. And conservative Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) said he was on Team Gowdy.
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.
Speaking to reporters, Mulvaney made clear that Gowdy is not actively seeking the leadership post.
“Trey has offered himself as a compromise, fallback candidate for majority leader,” Mulvaney said as he exited a morning GOP conference meeting.
“He’s not running for the position, but if it becomes obvious that the race, as is, becomes divisive and we can’t settle on one person, he would be willing to step in, step up and fill that role.”
