The caucus originated during the mid–January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in
Hershey, Pennsylvania. Nine conservative Republican members of the House began planning a new congressional caucus separate from the
Republican Study Committee and apart from the
House Republican Conference. The founding members who constituted the first board of directors for the new caucus were Republican representatives
Scott Garrett of New Jersey,
Jim Jordan of Ohio,
John Fleming of Louisiana,
Matt Salmon of Arizona,
Justin Amash of Michigan,
Raúl Labrador of Idaho, Mulvaney of South Carolina,
Ron DeSantis of Florida and
Mark Meadows of North Carolina. At the retreat in Pennsylvania, the group settled on the name Freedom Caucus. Mick Mulvaney told
Ryan Lizza of the
New Yorker, "We had twenty names, and all of them were terrible. None of us liked the Freedom Caucus, either, but it was so generic and so universally awful that we had no reason to be against it." According to Lizza, "one of the working titles for the group was the Reasonable Nutjob Caucus." During the crisis over funding for the
Department of Homeland Security in early 2015, the caucus offered four plans to resolve it, but the Republican leadership rejected all. One of the caucus leaders, Raúl Labrador, said the caucus would offer an alternative that the most conservative Republican members could support.
Opposition to Speaker of the House John Boehner The newly formed group declared that a criterion for new members would be opposition to
John Boehner as
Speaker of the House and a willingness to vote against or thwart him on legislation the group opposed. The House Freedom Caucus was involved in Boehner's resignation on September 25, 2015, and the ensuing
leadership battle for the new speaker. Members of the caucus who had voted against Boehner for speaker felt unfairly punished, accusing him of cutting them off from positions in the Republican Study Committee and depriving them of key committee assignments. Boehner found it increasingly difficult to manage House Republicans with the fierce opposition of conservative members of the Republican Party in the House, and he sparred with those House Republicans in 2013 over their willingness to shut down the government in pursuit of goals such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. These Republicans later formed and joined the Freedom Caucus in 2015. After Boehner resigned as speaker,
Kevin McCarthy, the
House majority leader, was initially the lead contender to succeed him, but the Freedom Caucus withheld its support. However, McCarthy withdrew from the race on October 8, 2015, after appearing to suggest that the
Benghazi investigation's purpose had been to lower the approval ratings of
Hillary Clinton. On the same day as McCarthy's withdrawal,
Reid Ribble resigned from the Freedom Caucus saying he had joined to promote certain policies and could not support the role that it was playing in the leadership race. While the group could not reach the 80% approval that was needed to give an official endorsement, on October 21, 2015, it announced that it had reached a
supermajority support for Ryan. On October 29, 2015, Ryan succeeded Boehner as the speaker of the House. On October 30, 2017,
Vanity Fair published an interview with Boehner, who said of the Freedom Caucus: "They can't tell you what they're for. They can tell you everything they're against. They're anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That's where their mindset is."
Backlash in 2016 The group faced backlash from the Republican Party establishment during the 2016 election cycle. One of its members, Representative
Tim Huelskamp, a Tea Party Republican representing Kansas's first district, was defeated during a primary election on August 2, 2016, by
Roger Marshall.
2017–2021: First Trump presidency Following the election of Donald Trump, Mulvaney said, "Trump wants to turn Washington upside down – that was his first message and his winning message. We want the exact same thing. To the extent that he's got to convince Republicans to change Washington, we're there to help him ... and I think that makes us Donald Trump's best allies in the House." Freedom Caucus vice chair
Jim Jordan said that during the Trump administration, the Freedom Caucus shifted focus from passing legislation to defending the President.
Rejection of the American Health Care Act in 2017 On March 24, 2017, the
American Health Care Act (AHCA), the House Republican bill to repeal and replace the
Affordable Care Act, was withdrawn by Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan because it lacked the votes to pass, due in large part to opposition from Freedom Caucus Republicans who believed that the replacement provisions had the effect of failing to repeal some elements of the original Affordable Care Act. Two days later, President
Donald Trump publicly criticized the Freedom Caucus and other right-wing groups, such as the
Club for Growth and
Heritage Action, that opposed the bill. Trump tweeted: "Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Obamacare!" On the same day, Representative
Ted Poe of Texas resigned from the Freedom Caucus. On March 30, 2017, Trump "declared war" on the Freedom Caucus, sending a tweet urging Republicans to "fight them" in the 2018 midterm elections "if they don't get on the team" (i.e., support Trump's proposals). Vocal Freedom Caucus member
Justin Amash responded by accusing Trump of "succumb[ing] to the D.C. Establishment." Trump later developed a closer relationship with the caucus chair,
Mark Meadows. In April 2018, Trump described three caucus membersMeadows,
Jim Jordan, and
Ron DeSantisas "absolute warriors" for his defense during the course of the
Special Counsel investigation.
During the first impeachment of Trump In May 2019, the Freedom Caucus officially condemned one of its founding members,
Justin Amash, after he called for the impeachment of President Trump over the
Trump–Ukraine scandal. Amash, an outspoken libertarian, announced in June 2019 that he had left the caucus; later the same year, he left the Republican Party and joined the
Libertarian Party. During the
impeachment inquiry against Trump and the subsequent
first impeachment of Trump, the caucus emerged as a chief defender of Trump throughout the proceedings.
Meadows's appointment as WH chief of staff and criticism of Liz Cheney In March 2020, former Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows was appointed as
White House chief of staff, replacing
Mick Mulvaney, who was also a founding member of the Freedom Caucus. Freedom Caucus members called on
Liz Cheney to resign as
Chair of the House Republican Conference, because of her criticism of Trump's foreign policy, response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and use of social media, leading to her firing May 12, 2021, and replacement by
Elise Stefanik two days later.
2020 National Defense Authorization Act In December 2020, the caucus sided with Donald Trump and opposed the
NDAA because it did not include a provision to repeal
Section 230.
2021–2023: 117th Congress and embrace of populism Role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and opposition to the second Trump impeachment After Trump lost
his bid for reelection in November 2020, many members of the Freedom Caucus supported Trump's
attempt to overturn the election results. In early December 2020, amid pressure from Trump on congressional Republicans to help him subvert the election outcome, two dozen House Republicans, including many Freedom Caucus members, sent a letter to Trump asking him to order his
Attorney General,
William P. Barr, to appoint a Justice Department special counsel to investigate supposed election "irregularities", even though Barr had previously acknowledged that there was no evidence justifying such a step. Several Freedom Caucus members met with officials at Trump's White House in December 2020, discussing ways to overturn the election results during the
2021 United States Electoral College vote count. Most Freedom Caucus members objected to the
counting of the electoral votes that formalized Trump's defeat. During the
second impeachment of Donald Trump for
incitement of insurrection, Freedom Caucus leadership and members demanded that Representative
Liz Cheney, one of 10 Republicans who voted in favor of impeachment, resign from her role as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.
America First Caucus and MAGA Squad In April 2021, a faction within the Freedom Caucus, led by
Paul Gosar and
Marjorie Taylor Greene, attempted to form a new splinter group called the "America First Caucus," along with
Matt Gaetz. Senior members of the Freedom Caucus reportedly reacted with "fury" to the proposal, with
Ken Buck publicly denouncing it. The new caucus was later scrapped. An unofficial faction of Trump loyalists, sometimes referred to as the '
MAGA Squad', included Gosar, Greene, Gaetz,
Madison Cawthorn,
Louie Gohmert,
Mo Brooks,
Andy Biggs,
Scott Perry, and
Lauren Boebert. Described as more radical than the mainstream Freedom Caucus, The group supported primary challenges against incumbent Republicans during the
2022 United States House of Representatives elections.
Respect for Marriage Act In July 2022, the caucus split over the
Respect for Marriage Act, which recognized a statutory right to
same-sex marriage. All caucus members voted against, except
Chairperson Scott Perry (R-PA), who joined 46 other Republicans and all Democrats in voting for the bill. The Freedom Caucus adopted a formal position urging Senate Republicans to block the bill, and Perry later voted against its final passage. To take a formal position on legislation, the Freedom Caucus requires the support of 80% of the caucus's members.
2023 House leadership election The Freedom Caucus was actively involved in the ensuing House Republican leadership elections. Still, it was divided over whether to challenge House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy's bid to be
Speaker of the House of Representatives. Former caucus chair
Andy Biggs launched an unsuccessful challenge to McCarthy, losing 31-188 in a secret ballot vote, with five Republicans writing in other names. McCarthy ran with the endorsement of other Freedom Caucus members, such as vice chair
Jim Jordan,
David Schweikert, and
Marjorie Taylor Greene. Caucus member
Byron Donalds also ran for
House Republican Conference chair, but lost to incumbent
Elise Stefanik, while member
Andrew Clyde ran for House Republican Conference secretary, but lost to
Lisa McClain. McCarthy needed 218 votes from the House floor to be elected speaker in the January 3, 2023, vote. After McCarthy won the internal Republican nomination, some Freedom Caucus members outspokenly supported him, including Jordan, a former McCarthy rival who was set to be chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee. Marjorie Taylor Greene also backed McCarthy, saying that any alternative to McCarthy would be insufficiently right-wing. eventually allowing McCarthy to become Speaker only after securing extensive concessions on changing the
House rules.
2023 conflict with Marjorie Taylor Greene On June 21, 2023, Greene engaged in a verbal argument with fellow caucus member Lauren Boebert on the House floor, in which she called the latter a "little
bitch." As a result of this incident, the caucus voted by
secret ballot to expel Greene.
2023 debt-ceiling crisis and aftermath In May 2023, Speaker McCarthy worked with the Biden administration to pass a compromise debt-ceiling reform and spending bill, with the Freedom Caucus supporting the bills as part of the compromise that got McCarthy elected speaker. By suspending the debt ceiling until January 2025, the government avoided a default. The spending bill focused on issues such as military construction and veterans affairs. On May 31, during a procedural rule vote on the bill to end the debt ceiling crisis, 29 Freedom Caucus-aligned Republicans voted against the rule. Rules are historically supported by all members of the majority party and opposed by minority members regardless of their feelings on the underlying bill. To ensure the bill's passage, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held up a green card to signal that Democrats could vote in favor of the measure, prompting 52 Democrats to show their support for the procedural vote. A majority of both the Republican and Democratic parties voted for the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, but more Republicans (71) voted against the bill than Democrats (46). Following the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 11 members of the Freedom Caucus voted with Democrats to block a procedural rules vote on a Republican bill that would hinder the federal government's ability to regulate gas stoves. Freedom Caucus members said the vote was a protest of McCarthy's handling of the debt-ceiling crisis. On June 12, 2023, the Freedom Caucus and McCarthy reached an agreement that resulted in the Freedom Caucus not blocking procedural votes in exchange for conservative legislation being brought to the floor.
Removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker Despite the earlier agreement, Freedom Caucus members once again joined with Democrats in September 2023 to block procedural rule votes. On September 19 and September 21, five members of the Freedom Caucus voted with Democrats to block a vote on a military funding bill. The Freedom Caucus was angry about a proposed
continuing resolution to avert a
government shutdown, arguing it did not do enough to cut spending. On September 29, twenty-one Freedom Caucus members joined with Democrats to block a continuing resolution which included spending cuts and immigration restrictions. Freedom Caucus members who voted against the resolution said they would not support a temporary spending bill under any circumstances. Because of this conflict, the federal government appeared poised to shut down. The Freedom Caucus threatened to depose McCarthy if he turned to Democrats to gather more votes. On September 29,
Politico reported that Representative
Matt Gaetz had reached out to
Congressional Progressive Caucus chair
Pramila Jayapal, among other Democrats about removing McCarthy. The following day, hours before a shutdown was expected to occur, the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan
continuing resolution to fund the government through November 17. The resolution was passed in the Senate and signed by President
Joe Biden, averting a
shutdown. Representative
Matt Gaetz, who had led resistance to McCarthy, announced in an interview with
CNN that he would move to remove McCarthy for working with Democrats. On October 2, Gaetz filed a
motion to vacate, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days. Voting began the following day; McCarthy ruled out a deal with Democrats. Representative
Tom Cole unsuccessfully moved to table the motion. The House proceeded with a successful
vote to vacate on a 216–210 vote, the first time in congressional history that the chair was vacated. Eventually, the Republican conference unanimously elected
Mike Johnson Speaker of the House.
Conflict with Speaker Johnson To avert another government shutdown, Mike Johnson invoked a suspension of the rules to pass a continuing resolution on November 14, 2023. 93 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted against the resolution. The continuing resolution once again angered Freedom Caucus members. On November 15, 19 Freedom Caucus members joined with Democrats to block a
rule vote on a bill funding the
Justice Department. On January 7, 2024, Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Johnson agreed to a $1.59 trillion topline spending deal. The topline spending levels agreed to for 2024 were not substantially different from those in the deal McCarthy and President Biden had negotiated. The agreement was met by outrage by the House Freedom Caucus, essentially ensuring Democrats would be required to join Republicans to pass a finalized spending bill in the House. On January 10, twelve Freedom Caucus members joined Democrats to block a rule vote on an unrelated bill about electric cars in protest of the spending deal. With the House Freedom Caucus' determination to also oppose rules on any bill they did not support, Speaker Johnson relied on
suspension of rules: this special procedure allowed the immediate passage of a legislative proposal without the need for a rule vote, but required the support of two-thirds of the House. Democrats voted in favor of suspending the rules for budget legislation. On April 20, over two months after the Senate had passed a funding bill for
Israel,
Taiwan, and
Ukraine, Jeffries negotiated the legislative path for the bill and delivered a majority of Democratic votes to pass a legislative package providing aid to the three countries in separate bills, each of which passed Congress with bipartisan support and large majorities and was signed into law by President Biden. The bill was voted against in committee by three Freedom Caucus members – enough to prevent it from progressing under normal circumstances – but all Democrats voted for it. As the House continued to pass a series of key legislative victories supported by a majority of Democrats, Freedom Caucus-aligned Republicans threatened to trigger another motion to vacate the chair, this time targeting Speaker Johnson. However, Jeffries hinted at providing a lifeline to Speaker Mike Johnson in an interview with
The New York Times. The House voted to table (kill) the motion by a vote of 359-43, allowing Johnson to remain speaker. 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats voted to table the motion; 11 Republicans and 32 Democrats voted against tabling the motion. The Democrats who supported Johnson claimed they did so because of the vital role he had played in providing funding for the federal government and for Ukraine.
2024 elections The chair of the Freedom Caucus, Bob Good, faced backlash for voting to remove Kevin McCarthy and endorsing Ron DeSantis in the
2024 Republican Party presidential primaries. The leadership positions held by Good and
Chip Roy in the Caucus led to a rift between the Freedom Caucus and Trump. Good was ultimately defeated in a 2024 primary challenge from state senator
John McGuire, who was endorsed by
Donald Trump.
Warren Davidson's support for McGuire led to his expulsion from the caucus, with
Troy Nehls subsequently resigning from the caucus in support of Davidson. McGuire won by a margin of 0.6%, with Good seeking a recount. Good said he would resign as chair if he lost the recount, which he subsequently did lose. Good stepped down as chair in September, when the House was back in session.
Andy Harris was chosen as the new chair of the Freedom Caucus for the rest of 2024. The Freedom Caucus supported the nomination of
JD Vance as Trump's vice presidential candidate in the
2024 U.S. presidential election.
2025–present: 119th Congress and Second Trump Presidency 119th Congress House Republican leadership elections (2025) Republicans voted to nominate their speaker of the House candidate on Wednesday, November 13. Before the vote, members of the Freedom Caucus and the
Main Street Caucus, along with speaker Mike Johnson, reached an agreement: the proposed rule changes on Conference assignments would be withdrawn; in exchange, the holdouts pledged to support a reform of the motion to vacate, which would raise the threshold to introduce it from one member to nine members. After the deal was struck, Johnson was nominated by
voice vote without opposition. Following Speaker Johnson's December 17 announcement of a
continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown, which included funding opposed by many conservative Republicans, Republican representative
Thomas Massie said he would vote against Johnson in the upcoming speakership election.
Politico and
Punchbowl News reported that, privately, several other Republicans were "uncommitted" to supporting Johnson. Later, Republican senators
Rand Paul and
Mike Lee, as well as Republican representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene, publicly announced that they are open to supporting
Elon Musk to be the next Speaker of the House. On December 20, Freedom Caucus chair
Andy Harris said he was "undecided." On December 30, 2024, President-elect
Donald Trump endorsed Johnson through a post on
Truth Social. Despite the endorsement, multiple Republican representatives have publicly said they are uncommitted to voting for Johnson; including
Victoria Spartz,
Andy Biggs,
Tim Burchett, and
Chip Roy. Roy also said that "Johnson does not yet have the support to be speaker." Initially, during the Speaker vote, Republican Representatives
Thomas Massie voted for
Tom Emmer,
Ralph Norman voted for
Jim Jordan, and
Keith Self voted for
Byron Donalds; Republicans
Andy Biggs,
Michael Cloud,
Andrew Clyde,
Paul Gosar,
Andy Harris, and
Chip Roy (all of whom were undecided going into the vote) did not respond to the initial
roll call vote. The clerk then called a second time the names of those who had not replied to the first call, and all six voted for Johnson. Johnson's vote count therefore stood at 216, two short of the required majority. However, after meeting with Johnson off the floor and receiving a phone call from Trump, Norman and Self shifted their support to Johnson before the final vote was declared.
Resignation of Anna Paulina Luna In March 2025, Freedom Caucus member
Anna Paulina Luna worked with Democrats and some Republicans to force a vote on a bill through a
discharge petition, which would allow new parents to
vote by proxy. The petition angered members of the Freedom Caucus, who believe proxy voting is unconstitutional, prompting them to vote against procedural rules on Republican-supported energy bills. After negotiations with House Republican leadership, the Freedom Caucus would later allow the vote to pass. Freedom Caucus leadership urged Republican leadership to raise the threshold required to force a vote on a bill through a discharge petition. Paulina Luna would later resign from the Freedom Caucus. In a letter, she said her decision to resign was due to the loss of "mutual respect that has guided our caucus." On April 1, Republican leadership attempted to pass a rule vote that would prevent Luna's bill from being voted on. Nine Republicans (Luna,
Tim Burchett,
Mike Lawler,
Kevin Kiley,
Nick LaLota,
Jeff Van Drew,
Max Miller,
Greg Steube and
Ryan Mackenzie) joined all Democrats to block the rule vote. Afterwards, Freedom Caucus hard-liners said they would vote against any rule that did not include language preventing the proxy voting bill from coming to a vote. In response, Speaker Johnson suspended voting for the remainder of that week. On April 6, Paulina Luna and Johnson reached an agreement that would allow absent members to use
vote pairing. Their intended vote will still be published in the
Congressional Record.
"House Folding Caucus" Similar to previous Congresses, during several high-profile votes in the House, Freedom Caucus members withheld their votes. Often, these members argued that bills weren't sufficiently conservative. However, unlike previous years, Freedom Caucus members voted for these bills despite Republican leadership offering few or no concessions to Freedom Caucus holdouts. As a result, some critics in 2025, such as Democratic Pennsylvania congressman
Brendan Boyle, nicknamed the Freedom Caucus during this period the "House Folding Caucus".
2026 midterm elections Many Freedom Caucus members are not standing for re-election in the
2026 United States House of Representatives elections. Those members include
Chip Roy,
Barry Moore,
Ralph Norman,
Andy Biggs,
Byron Donalds and
Tom Tiffany. == Political positions ==