Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP - Members of the 112th Congress's freshman class, from left, Rep. Jeff Landry (R-La.), Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kansas, Rep. Raul Labrador, (R-Idaho), Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), take part in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 1.
A year after storming the Capitol in the vanguard of the tea party revolution, the House Republican freshman class has fallen largely silent on the most pressing issue facing their party at the moment: Who should be the GOP presidential nominee?
“Maybe we’re just as undecided as the folks back home,” said Rep. Mick Mulvaney (S.C.), who previously endorsed Texas Gov. Rick Perry but has since decided to stay out of the race after Perry withdrew last month.
The 89 Republican freshmen who took office last year, propelling Republicans into the House majority, were regarded as a crucial new power center in the party, driving much of the political agenda over the last year. But of those 89, only 20 have so far endorsed one of the GOP contenders for the presidential nomination. That’s a far less enthusiastic endorsement rate than the rest of the Republican Conference. And their reasons for staying on the sidelines sound quite similar to those coming from many undecided tea party activists and other conservatives around the country.
Some say the field has been uninspiring and wish that more candidates had jumped into the race. Others say they want voters to make up their own minds. Some just want to focus on their own reelection.
Still others want more time. Unlike many party elders, this group of freshmen wants the primary race to go on deep into the spring so they can fully vet the contenders.
To be sure, congressional endorsements in presidential campaigns are not a sure-fire barometer of success in the primaries and caucuses. According to many veteran lawmakers and freshmen, the massively unpopular Congress has prompted some Republicans on Capitol Hill to stay out of the presidential campaign even if they privately do support one of the candidates.
“None of us are very popular these days,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), who is Mitt Romney’s consigliere in the Capitol. As he tried to round up support for Romney in Congress, Blunt said he found some lawmakers opting for a “do no harm” approach, wanting to avoid making one of the candidates appear too closely wedded to the Washington establishment.
However, even in this anti-Congress environment, the freshman Republicans hold a special place in the hearts of many conservative voters. To some they still represent the anti-government, anti-debt ethos that inspired tea party voters in 2010.
This is what made the endorsements of Rep. Tim Scott (S.C.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) arguably the most sought after in the run-up to last month’s presidential primaries in South Carolina and Florida.
Scott held town halls in his Charleston-based district, drawing almost the entire presidential field of contenders, all of whom sought the blessing of the charismatic freshman lawmaker. Scott did not endorse and on the eve of the Palmetto State primary, told his local paper he wasn’t even sure who he would vote for the next day.
Rubio, the most prominent freshman senator, withheld his endorsement and instead acted as something of a referee, publicly rebuking former House Speaker Newt Gingrich when he felt that he crossed the line in his criticism of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
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