Representative Chip Roy of Texas has announced he will run against Elise Stefanik to replace Liz Cheney as the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives.
Roy said he would challenge the New York Republican - and Trump loyalist - who he said didn't have the conservative bona fides to represent the party. Despite being a Trump supporter, Stefanik has a relatively moderate voting record.
Cheney was voted out following her denunciations of former President Donald Trump, who she accused of provoking the January 6 Capitol riot.
Stefanik has rushed to his defense, and Trump has already issued a statement criticizing Roy, again declaring he backed Stefanik, who has been running unopposed.
Both Roy and Stefanik were set to address Republicans later Thursday with the vote scheduled for Friday morning.
Representative Chip Roy of Texas has announced he will run against Elise Stefanik to replace Liz Cheney.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the front-runner to replace Liz Cheney in party leadership
Conservative Trump loyalists who had been eager to dump Cheney nevertheless raised concerns about Stefanik.
She worked previously for the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney and has a less conservative voting record than Cheney did.
Roy, a conservative who is a former chief of staff to Republican Senator Ted Cruz, could draw support from the influential, right-wing House Freedom Caucus.
He said of Stefanik in a memo this week: 'We must avoid putting in charge Republicans who campaign as Republicans but then vote for and advance the Democrats' agenda once sworn in – that is, that we do not make the same mistakes we did in 2017.'
In March this year he refused to apologize for bringing up lynching during a Washington hearing on anti-Asian violence.
Roy was speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on anti-Asian violence after an uptick in attacks all over the country and just two days after a gunman in Georgia killed six Asian women in at three-different massage parlors.
He said the shootings were 'evil' but then pivoted by saying: 'I would also suggest that the victims of cartels moving illegal aliens deserve justice. The American citizens in south Texas, they are getting absolutely decimated by what's happening at the southern border deserve justice.'
'There's an old saying in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak tree. You know, we take justice very seriously. And we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys,' he said.
'I am predisposed and wired to take out bad guys. That's bad guys of all colors.. we need to be mindful of that.'
Roy was lambasted for his remarks by people who said he was glorifying lynching and amplifying anti-Asian hate by using his time to speak to criticize the Chinese government.
He doubled down on his remarks in a statement, saying the outrage proved his argument that America is losing grip of its right to free speech.
Kevin McCarthy has embraced Donald Trump as Republicans seek to win back control of the House of Representatives
Some House conservatives have grumbled about Stefanik's more moderate voting record, which included her opposition to the Republicans' 2017 tax cut law.
At the time she said it would hurt her New York constituents who would be left paying bigger tax bills each year.
Stefanik issued a letter to colleagues where she promised to listen to their views, and met at least twice with members of the conservative Freedom Caucus.
She entered the House in 2015 at age 30, then the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
And she has already earned the endorsement of Trump after vigorously defending him during his first impeachment as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise.
And Republicans might be inclined to elect a woman to replace Cheney, given that the top two leadership positions are held by men and the Republican Party often has difficulties appealing to suburban women voters.
The former president weighed in minutes after Roy made his announcement to reaffirm his support for Stefanik.
'Can't imagine Republican House members would go with Chip Roy - he has not done a great job, and will probably be successfully primaried in his own district,' he said in a statement posted to his website.
'I support Elise, by far, over Chip!'
Liz Cheney on Tuesday refused to back down ahead of vote to oust her from GOP leadership, calling Donald Trump a liar 'on a crusade to undermine our democracy'
Cheney was toppled from the Republican Conference leadership job after voting in January to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Since then, she has drawn growing discontent from Republican rank-and-file for criticizing Trump for continuing to rally his supporters by claiming that he lost the 2020 presidential race due to voter fraud.
She defiantly insisted she'll keep trying to wrench the party away from him and his 'destructive lies.'
'If you want leaders who will enable and spread his destructive lies, I'm not your person,' she told her colleagues before the vote, according to a person who provided her remarks on condition of anonymity. 'You have plenty of others to choose from. That will be their legacy.'
Trump's assertion has been rejected by numerous courts and his own administration.
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