A prominent Republican strategist says House GOP members are so fed up with Congress that many are eyeing the exits — and he explained why this particular wave is “unusual.”
Strategist Doug Heye told CNN News Central on Monday that the dysfunction on Capitol Hill has turned Congress into a “bad workplace.”
“We could have had this same conversation last week, last year, eight, 10, 12 years ago. What we’ve seen in Congress, over now a generation, is it has become a bad workplace,” Heye said.
Heye, who served as deputy chief of staff for communications for then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, recalled a particular moment of misery.
“I remember very clearly walking to my car at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2012. As the clock was striking midnight, I was leaving the office, and I thought, ‘I hate this job,’” Heye continued. “And what we see is this happens more and more for members of Congress.”
What makes the current wave different, he noted, is who is fed up.
“And what’s unusual about this is it’s members who are in the majority, so the ones who are actually charged with doing things, who are committee chairs, subcommittee chairs,” Heye added. “It has become, and has been for a long time, a bad workplace.”
Heye said that he believes more Republican House members will defect in the coming weeks and days following the surprise resignation of Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Friday.
Some House Republicans told Punchbowl News that they believe Greene’s resignation to be the first of many, with one senior House majority member telling the outlet, “This entire White House team has treated ALL members like garbage.”
“And Mike Johnson has let it happen because he wanted it to happen,” the source told Punchbowl. “More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.”
Ex-MAGA firebrand Greene’s shocking resignation fed the growing flames of dissent among Republicans against the Trump administration, which has faltered in its influence in the wake of the investigation into disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Punchbowl reported that several other GOP lawmakers were contemplating mid-term retirements, making the possibility of Republicans losing the House majority much more plausible.
“The arrogance of this White House team is off-putting to members who are run roughshod and threatened,” the senior GOP House member told Punchbowl. “Not even the high profile, the regular rank and file random members are more upset than ever. Members know they are going into the minority after the midterms.”
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