The conservative House Freedom Caucus voted this week to open a review into Rep. Warren Davidson’s (R-Ohio) position with the group after he took the unprecedented step of endorsing the group’s primary presidential challenger, Rep. Bob Good (R -Va.), a source familiar with the matter told The Hill.
A motion was filed Tuesday night for the group’s board to determine whether Davidson is a member in good standing of the Freedom Caucus, which comprises about three dozen hard-line Republicans, according to two familiar sources. The group then voted to send the motion to the Freedom Caucus board, according to one of the sources.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) made the motion, one of the sources and a third source familiar told The Hill.
If the board determines that Davidson is a member not in good standing, the threshold for removing him from the group decreases from 80% to 50%, two of the sources said.
Reached for comment, a Freedom Caucus spokesperson told The Hill that the group does not comment on membership or internal processes.
Davidson told The Hill, “I’m not doing media on this issue,” when reached for comment, and sent a thread he posted Wednesday night on social platform explaining his endorsement against Good.
Davidson earlier this month endorsed Good’s primary challenger, John McGuire, in the GOP primary for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, an extraordinary move for a Freedom Caucus member to make against an incumbent and the group’s leader.
McGuire currently leads Good by 0.6 percentage points, although Good has vowed to demand a recount in the race.
“John McGuire is conservative and effective,” Davidson wrote in a statement. “He will work well with others to deliver conservative results.”
Davidson defended his support for McGuire on Wednesday night, writing on X: “I hope my support for John McGuire has made a difference and I look forward to serving alongside him in the 119th Congress to support President Trump’s efforts to drain the swamp.”
The disagreement between Davidson and Good is long-standing.
In December, Davidson announced that he would not seek re-election to the Freedom Caucus Board after it recommended that Good be the conservative group’s next chairman.
“I am concerned that our group often relies too much on power (primarily available due to the slim majority) and too little on influence with and among our colleagues. This approach is not a solid foundation for success,” Davidson wrote in a letter to colleagues at the time, according to Axios. “For me, these concerns culminate in the Council’s recommendation that Bob Good serve as the next chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.”
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