Epley Shares Thoughts on U.S. House Financial Services Race
Legislative & Public Policy partner Mark Epley was quoted in the recent CQ Roll Call article, “Luetkemeyer, Hill favorites for top Financial Services Republican,” which discusses the race to replace Patrick McHenry, former speaker pro tempore for the U.S. House of Representatives. McHenry recently announced his retirement from Congress as the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee.
Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) and French Hill (R-Ark.) are early front-runners in the race. “What’s interesting about this race is you’ve got actually a lot of really strong horses,” Epley told CQ Roll Call, adding that Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) and Andy Barr (R-Ky.) could also be in the running. Epley said that Hill and Luetkemeyer could have an advantage over the other candidates, because they both sit on the House Steering Committee and are strong on policy. Despite being a strong negotiator and consensus builder, however, Epley said that Hill’s relationship with former House speaker Kevin McCarthy could work against him.
Epley emphasized that seniority, fundraising and regional balance, and relationships with other members, especially the House Steering Committee, were all qualities the Republican conference considers when electing panel leadership. “One other factor is sort of all-around athlete kind of thing. This is going to vary from member to member. What is their sort of athletic superpower,” Epley added. “Are they particularly strong communicators? Particularly strong policy people? Are they really, really strong fundraisers, party-builders, those kinds of things.”
