The race for chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is heating up. Here’s how the contest, with all its implications for President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, is looking.
Reps. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) will take their pitches to be chair to the Steering Committee in the weeks after the upcoming leadership elections. We’ll likely know who has the gavel around early December.
The House GOP is generally pleased with the choice: Two long-tenured, well-liked lawmakers with good fundraising chops are vying for the top spot.
In quiet conversations with colleagues, both Latta and Guthrie are touting that they’re focused on connecting more Americans to broadband, keeping China out of U.S. telecom networks, leading on artificial intelligence and expanding energy production from all sources. Many of those points mesh nicely with what tech wants out of the next Congress.
There are differences between Latta and Guthrie that they’re already emphasizing, of course.
Latta, who’s been in office since 2007, has the benefit of seniority and experience on all six subcommittees. Latta’s interests include manufacturing and autonomous vehicles, and he’s been chairing the subcommittee on communications and technology this Congress.
Guthrie, who only came to the Hill two years after Latta, leads the fundraising race this year by leaps and bounds. Guthrie has a reputation as a glad-hander with good relationships downtown. His subcommittee emphasis is health, though he’s pitched his colleagues on privacy and protecting kids too.
House GOP leadership, for what it’s worth, tends to view Guthrie as having the inside track, partially thanks to that fundraising. Both offices are projecting confidence, though neither is sharing their whip list — as expected. And the contours of the race could shift around a bit depending on who gets named to the Steering Committee.
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) was seen as a dark horse candidate. But he’s now running for another term as NRCC chair.
