WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., isn’t thrilled about being a part of the minority party for the first time in his career as a member of the House of Representatives.
“It was very bittersweet watching the numbers come in,” Mooney said Wednesday on MetroNews “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval. “I was winning comfortably, but I watched a lot of my friends lose. And I think a lot of folks down here have never served in the minority party.”
Mooney, who picked up 54 percent of the vote in defeating Democratic opponent Talley Sergeant, said Republicans failed to counteract Democrats grassroots operations — specifically citing the non-profit tech organization ActBlue.
More than that, though, Mooney believes Republicans weren’t conservative enough — failing to act on long-standing campaign promises.
“That’s why I think we didn’t get those small-dollar donations,” he said. “(Voters) didn’t see conservatives implementing what we said we would do.”
In the wake of those failures, Mooney said he does not support Kevin McCarthy retaining his status as the party’s leader in the House — rather citing his support for firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
“I think he’s the best man for the job,” he said. “I do think fresh new leadership is needed. We just had very bad election results, and I frankly would liked to have seen us do more during the time where we were in the majority. I didn’t see the border wall get built — one of the President’s top priorities. We didn’t enact legislation — legislatively — to stop funding for abortion like Planned Parenthood organizations.”
McCarthy was chosen House Minority Leader Wednesday afternoon. The Democrats will not elect leaders, including the next Speaker of the House, until later this month. Former Speaker of the House and current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is attempting to shore up the support needed to win back the Speaker’s gavel today, according to a report from The Washington Post. A number of Democrats who won races last week said during their election they would not support Pelosi as House Speaker, making her future unclear.
There are still nine outstanding House races where a winner has yet to be declared due to a combination of absentee ballots, vote-by-mail ballots, and potential recounts. Currently, Democrats hold 228 seats, a net gain of 33 seats across the country, compared to the GOP’s 198.
According to the New York Times, Democrats currently lead in four of the nine races. Republicans lead in five, but one of those includes Maine’s second district, which is supposed to be decided by their instant run-off or ranked choice voting law — using a computer system to eliminate low ranking candidates and give “second choice votes” to another candidate until one person reaches a 50 percent threshold. Incumbent Rep. Bruce Poliquin, currently leading in that race but with less than 50 percent of the vote, is challenging the Constitutionality of that law.
The change in power also means a change in committee leaderships — an often overlooked aspect. Mooney said he’s well aware of potential ramifications, as Maxine Waters, D-Calif., takes over as head of a committee he sits on — Financial Services.
“There may be things that we can work together on,” he said. “But when it comes to her adamant mission of impeaching Donald Trump, I’m going to fight against that.”
Waters, who has been highly critical of President Trump, has served in the House since 1991.
“I presume she’s going to have frivolous hearings and investigations, one-sided type of investigations,” Mooney said. “And we’re going to have to fight back against that to defend the people of West Virginia.”
Mooney did expect the two to be able to find common ground on bills that help low-income families, saying that they both have neighborhoods and regions in their district that would benefit.
The freshman class of lawmakers is meeting in Washington this week to learn how Congress functions. Among the new lawmakers is Rep.-elect Carol Miller, R-W.Va., who will represent the 3rd Congressional District.
Miller posted on Twitter a picture of her with outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.
“Can’t wait to get to work growing our economy and creating good paying jobs in West Virginia,” she added.
Just had a great conversation with @SpeakerRyan at New Member Orientation! Can’t wait to get to work growing our economy and creating good paying jobs in West Virginia. pic.twitter.com/xTUo8RyVgY
— Carol Miller (@CarolMillerWV) November 14, 2018