Originally appeared on The Daily Signal.
By: Samantha Aschieris
A new chairman of the Republican Study Committee was unanimously elected Thursday, just one day after the GOP officially secured a slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the upcoming 118th Congress.
“I’m honored to earn the support of my colleagues to lead the largest caucus on Capitol Hill. The Republican Study Committee has an important role in our new majority: We are the conservative conscience of the Republican Conference,” Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., said in a statement.
“Chairman Jim Banks has done an incredible job the last two years. I’m thankful for his leadership preparing RSC to lead in the majority next year,” said Hern, 60, who won reelection last week to a third term representing Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District.
According to its website, “The Republican Study Committee (RSC) has served as the conservative caucus of House Republicans and a leading influencer on the Right since its original founding in 1973.”
The newly elected chairman added:
The American people are overwhelmingly unhappy with the direction our country has taken under Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. They elected a Republican Congress to stop the Biden agenda, secure the border, restore energy independence, reduce our debt, and get back to the strong economy we had under President Donald Trump.
When I announced my campaign, I promised my colleagues that no one would outwork me to pass conservative policy. Come January 3rd, they’ll see exactly what that means. Let’s get to work!
Hern, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, turned back challenges from Democrat Adam Martin and independent Evelyn Rogers with 61.2% of the vote, Ballotpedia reported.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., the GOP group’s outgoing chairman, said in the same statement Thursday that “serving as the Republican Study Committee chairman has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
“I could not be more proud of what we accomplished together at RSC over the last two years,” he said.
“For nearly [50] years, [the Republican Study Committee] has been the heart and soul of the conservative movement on Capitol Hill, and I’m honored to have played a small part in its history,” said Banks, adding:
I’d like to congratulate incoming Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, and I look forward to working alongside him and the RSC over the next two critical years.
Our conference must keep its promises by developing and uniting around a conservative agenda next Congress, and the RSC will be at the center of it all. It is reassuring to know our caucus is in such capable hands.
Kevin Roberts, the president of The Heritage Foundation, also reacted to the news in a tweet. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)
“Congratulations @repkevinhern! @Heritage and I look forward to working alongside y’all to advance conservative priorities this Congress,” Roberts said.
