Sarasota Republican Greg Steube vies for leadership position in GOP House

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube of Florida is asking his GOP colleagues to elect him as the next Republican conference chair, the No. 3 House leadership position, saying he represents a “genuine conservative option and a fresh approach to leadership.”

Steube will vie for the position Tuesday against Michigan U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (the sitting Republican conference chair) and Indiana U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin. Steube was easily re-elected last week to his Florida Congressional District 17th District seat representing Sarasota, Charlotte, and parts of Lee counties.

In his statement announcing his candidacy last week, Steube contended the GOP suffered major losses across the country in the midterm elections not “because they were too conservative,” but because they “failed to deliver on the promises we made.”

“I am tired of watching Washington conventional wisdom dictate our policies,” Steube said in his written statement. “We should not be afraid to govern conservatively or challenge our own leadership when it loses sight of the commitments we made. If we want voters to trust us again, they need to see that electing Republicans actually makes a difference.”

Steube had blasted Republican Senate and House leadership in the immediate aftermath of last week’s election.

“You have been embarrassingly weak and more afraid of governing conservatively than of disappointing the voters who put us in office,” he said on X, addressing “Republican Senate and House ‘leadership.’

“Instead of standing firm on our principles, you have governed out of fear, continually knelt to the moderates in our conference (who all got crushed last night anyway), and discarded conservatives like me who warned of last night’s results.”

Steube was first elected to the Florida House in 2010. He won election to the state Senate in 2016 and then moved on to Congress in 2018.

Meanwhile, Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott told Fox News over the weekend that he won’t challenge Senate Minority Leader John Thune’s bid for re-election.

“I don’t want to run again. I’ve run twice,” he said. Scott lost to Mitch McConell in the race to lead Senate Republicans in 2022 and to Thune in 2024.