WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia—For their annual retreat, House Republicans traveled to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia this week to rally around a message to defend their House majority and to settle on a path forward to fund the government.
There was just one problem: Less than half of the GOP conference even bothered to show up.
Six years ago, when Republicans last held their retreat at the Greenbrier, the gathering inauspiciously started with the train transporting members to West Virginia crashing into a truck. While there were no train wrecks this time, the most convenient metaphor might have been the images of a ghost town around White Sulphur Springs—where less than 100 of the rooms reserved for lawmakers were occupied and many of the seats in the palatial conference rooms were empty.
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Of the Republicans who did dutifully attend the conference, many were left disappointed, directionless, and downright bored.
As one GOP member who complained to The Daily Beast put it, “They should have opened the casino.”
(There is a casino in the basement of the luxury resort, but House GOP leaders—perhaps wisely—requested that the Greenbrier not operate it during the retreat.)
While the Republicans who made the trip wished the retreat had more action, the Republicans who didn’t show up had a litany of convenient excuses. Some Republican members in battleground districts said they needed to spend time on the campaign trail, actually doing the work to defend the House majority rather than just talking about it.
“Time is better served at home in our districts with our voters,” one GOP member who skipped the retreat told The Daily Beast.
Another Republican who didn’t attend said they just wanted to spend time with their family after being gone for so long.
“I genuinely wanted to get to communities and folks in the district, and most importantly, give my kids and wife some time we’ve missed,” this member said.
The House GOP conference is navigating an unprecedented term that’s seen a speaker ousted, an already microscopic majority shrink further, and historic unproductivity—all during a bitter election cycle. GOP leadership, helmed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), hoped a jaunt to West Virginia would help bring the Republicans together.
“I mean, you’re in D.C. and you’re going 90 miles an hour half the time,” House Republican Secretary Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) told The Daily Beast. “Here, you can smoke a cigar and have a drink.”
But some GOP lawmakers who didn’t make the voyage had a relevant question: If House Republicans can’t solve their issues on Capitol Hill, why would a retreat be any different?
“Nothing ever gets done in meetings,” one GOP member told The Daily Beast.
House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) speaks as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) (3rd L), House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), and House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) listen.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty ImagesIn West Virginia, Republicans scheduled a series of meetings and panels to hammer out their issues. Wednesday, for example, featured venture capitalist Marc Andreessen discussing Artificial Intelligence policy and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life President Marjorie Dannenfelser addressing a “pro-family agenda.” Former Defense Secretary Chris Miller also spoke on national security.
But much of the schedule fell apart even before Republicans arrived. The poor turnout prompted organizers to compress the retreat from a two-and-a-half day event into little over a day. House Republicans invited former President Donald Trump to attend, but he declined. And the retreat’s marquee speaker, Fox News Business host Larry Kudlow, dropped out at the 11th hour. (Republicans replaced him with Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.)
Still, McClain called policy discussions at the retreat “super productive.”
“I felt like we were on the same sheet of music,” she said.
But if lawmakers were playing from the same sheet, not everyone was hitting the same notes. When The Daily Beast asked one member if they found the retreat helpful, this lawmaker’s assessment was simple: “not really.” Another member quipped that they wanted to hang out with the press because they would “probably learn more” than they would have in the members-only meetings.
Some lawmakers who arrived in West Virginia on Wednesday ditched events Thursday to golf, skeet shoot, or just hit up the hotel bar. Adding to the already depressing turnout, some members left the retreat all together shortly after arriving.
The retreat from the retreat comes at a challenging juncture for Johnson. About five months into his speakership, he’s fended off attacks from his right flank, struggled to pass spending bills, and watched his already paper-thin House Majority further evaporate.
As Republicans seek to retain—and, in their minds, hopefully grow—their majority, pressure has mounted for Johnson to provide a clear roadmap. Several members left a February Republican leadership conference disappointed by Johnson’s lack of vision, complaining that during a presentation on election strategy, Johnson delivered a religious sermon.
On Thursday morning, Johnson cut off a press conference because he had to deliver “the big team speech.” His planned message? “For us to stand together,” he said.
Just minutes later, Punchbowl News reported that Johnson complained to the conference that since taking the gavel, he has been getting three hours of sleep, visited 20 states, and is constantly battling “internecine warfare” within the party.
“A welcome to the NFL moment,” one member told Punchbowl.
For such a divided and disjointed majority, many lawmakers are skeptical that unity is even possible.
“I don't know if it's divided,” one of the previously mentioned members said of the GOP conference, “but it's certainly not together.”
Predictably, this member laid some of the blame at the feet of Johnson and the rest of the GOP leadership team.
“Unity starts at the top,” this Republican said. “If you're not unified as a leadership team, you're not going to be unified as a body. It's just not going to happen. So I think they need to build cohesiveness.”
The lawmaker noted that Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, used to excel at situational awareness and soliciting input from a variety of members. He had “a team of people that kept him fed with information all the time,” this Republican said.
“I'm not sure that Speaker Mike Johnson has that or has even tried to bring that together,” this member said.
Many of Republican leadership’s loudest detractors skipped out on the retreat. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who has bemoaned the dearth of conservative policy wins this Congress and dangled ousting Johnson, didn’t deign to make an appearance.
Neither did several of the eight Republicans responsible for ousting McCarthy. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was busy prepping for her appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told CNN he has “a farm to run.” And fittingly, as Johnson emphasized to members that they needed to support their colleagues, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was in Texas campaigning for Republican influencer Brandon Herrera, who is challenging fellow Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales.
Despite all the discord, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) pushed back on any notion that the conference was divided, defending the poor attendance at the retreat by saying that, since it was held later in the year than usual, members have elections to focus on.
“We’re a very enthusiastic conference,” Stefanik told a small group of reporters at the retreat. “We have very high attendance to our conference meetings.”
But, according to one GOP aide, the attendance at the retreat compared to the attendance at the weekly conference meetings was, in fact, “abysmal.”
