The House Republican Who Keeps Criticizing His GOP Colleagues

Republican Rep. Clay Higgins has repeatedly found himself at odds with his party in recent months.

When he lost out on the top position of the powerful House Homeland Security Committee, he criticized his colleagues for choosing a path aligned with the conference’s “less conservative factions.” When House Republicans went on to vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files, he was the only Republican to vote against the discharge petition. And Higgins surprisingly came to the defense of Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas after she faced criticism for deciding to run for the Senate.

Asked about his role in the party, the Louisiana Republican, who serves on the board of directors for the House Freedom Caucus, downplayed its importance.

“I suppose history will measure my role in the Republican conference,” Higgins told NOTUS on Capitol Hill. “I see my role here in Congress as a servant to we the people. Whether or not the Republican conference finds that attractive, that’s, I guess, that’s a matter of day-to-day.”

Higgins, who was sworn into Congress in 2017, is not new to positions that diverge significantly from other members of his party.

But he hasn’t only landed himself in the spotlight by bucking his party — he’s gone further than other Republicans at several points, including by becoming one of the first Republicans to call for social media companies to impose lifetime bans on people who posted negative comments after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Other Republican lawmakers acknowledge the need for a Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to disasters, even if they want to rethink its size and place in the federal government. But Higgins introduced legislation to dissolve it completely.

And though his vote against releasing the Epstein files ended up being contrary to the Republican conference, he was the one who stuck with the position most Republicans had originally staked out. He said he has been “broadly supported” by lawmakers and some of his constituents for his vote, and told NOTUS on Dec. 3 that he thinks “it has aged quite well.”

“People approach me wherever I go and thank me for having the courage to stand alone,” Higgins said Friday. “And even people that disagreed with me, they said, ‘It’s looking like you were right, that innocent people could get hurt.’ And the files, at the rate that they could be delivered, were already being delivered to the Oversight Committee.”

“So, that whole thing was like a charade, and every other member of Congress got swept up in it,” Higgins added. “But, I wasn’t moving because that’s my area of expertise. I knew what was going on.”

Higgins, who once considered challenging Sen. Bill Cassidy for his Senate seat in what is shaping up to be a competitive race, wrote in March that he wants a “MAGA America First Republican” to emerge from the primary in 2026. Despite their differences, Cassidy said that Higgins sets a good example for other Republican legislators.

“He speaks for his people. That’s a good thing,” Cassidy said. “He does a good job of representing his constituents and gives an example of how to do so.”

Higgins said that he and President Donald Trump have cultivated a friendship since he joined Congress, and the two chat “pretty regularly.”

The lawmaker recently tried to move up in the ranks of the Congress. He was one of three Republicans in the running to be the chair of the powerful House Homeland Security Committee this summer, ultimately losing out on the position to New York Rep. Andrew Garbarino after the House Republican Steering Committee selected him.

Higgins ultimately left the committee altogether, criticizing the direction the committee was heading in under Garbarino’s power.

“I don’t see the Homeland Security Committee being the very strong voice of law enforcement across the country in this era when you should have an extremely strong Homeland Security Committee,” Higgins said. “The elected chairman is a rather moderate man from New York. So the best thing for me to do was to withdraw.”

Since taking the position, Garbarino has held hearings discussing threats to law enforcement officers and their protection. Asked about Higgins’ comments, Garbarino’s office referred NOTUS to a statement issued to reporters after Higgins announced he would leave the committee.

“I regret that my friend and colleague Clay Higgins has decided to end his service on the House Homeland Security Committee,” Garbarino’s office said in a statement. “I am deeply appreciative of Congressman Higgins’ years of service on this Committee and for his fierce commitment to preserving public safety in our communities—a commitment we share.”

Rep. Brad Knott, a Republican member of the Homeland Security Committee, told NOTUS that Higgins still has a good reputation within the committee.

“He’s got a tremendous and a sterling resume with law enforcement,” Knott said. “He thinks about things the right way in many respects. And even though he’s not on the committee, he’s someone that the committee relies on in a lot of ways.”

Rep. Brian Mast, one of Higgins’ best friends in the House, told NOTUS that Higgins brings a “calm thoughtfulness” to the conference.

“Clay doesn’t live by that motto where everybody has to hear every single opinion that he has on every single issue,” Mast said. “But when he speaks up, it is the most deliberate and thoughtful remark that you will probably hear about the constitutionality of whatever it is that we are dealing with. He is a very strict constitutionalist. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Asked how his perspective on the Republican Party has changed since he entered office, Higgins said that both parties “are more of a machine” than he realized before joining the chamber.

“When you work from the inside, and you can see the mechanics of the way this town works, you realize how powerful it is and how these gears grind,” Higgins said. “And if you, in any way, oppose the machine, then you’re subject to be ground up by the gears of that machine.

“And there’s very few men that are willing to stand and fight that,” he added.