The GOP mass exodus continues. U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, will not run for re-election and may not even finish his term in Congress. Meadows is a powerful Republican who is a co-founder and former Chairman of the far right House Freedom Caucus. He is one of President Donald Trump’s top supporters in Congress.
Politico first reported that Meadows will not run for re-election and may leave Congress early, to go to work directly for Trump. He becomes at least the 28th House Republican to retire or quit before the end of their term during the 116th Congress.
While no formal role has been determined, the four-term Congressman could end up in the White House or in the re-election campaign. Last year Trump strongly considered making Meadows his Chief of Staff.
Rep. Meadows is an anti-LGBTQ extremist who pushed Trump hard to ban transgender service members from the U.S. Armed Forces. He is also among the 38 House Republicans who signed a letter last year urging Trump to remove protections for LGBTQ workers from his USMCA trade pact.
Even before Trump was sworn into office, Meadows began to pressure the president-elect to roll back or rescind a variety of President Barack Obama’s LGBT protections, including guidelines to help protect the rights of transgender students. The administration, via Secretary Betsy DeVos and then-Attorney General Jeff Session, complied.
In 2013 Rep. Meadows claimed if the Supreme Court were to rule same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry it would create “a constitutional crisis.”
Senior Advisor to the President, Jared Kushner, told Politico, “Congressman Meadows has been a warrior for the president and a champion of his agenda. We have greatly valued his guidance for the last three years in the administration, and I have no doubt that Mark will play an important role going into 2020.”
Meadows sees his job, now and in the future, as fighting for Trump.
“So this is not me shrinking away from a fight. In fact, it’s just going to be continuing to fight a different capacity, whether that’s officially as part of the Trump team or unofficially in my capacity as a sitting member of Congress,” he says.
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