President-elect Donald Trump is calling on eager Texans to consider a primary challenge to conservative Rep. Chip Roy.
“Chip Roy is just another ambitious guy, with no talent,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday. “I hope some talented challengers are getting ready in the Great State of Texas to go after Chip in the Primary. He won’t have a chance!”
Trump said in a separate post that Roy was “getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory – All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with.”
Roy has voiced no desire to raise the nation’s debt limit — as demanded by Trump — without corresponding spending cuts throughout the federal government. The Texas conservative also serves as a member of the Rules Committee, which gatekeeps which measures hit the House floor.
When asked about Trump’s primary threat, Roy told reporters that “we’re working right now on how to actually cut spending, which is what the voters sent me to Washington to do. So that’s what we’re working on.”
The president-elect has made a habit of threatening challengers to Republicans who cross him. Many have been successful, though he’s come up short in challenging some — like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — who have not been reflexive votes for his nominees or agenda.
Roy, a former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), took office in 2019 and has easily won reelection since then.
Daniella Diaz contributed to this report.