Rep. Andy Biggs hasn’t figured whether he wants to be an occasional gadfly — or the first to try to take out the speaker.
“I have a certain degree of empathy” for Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Andy Biggs told POLITICO. | Francis Chung/POLITICOVery few House Republicans have made Kevin McCarthy’s life more miserable recently than Andy Biggs.
His reasoning goes back nearly a decade to a chapter of Biggs’ career that gets little attention: his time as Arizona’s state senate president. Less than a year into that job, Biggs battled moderate Republicans and Democrats over his opposition to a Medicaid expansion bill that his state’s own GOP governor backed.
“I absolutely understand” what McCarthy has to deal with in light of that experience, Biggs said before last month’s debt vote. “And it’s on steroids [in the U.S. House]. I had a smaller body to deal with in the Arizona State Legislature than what Kevin has to deal with as speaker. That paradoxical approach embodies what longtime friend Rep. David Schweikert called the “weird dichotomy” of Biggs.The rock-and-roll-loving Mormon has his own fair share of critics inside the party who appear largely unfamiliar with his past. Some House Republicans view Biggs’ legislative persona as an unlicensed backseat driver, a constant no vote who still tries to give direction on how to make policy.
Majority Whip Tom Emmer , a McCarthy ally, called Biggs “serious” and policy-focused, as well as one of his closest friends in the chamber. The Arizonan “isn’t shy,” Emmer added, but also isn’t someone who “relishes conflict.”
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