Tenure
Coming into office, Roy cast himself as a conservative version of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "I doubt she and I agree on many issues. But functionally, this place is broken." He was happy to be part of the Freedom Caucus: "they're serving as a check against the current broken system where the power brokers make decisions at the top and just say 'Here's what we're going to do'." He added that Republican power brokers in Congress lost control of the House because "You demonstrate rote incompetence when you are leaving us with a trillion dollars in deficits this year on top of $22 trillion in debt. You said you were going to do something to secure our border, and you didn't. And you said you were going to fight for—I use the term 'health care freedom'—and you didn't. It's hard to really take that to the people and say, 'Hey, send me back'."
Roy's first speech as a representative was on immigration and what he called "chaos and lawlessness on the southern border." He complained that "members of both sides of the aisle have buried their heads in the sand over the last several decades, talking instead of doing." Right-leaning news outlets hailed Roy's speech.
Soon after taking office, Roy opposed a bill in the House that tried to prevent Trump from withdrawing from NATO without Congress's consent. It passed, 357 to 22. When the House voted to give back pay to the 800,000 federal workers affected by the government shutdown, Roy opposed the measure. Roy was one of few Republicans to vote against the measure, which passed 411 to 7. Trump signed the bill into law.
In July 2021, Roy voted against the bipartisan ALLIES Act, which would increase by 8,000 the number of special immigrant visas for Afghan allies of the U.S. military during its invasion of Afghanistan, while also reducing some application requirements that caused long application backlogs; the bill passed in the House 407–16.
In 2021, a recording of Roy surfaced in which he said he wanted "18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done" during a Democratic-controlled Congress and presidency. Roy's conservative positions have frequently put him in conflict with House GOP leadership.
On May 24, 2019, Roy singlehandedly halted a House disaster relief funding bill that gave $19 billion in relief for communities hit by disasters, including $900 million for hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico, and fast-tracked $4 billion in grants to Texans suffering due to the effects of Hurricane Harvey. The money for Texas had been approved in 2018 but held up due to working out regulations with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Management and Budget. Cornyn had championed the bill and Cruz voted for it. House leaders of both parties had agreed to advance the bill under a quick procedure rule that required unanimous consent of those in the chamber. Most members of Congress had already left Washington for the Memorial Day recess. The day before, the Senate had passed the bill 85–8, and the House had passed a similar version earlier in the month 257–150. Due to Roy's objection, the unanimous consent vote was derailed.
Roy blamed Nancy Pelosi for the previous delay in Texans receiving the funds and voiced his dislike of procedure being used.
During other pro forma sessions, Roy's tactic was adopted by Representatives Thomas Massie and John Rose, who returned to Washington during the recess week for two more similar unanimous consent request attempts. Ultimately Roy's action delayed the bill's passage for several days until lawmakers returned from recess.
Hurricane season began on June 1 and coastal communities soon began seeing flooding amid strong storms. The bill was stalled for 11 days before passing on June 3 by a margin of 354–58, with Roy voting against it. Roy received bipartisan criticism for his objection to the bill. He explained his vote against the measure, saying it added to the national debt and did not include additional spending for federal operations along the U.S.–Mexico border. Five other Texas representatives joined Roy in opposing the bill: Lance Gooden, John Ratcliffe, Van Taylor, Ron Wright, and Michael Cloud (whose district bore the direct brunt of Hurricane Harvey).
On June 12, 2019, Roy derailed the usually uneventful House procedural process for appropriation bills. During the first debate of a four-bill spending package of the upcoming 2020 fiscal year the chamber scheduled for working through amendments through most of the day, with roll call votes not expected until around 5:30 p.m., Roy rose in an effort to protest what he saw as Democratic inaction on Trump's $4.5 billion supplemental funding request for the Department of Homeland Security (to address what his administration held was urgently needed due to an increasing number of migrants at the southern border). From the floor he halted the normal process by making a motion to adjourn at 12:14 p.m. The motion was defeated, 146–244. Representative Andy Biggs then made another motion to adjourn, which was defeated, 140–254. Members of both parties voted against the motions and voiced complaints about the disruption. Members had been forced to leave committee hearings, markups, lunches, and other events for the unscheduled votes.
After the votes the House resumed normal business, beginning a debate on a rule governing proceedings on the fiscal package. While managing the debate on the rule for the Republican minority, Woodall yielded his time to several members of his conference. Each requested unanimous consent for immediate consideration of the border funding supplemental. The chair declined these, ruling the time may be yielded only for debate on the rule in question. When proceedings shifted to amendment debate and lawmakers proceeded to call for a voice vote on many of the amendments (most of them uncontroversial), Roy objected and asked for roll call votes on each one. This once again caused members to have to return to the chamber for unscheduled votes, and as Roy continued to use this tactic it became clear that the previous schedule, which anticipated finishing up no later than 11 p.m., would be extended until early in the morning.
Roy continued to call for roll-call votes for each of the dozens of amendments offered. This caused members of both parties to voice displeasure with him and cancel their evening plans. Roy himself canceled his plans for his 15-year wedding anniversary. The House finished voting at 4 a.m.
The Texas Tribune reported that by such tactics Roy within "a span of just three weeks…established a reputation as the leading obstructionist in the House."
On June 28, 2019, in response to the humanitarian crisis involving migrant children at the southern border, Roy proposed legislation to amend the Antideficiency Act (ADA) to allow the United States Border Patrol to accept donations from people who want to help migrant children directly. The bill was filed after Border Patrol officials turned away people attempting to donate supplies such as diapers, toys, and hygiene items, saying they could not accept donations due to the ADA, which prevents the government from accepting "any donations other than what Congress has allocated to it."
On October 5, 2020, while campaigning for reelection, Roy called for Paxton's resignation after seven senior leaders within his office (including Roy's replacement, Jeff Mateer) accused him of bribery, abuse of office, and other charges. Roy noted that rather than address the charges and demonstrate their falsity, Paxton had attacked the staffers' character. He took particular issue with Paxton's choice "to attack the very people entrusted, by him, to lead the office—some of whom I know well and whose character are beyond reproach."
Hours after Roy's call for him to step down, Paxton released a statement saying, "Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations I will continue to seek justice in Texas and will not be resigning." The charges arose from Paxton's relationship with Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer who donated $25,000 to Paxton's 2018 campaign. Paxton claimed that his office had been referred a case investigating an FBI raid in August 2019 of Paul's offices and home which had "allegations of crimes relating to the FBI, other government agencies and individuals". When it was brought to Roy's attention that Paul had donated $2,700 to him the same 2018 electoral cycle, Roy said he did "not recall meeting Mr. Paul and it shows as an online contribution."
Over 100 text messages gathered by the January 6th Commission revealed the coordination by Roy and Utah's U.S. Senator Mike Lee with Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to overturn Trump's defeat in the 2020 election.
On November 7, 2020, before traveling to Georgia to help fight the election results there, Roy texted Meadows: "Dude, we need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend": two days earlier, he had texted Meadows: "We have no tools / data / information to go out and fight RE: election / fraud. If you need / want it, we all need to know what's going on." On the same day, he also appealed to Meadows to have "The President tone down the rhetoric, and approach the legal challenge firmly, intelligently and effectively without resorting to throwing wild desperate haymakers, or whipping his base into a conspiracy frenzy." On November 19, 2020, he texted Meadows to express his concern for the lack of evidence, writing: "Hey brother - we need substance or people are going to break."
On December 10, 2020, Roy wrote in opposition to Paxton's lawsuit Texas v. Pennsylvania, demanding four other states' election results be overturned as part of Trump's false claims that Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election was the result of widespread voter fraud. Despite 106 of his fellow House Republicans filing an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, Roy wrote, "I will not join because I believe the case itself represents a dangerous violation of federalism & sets a precedent to have one state asking federal courts to police the voting procedures of other states. I cannot support an effort that will almost certainly fail on grounds of standing and is inconsistent with my beliefs about protecting Texas sovereignty from the meddling of other states. Our remedy must be, from this day forward, to decline to allow the usurpation of our authority as people—through our states—to govern ourselves in all respects." Cornyn also questioned Paxton's lawsuit, telling reporters "I, frankly, struggle to understand the legal theory of it." After the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, Roy told a reporter, "It was clearly evident and obvious that it would have zero chance of success for anybody who understands the law and understands the Supreme Court and understands how these cases are going to go."
On December 31, 2020, in reference to attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 election, Roy texted Meadows: "The President should call everyone off. It's the only path. If we substitute the will of states through electors with a vote by Congress every 4 years, we have destroyed the electoral college"; the next day he texted Meadows that if Trump "allows this to occur, we're driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic." Roy joined fellow Republican Legislators Thomas Massie, Kelly Armstrong, Ken Buck, Mike Gallagher, Nancy Mace, and Tom McClintock in issuing a statement on January 3, 2021, against their colleagues' efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election. They signed a letter that, while giving credence to the idea that "significant abuses in our election system resulting from the reckless adoption of mail-in ballots and the lack of safeguards maintained to guarantee that only legitimate votes are cast and counted," held that "only the states have authority to appoint electors, in accordance with state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process. Its job is to count the electors submitted by the states, not to determine which electors the states should have sent." They pointed to the Twelfth Amendment in support of their position, and wrote, "As of this moment, not a single state has submitted multiple conflicting slates of electoral votes. …Unless that happens between now and January 6, 2021, Congress will have no authority to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election." Congressional action despite this "would amount to stealing power from the people and the states. It would, in effect, replace the electoral college with Congress, and in so doing strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or render it irrelevant." The letter called on Republican legislators to remember their oath: "We must respect the states' authority here. Though doing so may frustrate our immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals. We must count the electoral votes submitted by the states."
On the same day as the joint statement, Roy objected to the seating of 67 incoming representatives from states that Trump claimed rigged their elections against him: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. If his Republican colleagues (including Gohmert and Cruz) were going to hold that ballots should be questioned about the presidential race (calling for an emergency 10-day audit), Roy maintained that no certainty could be granted for any race. He said "a number of my colleagues...have publicly stated that they plan to object to the acceptance of electors from those particular six states due to their deeply held belief that those states conducted elections plagued by statewide, systemic fraud and abuse that leaves them absolutely no way for this chamber or our constituents to trust the validity of their elections. Such allegations, if true, raise significant doubts about the elections of at least some of the members of the United States House of Representatives that, if not formally addressed, could cast a dark cloud of suspicion over the validity of this body for the duration of the 117th Congress." He added, "It would confound basic human reason if the presidential results were to face objection while the congressional results of the same process escaped without public scrutiny." Roy apologized to those who had come to the swearing-in ceremony and said that if a colleague objected to his own seating in response he would welcome a vote.
Due to Roy's actions, the House held a vote on the matter and the result was 371 to 2 in favor of moving ahead with the swearing in of all members. The Dallas Morning News wrote that Roy's actions were "a dramatic escalation in the GOP feud" over the counting of electoral votes, noting Roy was in the minority of his party but "a conservative firebrand...[who] has developed a reputation for a damn-the-consequences approach to doing what he thinks is right, even if it means irking his fellow Republicans."
Roy spent most of January 5, 2021, working on the remarks he planned on giving on the House floor the next day. He called constitutional scholars as well as other members to sharpen his writing. At the end of the day, when returning to his Virginia apartment, he stopped at a sports bar and was troubled by what he saw: "The place was filled with MAGA Trump supporters. Absolutely filled. I kept hearing people say, 'Liberals are going to be upset tomorrow when the vice president stops this steal and gives this election back to the president.' I heard that repeatedly from people in that bar. I had called the Sheriff of Hays County earlier that day to tell him to look after Carrah and the kids and I told friends here in town to look after Carrah and the kids because I could tell things were getting a little amped up. And that night I re-texted the sheriff and said 'Please be keeping an eye out for Carrah and the kids' because the temperature was so high."
The next day, when there was an objection to counting Arizona's electoral votes, Roy went with the other members of the House to debate their acceptance. He began seeing notifications on social media of an angry mob outside the Capitol and began texting his staff to try to ensure their safety in the Longworth office building. Legislators paused the debate when the Capitol police announced a breach in the building, but thinking it isolated, resumed debate. Roy was in the well of the lectern about fourth in line to the microphone, where he planned to object to those objecting to the electoral votes. After Capitol police instructed members to hunker in place and make use of their emergency gas masks, Roy tweeted, "To those storming the Capitol - I am on the House floor and I will not be deterred from upholding my oath, under God, to the Constitution by mob demand." Roy felt to stay in the chamber would be like a "sitting duck" and was able to get Capitol police to direct representatives to a secure exit. Upon receiving their instructions, Roy went to the indicated door and called for his fellow members to exit through it while he held it open.
During the January 6 Capitol attack, Roy was in the House chamber. He tweeted to Trump, "Mr. President - get to a microphone immediately and establish calm and order. Now. And work with Capitol Police to secure the Capitol. It's the last thing you'll do that matters as President." He later told a reporter, "We must enforce the law. People have breached the Capitol, they need to go to jail. It's dangerous. A lot of people there with a lot of emotions running high. Look, I wish the president had spun people to—as I said, on the floor of the House of Representatives [Wednesday] night—to believe things that were not going to happen, and that was unfortunate." As Congress prepared to return to the chambers, Roy tweeted, "We will reconvene. We will vote to accept the electors from the states, as instructed by the Constitution. That is our job."
Returning to the chamber once safety was restored, Roy addressed the House, "Many of my colleagues were poised this afternoon to vote to insert Congress into the constitutionally prescribed decision-making of the states by rejecting the sole official electors sent to us by each of the states of the union. I hope they will reconsider. I can tell you that I was not going to, and I will not be voting to reject the electors. And that vote may well sign my political death warrant. But so be it. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States—and I will not bend its words into contortions for political expediency and then claim I am honoring that oath." In the two House votes that challenged the electors of Arizona and Pennsylvania, Roy voted to certify the electors appointed by those states.
Even as Roy's favorability dropped significantly in his district, he said he had no regrets: "I did not take an oath to the political expediency of either Donald Trump or any other member of a political party. I took an oath to the Constitution of the United States. My view is immovable in that regard. And for those raising questions about it, I want to know where they were—precisely where they were—when a Capitol Hill police officer was getting his head bashed in by a fire extinguisher by an angry mob spun up in no small part by the president's irresponsible actions." Roy told a reporter that Republicans were "being fed misinformation" and that one of his responsibilities was to counsel voters on just how they were misled.
During the second impeachment of Donald Trump, Roy held that Trump's behavior "was clearly, in my opinion, impeachable conduct, pressuring the vice president to violate his oath to the Constitution." Still, Roy opposed impeachment. He held that the Democratic leadership in the House "drafted articles that I believe are flawed… focusing on the legally specific terms of incitement and insurrection. Even noting impeachment does not require meeting a certain legal standard – the danger for open speech & debate in this body and for the Republic generally is high – if the House approves the articles as written." If accepted, he said, "The language of this impeachment will be used to target members of this body under section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It will be used to suggest that any statements we make are subject to review by our colleagues and send us down the perilous path of the cleansing political speech in the public square."
Roy joined all of Texas's House Republicans in voting against impeachment. When asked whether he or any of his fellow Republicans had been threatened with violence if they voted to impeach, Roy said, "I'm not aware of any specific threats against me or anybody else. Honestly, if somebody would have threatened me, I probably would have said FU and voted to impeach. I just don't react well to that sort of thing."
In events leading up to the insurrection at the Capitol, reporters observed an ideological split between Roy and Cruz. On January 5, Roy forced members of the House to go on record in a voice vote concerning the seating of 67 representatives-elect from the six states that Trump asserted had invalid elections, a move The Washington Post called a "gutsy step" that was "putting a spotlight on the hypocrisy of his fellow Republicans" for contesting the presidential results in those states but not the results for other races in those states, though the same methods were used to tabulate votes.
That same day the media learned that Cruz would join representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar in objecting to the certification of Arizona's electoral votes, despite Attorney General William Barr's declaration that there was no evidence of fraud and despite every lawsuit put forward to challenge the outcome in Arizona having been dismissed or dropped by Trump's legal team. Cruz led a coalition of 11 Republican senators demanding an audit. Cruz's objections to Arizona were joined by Senator Josh Hawley challenging Pennsylvania's electoral votes and Senator Kelly Loeffler those of Georgia. In contrast, Roy called on his fellow legislators to recall that "we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals" and that they had a duty to follow its text.
The Post contrasted Roy with Cruz, who it said "is stoking his 2024 presidential hopes by helping to lead a dishonest drive to question the electoral college results." James Tilove of Texas Monthly wrote of Cruz and Roy, "Their paths on January 6 could not have been more divergent, with Roy denouncing the president and the elector challenges, and Cruz continuing that night to press his objection to certifying the Biden electors from Arizona—the first of two states voted on—even after witnessing the terrible passions the doomed maneuver had stirred." Roy acknowledged that he and Cruz disagreed on how to honor their oaths to the Constitution, but said, "My friendship with Senator Ted Cruz is immovable. I think everybody needs to dial it down on both kinds of extremes. Those attacking [Cruz and some others] and calling them seditionists, it's absolutely absurd. We can agree to disagree on these things and we need to. I'll have more to say on that later but my friendship with Senator Ted Cruz is not up for negotiation."
On January 28, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed a desire in a tweet to "know more" about the stock trading app Robinhood, which had blocked some retail investors' trading while hedge funds faced no such constraints. When Cruz tweeted his agreement, Ocasio-Cortez rebuffed him, holding that his calling the Electoral College votes into question had helped incite the January 6 insurrectionists, some of whom called for violence against her. She tweeted: "I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there's common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign."
Roy objected to Ocasio-Cortez's assertions in a letter to Pelosi demanding that she be forced to apologize or face sanctions, saying "she accused Senator Ted Cruz, in essence, of attempted murder. it is completely unacceptable behavior for a Member of Congress to make this kind of scurrilous charge against another member in the House or Senate for simply engaging in speech and debate regarding electors as they interpreted the Constitution. …It is my sincere hope that we all stop this heightened rhetoric and move forward to actually do the work the American people sent us here to do."
On February 1, Ocasio-Cortez detailed her experience on January 6, which was compounded by the trauma of being a sexual assault survivor, saying, "Ted Cruz and Representatives Chip Roy, and, oh, by the way, some of the other representatives who actually encouraged people to threaten members of Congress, or tweeted out the location of the Speaker, are now telling me to apologize for saying and speak truth to what happened. These are the tactics that abusers use. The folks who are saying, 'We should move on,' 'We shouldn't have accountability,' etc., are saying, 'Can you just forget about this so we can do it again?'" Roy replied that he was saddened to learn she had been a victim of sexual assault, but "I will not be swayed from my beliefs about right and wrong—regarding this or anything else." He took issue with being accused of using abuser tactics: "Her comparison of my defense of colleagues to her circumstances were again inappropriate…It does not change the fact that her allegation against Sen. Cruz was completely unacceptable for a Member of Congress to make against another member for engaging in free speech and debate about what our Constitution says about electors. Nor does it change my position that she should apologize for and retract those remarks."
On March 8, 2021, 13 suspension bills—bills brought up under suspension of House rules—were scheduled to be put forward on the House floor, including a measure with overwhelming Republican support to present the U.S. Capitol Police with a Congressional Gold Medal. These plans were scrapped because Roy and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed their intent to demand recorded roll call votes for each bill. As this parliamentary maneuver would have forced voting to go into the early morning, the leadership rescheduled the voting.
Of the delay, Roy said, "We need to continue to have conversations about every bill that's moving through the floor." He held that instead of the suspension calendar being "done right", the Democratic leadership was "jamming through 10 Democrat bills [and] three Republican bills on a Monday we fly back, while we're jamming through a $2 trillion bill which we have no say in, while we've got fences around the Capitol, we've metal detectors, etc. …We need to have a conversation in this town about how to make the House work again. That's what we're doing." He said his motivation was to force conversations over how to make Congress "work better" as "This place is completely dysfunctional."
Roy also criticized the Democratic leadership for doing away with the "motion to recommit", which Republicans in the previous Congress had used to force last-minute changes to legislation on the House floor. House minority whip Steve Scalise made clear the House Republican leadership had not planned or approved Roy's remarks, but also said he too wanted "to see an open process."
Not all of the GOP Leadership opposed Roy; conference chair Liz Cheney said, "This process is not going to be able to continue smoothly as long as the Democrats continue to try to ram pieces of legislation through without adequate hearings, without adequate debate and discussion, without adequate ability to offer amendments, without a motion to recommit. …The majority needs to understand we are not interested in a situation where they have taken away so many rights of the minority and they expect things are going to operate smoothly. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that this is going on." Democrats characterized the moves as producing nothing but pointless delay and agitation. They singled out Greene as merely attention-seeking due to having been stripped of her committee assignments in February, and her repeated disruptions of the legislative process (such as discussion of the Equality Act) by use of "motions to adjourn debate", forcing members to hurry to the House floor to vote to remain in session.
The Republican caucus, increasingly annoyed by Greene's tactics, were more supportive of Roy's, as the timing allowed both the protest to gain attention, along with a rescheduling that prevented mass disruption. Hoyer and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy held talks on how to address Roy's and Greene's maneuvers. In its coverage of the episode, Politico called Roy "a master of procedural delays on the floor." Due to changes in the rules on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, each roll-call vote took at least an additional 45 minutes longer than under normal circumstances, and a growing number of Republicans joined with Democrats in complaining about the delays.
Among the bills that were rescheduled due to Roy's procedural protest was one giving Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and the assisting police forces who withstood the January 6 attack on the Capitol. When the measure received a roll call vote on March 17, it did not pass with unanimous support. Twelve Republicans voted against it, objecting to the use of the word "insurrectionists". Roy, who had earlier said, "These words all matter, right? …I have to study the language fully", supported the measure. The final vote tally was 413–12.
The bill moved to the Senate, which had passed its own version. A new bill was created to resolve the differences between the two versions. The largest change was the addition of having a medal displayed inside the Capitol itself, and lines that added those Capitol Police officers who suffered under the car ramming attack on a Senate security barricade on April 2, 2021. The revised bill returned to the House and was put up for a vote on June 15. Despite his vote in March, Roy joined 20 other Republicans in voting against this version, which passed, 406–21. Roy released a statement saying the original "legislation has since been amended to include events that have absolutely nothing to do with January 6th. Instead of honoring our men and women of law enforcement, Democrats are playing political games with the tragedy of April 2, 2021."
Roy defended Representative Liz Cheney when the House voted to strip her of her position as chair of the House Republican Conference over her criticism of Trump. On January 13, 2021, he said: "It has come to my attention that a number of my colleagues are circulating calls for Liz Cheney to step down from, or to be removed as, chair of the Republican Conference for her position in support of impeachment of the president. I reject this call, and offer my support. …there can be little debate that, among other things, the president's pressure exerted on Vice President Pence to violate his oath, and the false hope it sent to emotionally charged supporters, was wrong, troubling, and impeachable. Liz should be commended, not condemned, for standing up in defense of the Constitution and standing true to her beliefs."
On May 11, Roy released a memo calling the conference to be clear that the controversy over Cheney was not about her position that the election "was not stolen", but rather that she had "forfeited her ability to be our spokesperson by pulling us into distraction. …looking backwards while repeatedly and unhelpfully engaging in personal attacks and finger-wagging towards President Trump rather than leading the conference forward with a unifying message." He said the conference should be "fighting to stop the radical Democrat agenda" rather than "falling prey to the high drama of swamp politics." After Representative Elise Stefanik announced that she would run to succeed Cheney, Roy and other conservative Republicans had discussed concerns over Stefanik's comparably moderate voting record, with Roy taking the lead in this group. His May 11 memo accused Stefanik of campaigning as a Republican but supporting the Democrats' agenda once sworn in.
Representative Lance Gooden told a reporter that with the amount of support Stefanik had gathered, her victory seemed virtually assured, so "One of the problems of those who had issues with Elise were that no one had really stepped forward to run against her, they were being critical, but no one really seemed to have the nerve to put their name down. So it seems as if Chip Roy is that candidate." Roy's fundraising campaign sent out donation requests that emphasized his opposition to Cheney.
Cheney was ultimately ousted from her position as chair by voice vote with no one objecting.
By May 13, shortly before a scheduled candidate forum, Roy officially announced his candidacy for the position. He cited what he saw as Stefanik's lack of conservative qualifications and the rapid pace of the process as his reasons for running. (After Cheney was ousted that Wednesday, McCarthy had scheduled the forum for Thursday evening and the vote for Friday morning.) After Trump released a statement opposing Roy, the conservative group FreedomWorks came out in support of Roy, saying they were pleased to hear of his nomination, and that "Rep. Roy has a lifetime 100% voting record on our scorecard. He has demonstrated that Republicans can legislate based on conservative principles and also get elected in competitive districts."
Around 60 House Republicans gathered for the candidate forum to hear pitches between Roy and Stefanik to take over the position. The forum was described as a friendly and formal back-and-forth, with Roy contending that he was the more conservative choice, and Stefanik emphasizing her work to elect GOP women along with her ability to fundraise. Both promised to set aside their personal views to better deliver party messaging. Some attendees told reporters that they felt many in the audience had previously decided who they would support before the forum was even held. Roy did not respond to any questions after the forum: "We are going to have a vote tomorrow in the Republican conference." When asked whether Trump's endorsement of Stefanik and bashing of him concerned him, Roy likened the reporters to "vultures" and said: "This is all D.C. swamp business."
In contrast, Stefanik called the forum a "great discussion", said she had cross-conference support and "we are in a strong position." On May 14, the day of the election, Representative Ken Buck of the Freedom Caucus formally nominated Roy, and his nomination was seconded by Boebert. Roy lost the election to Stefanik in a secret ballot, 134–46. Afterward he released a statement congratulating Stefanik, but taking pride in being able to "provide an alternative with a proven record of standing up not for politicians—but for freedom, the Constitution, and the conservative principles Americans hold dear."
Roy did not support the House measure to create the January 6 commission. He held that forming a commission was not "a responsible and proper way" to investigate the issue, and that "The proposed commission does not have powers that existing law enforcement and existing congressional committees don't already have; however, it does have an unlimited budget and a vague mandate." The bill passed the House on May 19, 2021, by a vote of 252 to 175.
On May 13, Roy and Representative Thomas Massie sent Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter expressing concern that those facing federal charges for participation in the January 6 rioters would be subject to "overly aggressive tactics, overcharge, and abuse of power of the federal government in order to satisfy favored political groups." They claimed that they had heard reports that Assistant U.S. Attorneys were not allowed discretion to "enter into plea deals without permission from political appointees" at the Department of Justice. They also wrote, "there are disturbing reports of heavily armed teams of federal agents bursting into family homes to arrest individuals with no history or likelihood of violence", and demanded congressional oversight of the prosecutions. When Massie's office was asked their sources for the reports, they responded, "Mr. Roy's office has spoken with attorneys handling these cases and we can't comment any further than that."
Roy, Andrew Clyde and Thomas Massie were the only House members to vote against the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, which passed the 117th United States Congress.
On January 3, 2023, at the beginning of the 118th Congress, during the election of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Roy nominated and voted for Byron Donalds for Speaker, in rebuke of House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. Roy became a leader in the negotiation process for the holdouts against McCarthy. Roy and his group of about 20 wanted: (1) to bring down the threshold for calling a vote of no confidence against the speaker to one member, (2) more enforcement to allow more time to read bills, (3) a greater role for the House Freedom Caucus in Republican leadership, requiring Republican leadership to refrain from being involved in primary elections, and (4) an end to U.S. aid to Ukraine. Roy switched his vote to McCarthy on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th ballots.
During the October 2023 speaker election, as the House Republican Conference considered choosing Majority Leader Steve Scalise or Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan as their nominee for Speaker, Roy (who supported Jordan) made a proposal that would have required 217 of the 221 members to support the eventual nominee before a floor vote could be held; the idea was tabled 135-88. Jordan was ultimately nominated, and Roy voted for him on the first three floor ballots. On the fourth ballot, Roy, along with all other present Republicans, voted for the new nominee Mike Johnson, who was elected Speaker.
In December 2024, Roy opposed raising the United States debt ceiling. As a result, Donald Trump criticised him and encouraged Texas Republicans to consider a primary challenge.
On September 3rd, 2025, Roy, along with a bipartisan group of 16 cosponsors introduced the Restore Trust in Congress Act (H.R. 5106) which would ban members of Congress, as well as their spouses and dependents, from owning or trading stocks. The bill had 119 cosponsors as of December 2025.
