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Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., has been offered the role of National Security Advisor in the next Trump administration, a source confirmed to Fox News Digital.

Waltz has been one of Trump’s most visible surrogates during the 2024 campaign, helping spearhead military outreach and leading the Veterans For Trump coalition.

The Florida congressman is the first retired Green Beret to serve in Congress and had previous administration experience as a policy adviser to former Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Waltz being offered the role.

This story is breaking and will be updated…

Republicans were optimistic about their chances to win big in North Carolina.

“We will flip from the Democrats to the Republicans … this congressional seat. That’s a huge plus for the Republican Party,” congressional candidate Brad Knott, R-N.C., said at a rally with vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio just days before the election.

Knott was correct in his prediction, but Republicans did not flip only his seat from blue to red, they flipped a total of three.

THE 2024 ELECTION CYCLE IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE –⁠ HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW

“Thanks to your support, I’m going to be the next congressman from the 6th District of North Carolina,” candidate Addison McDowell, R-N.C., said at a Nov. 2 Trump campaign event in Greensboro.

The Republican success had a lot to do with redrawn congressional maps that were backed by a state lawmaker turned congressman-elect.

“I’m Tim Moore, currently the speaker of the House, and in just a few days [I] will be the member for the United States Congress for right here in Gaston County,” said North Carolina speaker of the House and congressional candidate Tim Moore, R-N.C., at a Nov. 2 Trump campaign rally in Gastonia, N.C.

The changes began when North Carolina was given an additional seat on its congressional map due to population growth after the 2020 census. Rep.-elect Moore will now represent that seat

“We’ve got a Republican supermajority in the state House, in the state Senate. We know how to get things done in this state,” Moore said in July.

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North Carolina’s congressional map was redrawn at least three times before the 2022 midterm elections. Three Democrats won districts 6, 13 and 14. North Carolina’s congressional delegation was split: seven Republicans and seven Democrats. But state Republicans were not satisfied and redrew the map once again before 2024. Moore said at the time that “7-7 does not reflect the will of the voters in North Carolina.”

“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be up to judges or bureaucrats. It should be up to the people through their elected representatives in the legislature,” Moore said after Supreme Court arguments on the maps in 2022.

After the map that was expected to benefit Republicans was finalized, the three Democrat incumbents decided against running for re-election. District 6’s Kathy Manning, D-N.C., announced she wouldn’t seek re-election in December 2023.

District 13’s Wiley Nickel, D-N.C., decided against running at around the same time and is instead considering a Senate run in 2026 against incumbent Republican Thom Tillis.

District 14 Rep. Jeff Jackson, D-N.C., also criticized the maps and instead ran a successful bid for North Carolina attorney general.

“We need to make sure that folks know how important every single race on the ballot is,” Jackson said while campaigning with Vice President Harris days before the election.

Moore instead won Jackson’s seat. He was first elected to the State House in 2002 and has served as speaker of the House since 2015. He has also been a longtime ally of President-elect Trump and campaigned with him during his 2016 presidential bid.

“I have no doubt he’s going to be our next president of the United States,” Moore said at a 2016 Trump rally in High Point, North Carolina.

The 30-year-old McDowell won North Carolina’s 6th District. He served as a congressional aide for Sen. Ted Budd during his time in the House. McDowell decided to run for the seat after his brother died from a fentanyl overdose.

“I don’t want any of your families to suffer like my family did. We have to stop the flow of fentanyl coming into our country through Mexico. And that’s why we have to secure our southern border,” McDowell said during a Trump campaign rally in October.

TOP REPUBLICAN PRIVATELY BACKING THUNE TO SUCCEED MCCONNELL IN GOP LEADER RACE

Former federal prosecutor Knott flipped North Carolina’s 13th District. He promised to address crime and illegal immigration during his campaign.

“I had the high honor of working under President Trump when we actually prosecuted criminals,” Knott said at a Nov. 3 rally in Selma, North Carolina.

Redistricting also appeared to benefit Democrats this election cycle. In New York, they flipped two competitive seats, even one that was thought to benefit the Republican incumbent.

“What we are seeing with our democracy is terrifying,” congressional candidate Josh Riley, D-N.Y., said during his 2022 campaign.

He first ran for the District 19 congressional seat during the midterm elections. He lost to republican Marcus Molinaro by less than 5,000 votes. That year, Molinaro flipped the seat from blue to red. Two years later, the new congressional maps in New York were thought to help Molinaro’s chances for re-election, but Riley managed to flip the seat back in the Democrats’ favor.

“Tomorrow let’s get to work, tonight let’s celebrate what we accomplished together,” Riley said during his election night remarks.

Just north in New York’s 22nd District, changes to the congressional map were expected to affect Republican Rep. Brandon Williams’ chances of holding onto his House seat.

“This is always the risk in a presidential year,” Williams said after losing in the 2024 race. “What an incredible, distinct honor it has been to serve in the United States Congress.”

The district was shifted to include left-leaning cities like Auburn and Cortland. State Sen. John Mannion, D-N.Y., managed to flip the seat. He ran a moderate campaign and promised to protect reproductive rights while vowing to work across the aisle on immigration legislation.

“We need individuals from both parties to stand up against their own leadership,” Mannion said on election night.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is headed to Washington this week to meet with President Biden after calling for a special session of state lawmakers to “Trump-Proof” the state’s progressive policies. 

A spokesperson for Newsom’s office said the Democratic governor is traveling to Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings with the Biden-Harris administration and the California congressional delegation. 

“Building on the progress made since President Biden took office, the Governor will advocate for key priorities that advance the health and well-being of all Californians — including disaster funding, the approval of state healthcare initiatives aimed at improving access to health and mental healthcare for Californians, and crucial climate and clean air efforts,” Newsom’s spokesperson said, without giving a specific timeframe for the meetings.

Newsom, who has been at odds with the former president, wrote after Trump’s election night victory that California was “ready to fight.”

HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2028

“Whether it be our fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, or climate action — we refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked,” Newsom said. 

Those comments came a day after Newsom said he “will seek to work with the incoming president.”

During Trump’s first term, the Newsom administration filed more than 100 lawsuits against the Trump administration. The governor is now asking state lawmakers to earmark more funds for the California Department of Justice and other state agencies with additional resources to mount legal challenges.

MORE THAN 40% OF CALIFORNIANS VOTED FOR TRUMP, STATE ‘NOT AS LIBERAL AS NEWSOM’ THINKS, SAYS EXPERT

Newsom’s office said the special session of state lawmakers, slated for Monday, Dec. 2, will focus on safeguarding “civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and immigrant families.” 

Trump has balked at Newsom’s call for a special session, writing on his Truth Social platform Friday that Newsom was supposedly “trying to KILL our Nation’s beautiful California.” 

“He is using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again,’ but I just overwhelmingly won the Election,” Trump said. 

Fox News Digital’s Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., will be voting for Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., in the first secret ballot on Wednesday morning during the leadership elections.

“I told both Rick Scott and John Cornyn today that I’ll be casting my first vote for John Thune,” the North Dakota senator said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. 

Thune is competing against Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., to succeed Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as Republican leader in the upper chamber. McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. 

“Thune has never lied to me,” Cramer said of the leader candidate. “I can’t say that of everybody.” 

Despite this comment, he maintained he has no “enemies” within the conference, which he said is a “good group.”

TRUMP ALLIES BACK RICK SCOTT IN GOP SENATE LEADER RACE AS THEY LOOK TO INFLUENCE SECRET BALLOT

He said making an endorsement was “the way to do it,” in his opinion. “There’s 53 of us. We all sought these positions of influence and, you know, appearing neutral seems sort of cowardice, if you will.”

As his reasoning for supporting Thune, the senator explained their long history, both coming from a Dakota. “I’ve known John Thune since we were children, basically,” he said, referencing the 1990 election cycle in both North and South Dakota when they were Republican Party directors. 

SCHUMER WON’T ALLOW DAVE MCCORMICK AT SENATE ORIENTATION, CITING OUTSTANDING PA BALLOTS

“All four of us from the Dakotas, of course, are supporting him,” he added. Thune and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., are publicly backing the former, but Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., hasn’t made a public endorsement. 

Hoeven’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

“I mean, John and I have a long personal relationship. He’s a good friend. He is from the neighborhood,” Cramer said. 

According to the North Dakota Republican, he thinks the leader race will need to go to a second secret ballot, as one candidate must reach 27 votes in order to win. 

SENATE LEADER CONTENDER JOHN THUNE RESPONDS TO NEW TRUMP LITMUS TEST AHEAD OF ELECTION

As for the high-profile endorsements of Scott coming from external figures frequently aligned with President-Elect Donald Trump, Cramer said, “Everybody has an opinion. I mean, I have people in my own party in North Dakota that would like me to do one thing or another.”

But, he stressed that the Republican conference as a whole is in line with Trump. “I endorsed Donald Trump and Donald Trump endorsed me,” the senator said. 

“[W]hen it comes to the—literally the issue of governing, we’re all on the same team. The Republican majority in the Senate to a T is in sync with Donald Trump’s agenda.”

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Trump notably has not endorsed a leader candidate, despite the pressure coming from those in his orbit, such as billionaire X owner Elon Musk. 

Thune has also been endorsed by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. Cornyn was recently backed by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Scott is being supported by Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin has been picked to join President-elect Donald Trump’s administration as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator.

Trump confirmed the news in a statement Monday afternoon, writing in part, “Lee, with a very strong legal background, has been a true fighter for America First policies. He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet. He will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way.”

Trump said Zeldin has “brilliantly” handled some “extremely difficult and complex situations.” He said he is sure Zeldin will “quickly prove to be a great contributor!”

FORMER NY CONGRESSMAN LAYS OUT DEMS’ YEARSLONG ESCALATING RHETORIC AHEAD OF TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

The New York Post was first to report on Trump picking Zeldin to lead the EPA.

“It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin wrote on X. “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

Zeldin represented New York’s 1st Congressional District from 2015 to 2023, and in 2022 he made a run for governor, garnering the most votes for a Republican candidate in 50 years.

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Zeldin grew up in Suffolk County, which is the same county he represented as a federal lawmaker.

At age 23, he became the youngest attorney in New York State at that time.

Zeldin served in the Army for four years, holding roles like military intelligence officer, prosecutor and military magistrate.

In 2006, he deployed to Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, he continues to serve as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, according to the statement put out by Trump.

FORMER ICE DIRECTOR TOM HOMAN ‘HONORED’ TO BE APPOINTED TRUMP’S BORDER CZAR: ‘WE HAVE TO FIX IT’

Zeldin was elected to the New York state Senate in 2010, where he served until 2014, when he was elected to Congress.

During his eight years working at the U.S. Capitol, Zeldin served on the House Foreign Affairs and House Financial Services committees.

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While in office, he championed infrastructure and research projects like the preservation of Plum Island and Army Corps of Engineers initiatives.

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump transition, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-What to know about Trump’s pick to oversee deportations

-House majority hinges on 18 uncalled races, with Republicans just 4 seats away

-Stefanik to reportedly meet Israeli president after Trump names her next UN ambassador

–Pennsylvania Republicans win first State Senate seat in Philadelphia in nearly 3 decades

Thomas Homan, who President-elect Donald Trump appointed as “border czar” on Sunday night, has a clear message for any Democratic governors who oppose the planned mass deportation operation.

“If they’re not willing to help, then get the hell out of the way because [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] is going to do their job,” Homan, who was acting ICE director during the first Trump administration, told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday.

Trump announced on Sunday that Homan will be appointed “border czar” and would be in charge of the borders and “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their country of origin” in the new administration…Read more

END THE ED: State education chief ‘on GOP radar’ launches gameplan for nixing cabinet department…Read more

‘ADMINISTRATION’S PATTERN’: State Department provides promotional advantages based on gender, report finds…Read more

NEW LEADERSHIP: Trump taps former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead EPA…Read more

MILLER TIME: Vance congratulates Miller on new Trump administration position…Read more

‘HE WILL DELIVER’: Trump to install ‘energy czar’ to dismantle Biden climate rules: report…Read more

COME TOGETHER: Biden, Harris to appear together for first time since Election Day at Veterans Day ceremony…Read more

STICKING WITH SENATE: Eric Schmitt withdraws from Trump attorney general consideration to remain in Senate…Read more

‘MORALLY BANKRUPT’: What Stefanik’s House tenure reveals about what type of UN ambassador she may be…Read more

RACE IS ON: Trump allies back Rick Scott in GOP Senate leader race as they look to influence secret ballot…Read more

PERSONAL ‘ESCORT’: GOP senator offers to ‘personally escort’ McCormick to Senate orientation after Schumer hold…Read more

DON’T GO THERE: Joe Rogan reveals Harris team wanted ‘restrictions’ on potential interview…Read more

FIRST PEEK AT 2028: Here are the Democrats who may eventually run for president in 2028…Read more

‘AFRAID OF FIGHTS’: Blue state Democrats issue scathing reflection on election loss: ‘We’re out of touch’…Read more

CONFERENCE CHAIR: Rep Lisa McClain announces run for GOP conference chair after Stefanik tapped for UN ambassador…Read more

‘THROUGH THE ROOF’: Border Patrol agents’ morale soars after Trump’s re-election…Read more

‘DISGUSTING’: Pro-Palestine protesters plan anti-Veterans Day gathering at Columbia University…Read more

FIGHTING ‘HATE AND LIES’: Israeli official praises Stefanik as UN pick, says her ‘moral clarity’ will combat body’s ‘hate and lies’…Read more

TAIWAN: Would the US defend Taiwan under Trump if China invades? Fox News investigates…Read more

FLYING HAZARDS: Spirit Airlines flight from Florida hit by gunfire while trying to land in Haiti…Read more

Get the latest updates on the Trump presidential transition, incoming Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Actor Kevin Costner on Monday defended Liz Cheney, saying the former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming should be applauded for her public service. 

 “I expect people in government to do the right thing. Public service is about public service. It’s not about your career. It’s not about your ego. Your four years is your four years,” the former “Yellowstone” star said during a live, town-hall edition of “The Michael Smerconish Program” on SiriusXM.

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Cheney came under fire from President-elect Trump in the days before his Election Day victory. She denounced his remarks in which he called her a “war hawk” from the comfort of Washington, D.C. 

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK,” Trump said. “Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Cheney has been one of Trump’s biggest critics and campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris. She criticized Trump after many of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

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Costner endorsed Cheney ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. That year, Cheney shared a photo of the actor wearing a T-shirt saying, “I’m for Liz Cheney.”

“I’m very proud of Liz Cheney,” Costner said. “I found a person completely at odds with one side willing to stand up. We should applaud her. We should protect her.”

“This woman should never be threatened,” he added. 

Cheney lost her re-election bid to Rep. Harriett Hageman, who was backed by Trump, in the GOP primary. 

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., will reportedly meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog when he visits the nation’s capital on Tuesday after President-elect Donald Trump named the House Republican Conference chair to be his next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. 

Herzog is expected to meet with multiple high-profile lawmakers in D.C. Tuesday, including President Biden, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Stefanik, his office told The Times of Israel. The meeting with Stefanik comes shortly after Trump said she would be his next ambassador to the United Nations.

On Monday, Trump confirmed reports that he would be nominating the GOP conference chairwoman to be his next UN ambassador, noting how she “is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.”

WHAT STEFANIK’S HOUSE TENURE REVEALS ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF UN AMBASSADOR SHE MAY BE

Stefanik, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, is also a firm supporter of Israel and has been a leading voice challenging the rising tide of antisemitism on college campuses following the tragic Hamas massacre of innocent Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Stefanik, for example, made headlines last year after pressing the presidents of three of the nation’s most prestigious colleges to share whether they thought “calling for the genocide of Jews” was against their codes of conduct. Eventually, pressure from Stefanik and other GOP leaders resulted in the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania to resign.

“The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak US leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries,” Stefanik said in a statement to the New York Post after news broke she had been tapped for the UN ambassadorship.

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Stefanik will be the first major policymaker to meet with Herzog on Tuesday, with their meeting scheduled at 9:00 a.m. EST, The Times of Israel reported.

Herzog will then reportedly meet with Graham and Biden afterward.

A spokesperson for Graham told Fox News Digital that their meeting was “not yet confirmed” but that they were working out scheduling.

Herzog’s visit to the U.S. comes amid the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, held Sunday through Tuesday in the nation’s capital, during which Herzog will be a keynote speaker.    

Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Stefanik and Herzog but did not hear back prior to publication time.

Two blue state Democrats in Congress issued blistering assessments of where their party stands after Tuesday night’s overwhelming election defeat and offered suggestions about changes that Democrats need to make.

“That was a cataclysm,” Connecticut Sen. Chis Murphy posted on X. “Electoral map wipeout. Senate D practical ceiling is now 52 seats. R’s is 62.”

“Time to rebuild the left,” Murphy wrote. “We are out of touch with the crisis of meaning/purpose fueling MAGA. We refuse to pick big fights. Our tent is too small.”

In a lengthy X thread that had more than 7 million views on Monday morning, Murphy said Democrats “don’t listen enough; we tell people what’s good for them” and skip “past the way people are feeling (alone, impotent, overwhelmed) and straight to uninspiring solutions (more roads! bulk drug purchasing!) that do little to actually upset the status quo of who has power and who doesn’t.”

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Murphy acknowledged a disconnect between everyday working class voters and the “elites” and suggested the party needs to more openly embrace candidates who reject the status quo. 

“And when progressives like Bernie aggressively go after the elites that hold people down, they are shunned as dangerous populists,” Murphy wrote. “Why? Maybe because true economic populism is bad for our high-income base.”

“We cannot be afraid of fights – especially with the economic elites who have profited off neoliberalism. The right regularly picks fights with elites – Hollywood, higher ed, etc. Democrats (e.g. the Harris campaign) are tepid in our fights with billionaires and corporations.”

MARK CUBAN, MAVERICKS MINORITY OWNER AND HARRIS SURROGATE, TAKES HEAT FOR DELETING SUPPORTIVE POSTS OF VP

Murphy told his followers that “real economic populism should be our tentpole.”

“Those are hard things for the left,” Murphy wrote in the final post of the thread. “A firm break with neoliberalism. Listen to poor and rural people, men in crisis. Don’t decide for them. Pick fights. Embrace populism. Build a big tent. Be less judgmental. But we are beyond small fixes.”

New York Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan, who won re-election in New York’s 18th Congressional District despite the red wave that swept across most of the country, also put forward a post-mortem on social media that was seen by millions of users.

“First and foremost, if you’re using the words ‘moderate’ or ‘progressive’ you’re missing the whole f***ing point,” Ryan wrote on X. “It’s not ideological. It’s about who fights for the people vs. who further empowers and enables the elites.”

Ryan explained his take on why he was able to win as a Democrat in a pro-Republican climate and said he “put affordability front and center every day.”

“Most importantly, I told folks exactly who it was that was ripping them off, and I grounded it locally. It’s the billionaires and big corporations making record-breaking profits while the rest of us struggle.”

Ryan wrote, “It’s not enough to throw these seemingly disparate policies at people. We must articulate a unifying principle, and clearly tell folks who’s at fault.  For me, it was Freedom. and Patriotism. And the fault lies with the same elites, in both parties, who’ve run this country for far too long.”

Various camps within the Democratic Party have been pointing fingers at each other Democrat presidential candidate Vice President Harris’ loss to President-elect Donald Trump last week.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pinned blame for the loss on the Democratic Party for “abandoning” the working class, sparking a rebuke from former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change,” Sanders posted to X last week, accompanied by a press release on the election results. “And they’re right.”

Pelosi responded that the party has not left the working class behind in favor of kowtowing to “big-money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party,” as Sanders had argued in his press release. 

“With all due respect, and I have a great deal of respect for him [Sanders], for what he stands for, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working-class families. That’s where we are,” Pelosi told the New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast on Saturday.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., is running to lead the Republican conference in the next congress, officially announcing after the current chair was tapped for a top Trump administration role. 

“The modern Republican Party personifies my home state of Michigan and delivered Republicans the White House, Senate, and House majority,” McClain said in a statement shared first with Fox News Digital. “From my humble beginnings working on a horse farm to building a company with billions of assets under management, our modern Republican Party needs someone who has lived the American dream and can effectively communicate President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda with the American people. That’s why today, I announce my candidacy to lead the House Republican Conference as Chairwoman.”

The announcement comes just hours after President-elect Trump nominated the current chair, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be ambassador to the United Nations in his upcoming administration.

“It’s been an honor to serve our Conference as Secretary for the past two years alongside Chairwoman Stefanik. Elise has done a tremendous job during her tenure, and I fully intend to build upon the successes she has brought to our Conference as we work with President Trump to Make America Great Again,” McClain added.

TRUMP NAMES STEFANIK UN AMBASSADOR

The conference chair, the fourth-ranking position in the chamber, will preside over conference meetings and day-to-day operations for Republican members of the House.

HOUSE MAJORITY HINGES ON 18 UNCALLED RACES, WITH REPUBLICANS JUST 4 SEATS AWAY

With Stefanik, who has held the position since replacing former Rep. Liz Cheney in 2021, stepping into the Trump administration, a race for the chair position remains wide open.

Also reportedly running for the position is Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., and Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind.

In a Dear Colleague letter, shared first with Fox News Digital on Monday, McClain made her case for the position.

“First, I am the right person to effectively communicate our policies to the American people, and defend the Conference from the expected onslaught of attacks that will come our way,” she wrote. 

McClain also noted her ability to maintain her seat in a blue state.

“Second, I hail from a blue state, one of the most critical battlegrounds for the presidency and our House majority. I understand what it takes to win tough races. As a proud surrogate for President Trump, I helped deliver Macomb County, a political bellwether, by directly appealing to and earning the trust of a large and diverse coalition of voters,” McClain wrote to her colleagues. “It is precisely this approach that we will need the next two years to ensure we retain and even grow our Conference, as we did for our great teammates.”