Rep. Patrick McHenry is running Jeb Bush’s whip operation on Capitol Hill, the former Florida governor’s presidential campaign confirmed Tuesday.
McHenry, 39, the Majority Chief Deputy Whip from North Carolina, was tapped by Bush, 62, to round up support from House and Senate Republicans for for his 2016 bid.
Public endorsements from members of Congress mean less than they used to in terms of influencing voters, but lawmakers’ support for a White House campaign brings other fringe benefits, like political insight and access to donors and grassroots activists in their states and districts.
Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri, the finance chairman this cycle for the National Republican Congressional Committee, is McHenry’s deputy. Wagner, 52, who has been at the forefront of GOP efforts to expand the party’s appeal among women, got her start in politics drumming up votes in the Show Me State for President George H.W. Bush, and has been close to the Bush family ever since.
Both McHenry and Wagner were in the “spin room” Thursday evening to speak to reporters on Bush’s behalf following the first televised presidential debate inside Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena. “I think Jeb nailed it,” McHenry said of Bush’s performance. “He looked presidential on the stage.”
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
