WASHINGTON – You might think that smoke-filled rooms in Congress belong back in another time, just like canings. But smoke-filled rooms are actually back, thanks in part to the Buffalo area’s newest member of Congress, Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy.
“We spend a fair amount of time with cigars both before and after the meetings,” said Rep. Tom Cole, a widely respected Republican from Oklahoma who chairs the House Rules Committee, where Langworthy also serves.
Cole recruited Langworthy to the Rules Committee, but not to share some stogies. Kelly Dixon Chambers, the Rules Committee staff director, worked with Langworthy on the staff of then-Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds. She recommended Langworthy to Cole as a perfect fit for the ultimate committee for congressional insiders, which shapes the terms of debate for legislation that goes to the House floor.
Cole is glad she did. Langworthy “is incredibly savvy politically, both about the chamber and the process,” Cole said. And as a former New York State Republican Committee chair, Langworthy has provided his colleagues with important insights into the politics of a state that was an important House battleground in 2022 and will be again next year, Cole added.
In other words, Langworthy as a congressman is what he always was: a political animal. And like many political animals, Langworthy as a first-term congressman has proved to be a bit hard to pin down. He’s established himself as a serious legislator who’s willing to both buck and work with GOP leaders while giving voice to all the gripes and concerns that dominate the Trump-era Republican Party.
“He’s kind of a halfhearted MAGA Republican,” said Shawn Hogan, the Steuben County Democratic chair.
But Langworthy, not surprisingly, sees things differently.
“I came here to be an effective legislator,” Langworthy, 42, said in an interview in his office in the Longworth House Office Building. “I think that some people, given my past roles,…
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