Photo courtesy House.gov.: Rep. Vern Buchanan.

Over nine terms in the House, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, never acted as a rabble rouser. Even as the Tea Party and MAGA movement wrought waves of emotional charge through the House, the cool-headed Republican kept a steady hand.

But as chaos consumes Congress, Buchanan seems fed up with the shifting landscape. He made clear Friday he won’t go along to get along if that means making the lower chamber a madhouse. After the nihilist wing of his party ousted not one but two leaders who won legitimate conference elections, Buchanan said enough was enough. He voted against Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who still emerged a winner but one with an uncertain future. Chaos keeps winning in his caucus, but Buchanan won’t be complicit.

“I don’t like how this has played out,” Buchanan told ABC News’ Ben Siegel.

It’s tempting to say Jordan’s win makes Buchanan a loser. But if there’s anything the last two weeks showed us, every one of the House’s 435 members holds the power to change the course of the nation. Buchanan wielding the power of his vote than most. Indeed, he may hold more influence in this moment than through a past year playing by the rules and jumping through the hoops.

Buchanan, like most House Republicans, started the 118th Congress dutifully supporting U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for Speaker. That came after Buchanan raised more money for House Republicans than anyone not already on McCarthy’s leadership team.

But what came of that? McCarthy, in a two-faced move that would prove emblematic of his nine-month speakership, denied Buchanan chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. Call it an early entry in a list of promises McCarthy could not or would not keep. The newly minted Speaker instead used his outsized vote on the GOP Steering Committee to hand the most powerful committee gavel to U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, a more junior member of Ways and Means. Buchanan still left that vote with a Health Subcommittee chairmanship and vice chair on Ways and Means, but the grand prize denied.

Still, he remained faithful. When U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton, forced a vote to oust McCarthy, only eight Republicans joined the revolution. Buchanan wasn’t one of them. But he likely shed no tears for the House’s fallen leader when Democrats joined in Gaetz’s coup détat. 

Afterward, Buchanan came out early to endorse Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a close ally Buchanan likely preferred to McCarthy anyway. The process again seemed to work in Buchanan’s favor at first. The Louisiana Republican beat Jordan in a narrow conference vote. But the Freedom Caucus and others wouldn’t accept that outcome.

This may be what happens when we decide losing an election is no reason to concede victory, but that’s a separate column.

A day after Scalise won a conference vote, he withdrew fearful he lacked the votes to succeed on the floor. Jordan won the second conference vote in three days, but with Buchanan joining a whopping 81 Republicans casting protest votes for U.S. Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia. Lawmakers broke for the weekend afraid of taking that mess to the floor.

The cool-headed, it seems, are finally ready to lead a revolution of their own, and Buchanan counterintuitively may hold more sway than ever. He could twist Jordan’s arm to obtain more power in the House if he gives the Freedom Caucus founder a win. Or he could become part of a coalition majority with moderate Democrats and install a different Speaker, be it Scalise or another choice. Whatever happens, count on the new Speaker owing a debt to Buchanan.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA.

Photo courtesy House.gov.: Rep. Vern Buchanan.