Since his first day in office, President Donald Trump has swiftly delivered on many campaign promises. He has issued executive orders to end the foreign invasion at our southern border, eliminate racist DEI rules, and appointed Elon Musk to help root out waste and abuse in our federal government.
These are strong conservative reforms worth celebrating. However, Washington, D.C., isn’t the only swamp that needs draining. There are 50 swamps in the 50 state capitols, and they are spiraling out of control. Recent events have made this clear, and their actions should alarm all of us.
The most blatant example is in Texas. Despite Republicans controlling the Texas State House, RINO Republicans sided with Democrats to install a liberal Republican as Speaker. The rules package they recently passed empowers Democrats and was designed to block conservative reforms.
In Florida, liberal Republicans like State House Speaker Daniel Perez are deliberately opposing strong immigration enforcement reforms proposed by Governor Ron DeSantis. They are attempting to strip DeSantis of his authority to arrest and deport illegal aliens and instead transfer it to the liberal Republican Commissioner of Agriculture, who has previously supported driver’s licenses and in-state tuition for illegal aliens.
These moves are audacious, but they pale in comparison to the actions of Georgia House Speaker Rep. Jon Burns. He recently had State Sen. Colton Moore arrested for attempting to attend the State of the State address. Moore’s “crime?” Speaking out against the corruption of a former house speaker who recently passed away. Moore was even physically assaulted by the speaker’s attorney. Meanwhile, Burns is helping Gov. Brian Kemp pass the largest budget in Georgia state history. Imagine that — while Trump is advocating for major spending cuts, the Atlanta “Republican” Swamp is pushing for bigger, more intrusive government.
In South Carolina, liberal Republicans in charge of the State House have empowered Democrats with subcommittee chairmanships and passed rules designed to stifle conservative reforms advocated by the South Carolina Freedom Caucus. Previously, the Columbia Swamp even kicked the SC Freedom Caucus out of the House GOP Caucus simply for publicly pushing strong conservative policies.
Swampy Republican leadership exists in blue states as well. In Illinois, Republican Minority Leader Rep. Tony McCombie stripped financial resources from the Illinois Freedom Caucus because they pushed for conservative reforms that interfered with her ability to collect scraps from the Democrat supermajority. As a “Republican,” she supported green energy bills, voted to give illegal immigrants free legal counsel, and took money from the teachers’ union.
These are just a few examples of Republicans ignoring Trump’s mandate to stop government weaponization. Even worse, voters have made their opposition to these swampy tactics clear — not just at the federal level, but in state elections as well. Dozens of first-time candidates won state office by advocating for conservative reforms like school choice, lower taxes, and the rejection of woke policies. Even better, entrenched Republican incumbents were defeated as voters saw them for who they really were: liberal Democrats masquerading as Republicans. In South Dakota, 14 liberal Republicans lost their seats, largely due to their support for a special interest pipeline project that abused eminent domain to seize private property.
That’s good news. But the GREAT news is that hundreds of strong conservative state lawmakers are fighting the Swamp every day. Thirteen state freedom caucuses are active in state capitols, waging public battles against establishment forces. In states without freedom caucuses, individual lawmakers are taking on the Goliath-like establishment alone. Men like Texas State Reps. Brian Harrison and Nate Schatzline have called out the corrupt liberal Texas Speaker, Dustin Burrows, and his allies. Florida State Rep. Mike Caruso was the lone House Republican to side with DeSantis against the Tallahassee Swamp’s amnesty bill.
We are at a critical moment in our nation’s history. President Trump has four years to push through sweeping reforms to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. But voters must remain vigilant against the 50 state-level swamps. Conservative lawmakers are on the front lines, doing the heavy lifting, but they need our support and defense. The fight is far from over.
Andrew Roth is the president of the State Freedom Caucus Network.
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