Interview: “Be present and engage”: House GOP Chairwoman Lisa McClain on how Republicans can build on 2024’s successes

“If you look at our conference, we have a really diverse conference, and we need to take advantage of that and let those members go to the forefront, whether it be Maria Salazar with the Latin American population, the Cuban Americans down in Florida, we got those sections of voters,” McClain said. “We have to figure out how to take advantage of our diversity in the Republican conference and really build upon that.”

McClain, whose district includes an archetypical swing county, Macomb County, said that Republicans across the country can learn from successes that Michigan Republicans had this cycle. One of the largest shifts came from the state’s Muslim and Arab voters, who for the most part abandoned the Democratic Party.

“I don’t want to oversimplify it, but we just need to continue to be present and engage,” she said. “I think what we did a very good job of, and President Trump did a very good job of, is that he went to those communities, he sat, he listened, he engaged with the Imams or just the everyday people, to figure out what is concerning them. ‘What do you care about?’ What we found, and what I found, is they care about traditional American values. They care about being able to live in freedom. They care about having opportunities. They care about having peace in their homeland.” 

McClain saw similar successes with Republican outreach to working class communities in her state, which is home to much of America’s auto industry. Republicans need to “be present in the district and listen to the constituents, not overlay our beliefs on them, but listen to the constituents in terms of what are their issues?” she said. “We listened to the auto workers — and what they cared about was clearly saving their jobs. They wanted to make sure that they had jobs. They wanted to make sure that they had good paying jobs. They were worried about the EV mandates, etc, etc. We did a lot more listening, as opposed to a lot more telling or speaking.”

If Republicans keep listening to Americans, McClain sees opportunity, not danger, in the 2026 midterms for the GOP across the country. She is hopeful that her new role will increase Michigan’s influence throughout the House Republican conference, she said. McClain wants Rep. Jack Bergman on the steering committee, and is excited that both Tim Walberg and Bill Huizenga are gunning to chair the Education and Workforce and Financial Services Committees, respectively. 

“Hopefully I will have more influence to help get the Michigan members and members from my delegation what they want,” she said.

Below is a transcript of our interview with Rep. Lisa McClain, lightly edited for clarity.

Washington Reporter:
What made you want to seek this promotion to be the House GOP’s Chair?

Rep. Lisa McClain:
It all happened really quickly. The position became available. I served for the past two years in leadership as the Conference Secretary. I really loved it. I loved the mentorship program. I really like being in the room where decisions are made, setting direction, setting vision, and really being able to have input on policy. If you look at my background from where I came from, I started a company, built it from scratch. I managed a 700-person organization with about $13 billion in assets, so for me, I’m used to being at the leadership table. I’m used to leading. I’m used to being in charge, and this is just a natural progression. I can’t imagine doing anything different. I love to lead. I love to promote the people underneath me, to make them better. It’s just kind of who I am and what I’ve done. 

Washington Reporter:
You were talking about being in the room where things happen — have you seen Hamilton? 

Rep. Lisa McClain:
No.

Washington Reporter:
You were unconsciously channeling being in “the room where it happened.” What’s your vision now that you’re in the number three House GOP job? I understand this is the first time a Michigander has had it since a future president, Gerald R. Ford, held this role.

Rep. Lisa McClain:
Is that not crazy? I’m excited about it for my district and my state. I’m excited about the influence that we’ll have, whether it be having influence on policy, but more importantly, for my district, for my state, to be able to have influence, for example, on the steering committee. Hopefully we can get Jack Bergman as our steering committee representative, and we can have two committee chairmen in Tim Walberg and Bill Huizenga going for Ed and Workforce and for Financial Services. Hopefully I will have more influence to help get the Michigan members and members from my delegation what they want. That is true for me. That’s what’s fun: helping get people what they want, putting the right people on the right bus at the right time. As it pertains to the conference, what I think was really interesting about this last election was that President Trump was able to reach very unique coalitions that Republicans hadn’t been able to reach in a long time, whether it be Arab Americans, whether it be Latinos, whether it be African Americans. He really overperformed in a lot of those areas. If you look at our conference, we have a really diverse conference, and we need to take advantage of that and let those members go to the forefront, whether it be Maria Salazar with the Latin American population, the Cuban Americans down in Florida, we got those sections of voters. We need to now make sure that one we keep them, and two, to make sure we grow and expand so we can’t forget about them. Whether it’s women — look at the women we’ve got. We have to figure out how to take advantage of our diversity in the Republican conference and really build upon that. That’s what I think is super exciting about what I’m going to do with messaging. We have so many people in the conference with areas of expertise that is unbelievable. We need to highlight those members, because it’s kind of like having a football team, since we’re in football season. You have the offensive line coach, the defensive line coach, but they all have their areas of specialty. We need to begin to use these people and highlight them to help deliver the message that the American people gave to us. So that’s what I’m excited about.

Washington Reporter:
Which of those football coaching positions would be your preferred place on the field?

Rep. Lisa McClain:
I like to be the head coach. Right now that’s Speaker Mike Johnson, so I am going to follow his lead with the big guy, Donald Trump, at the top.

Washington Reporter:
Do you think the Lions have what it takes to win it all? 

Rep. Lisa McClain:
Absolutely. Are you kidding me? I’m a believer.

Washington Reporter:
You have represented Macomb County for years. This is one of the archetypical counties that Republicans need to be keeping in their column to win. What lessons have you learned that are worth sharing with your colleagues and with prospective House candidates for 2026 about how to keep counties like that voting for Republicans?

Rep. Lisa McClain:
I think the biggest thing we have to do is be present in the district and listen to the constituents, not overlay our beliefs on them, but listen to the constituents in terms of what are their issues? So let’s take a look at the auto workers. Trump overperformed with the auto workers, and it’s because I think we sat and we talked and we listened to the auto workers — and what they cared about was clearly saving their jobs. They wanted to make sure that they had jobs. They wanted to make sure that they had good paying jobs. They were worried about the EV mandates, etc, etc. We did a lot more listening, as opposed to a lot more telling or speaking. I think that’s what helped us. We also got people excited to turn out. So if you look at the difference in turnout from 2016 to 2020 to now, the turnout now looked a lot like the turnout in 2016, even better, whereas the turnout in 2020 dipped a little bit because people weren’t motivated necessarily to come out and vote. So the advice that I have is just to be present and do a lot more listening and a little less talking. My mom always told me, ‘God gave you two ears and one mouth, use them accordingly.’ That adage does work. 

Washington Reporter:
One of the things that also happened in Michigan was that Arab and Muslim voters didn’t necessarily vote for Republicans in droves, but they abandoned the Democratic Party in historic numbers. What do you think should be done with those groups of people to either keep them from voting for Democrats, but also potentially get them on board with Republicans whose views on Israel do not necessarily align with theirs?

Rep. Lisa McClain:
I don’t want to oversimplify it, but we just need to continue to be present and engage. I think what we did a very good job of, and President Trump did a very good job of, is that he went to those communities, he sat, he listened, he engaged with the Imams or just the everyday people, to figure out what is concerning them. ‘What do you care about?’ What we found, and what I found, is they care about traditional American values. They care about being able to live in freedom. They care about having opportunities. They care about having peace in their homeland. Those were the things that were very important to them. But the biggest thing that I think we did differently in this cycle than ever before, was we actually engaged in those communities, and we didn’t, to your point, get them all to vote our way, but we got a heck of a lot more of them to vote our way because we engaged. And I think if we build upon that engagement, it’s only going to help us. 

Washington Reporter:
Trump flipped Michigan back. Mike Rogers did better than any statewide Republican in quite a long time. What lessons are you looking for for the 2026 Senate and governor’s race?

Rep. Lisa McClain:
We’re two years out, and I think we have to start preparing right now. I think where the Democrats lost their way in this election was that they didn’t have the right message. They weren’t on point with the message. We need to be on point with our message, and we need to start right now, comparing and contrasting what our message is versus what the Democrats’ message is. We can talk about what has been done or we can show action as to what has been done. That’s what helped President Trump win, and not only win, but overperform. That’s what we need to start now. Michigan lost a congressional seat in the redistricting because people don’t want to be in Michigan because of the tax structure. It doesn’t make it doesn’t make economical sense for them to stay in Michigan, so they leave Michigan and go to other desirable states. We need to correct that course of action, and we should start talking about that correction right now. Michigan needs to be on a path of growth, and we have to provide vision for that path of growth, whether that’s less regulation, whether that’s more incentives for businesses, we need to begin to incentivize American businesses, as opposed to foreign businesses. And what I mean by that is we don’t need to be giving tax incentives to a Gotion plant, which is a Chinese-owned company. We need to be giving tax incentives, if we’re we’re going to be giving tax incentives at all, to American companies.

Washington Reporter:
Looking ahead to two years from now, what are you most looking forward to having accomplished in this new role as House GOP chair?

Rep. Lisa McClain:
Continue to promote traditional Republican, conservative, American values. And I’ll say it again. Everyone is thinking, ‘oh my gosh, the midterms are gonna be tough.’ The midterms are gonna be tough. I want to see us do such a good job that we not only keep our majority, but we grow our majority in the House and in the Senate. We have an opportunity to win, to flip Michigan red with the governor’s race. I know that’s a tall order, but I think we can do it. I think we have the right message. I think we have the right game plan, and all we need to do is get to work and start working right now, getting our message out and communicating with our constituents. 

Washington Reporter:
Congresswoman, thanks so much for your time.