Almost 900 miles from the U.S. Capitol, Republican members of the House are settling into a series of ballrooms in Central Florida.


What You Need To Know

  • Members of GOP's leadership are meeting at a retreat in ChampionsGate to talk strategy 

  • They're focused on the 2022 midterms and how to win back control of half of Congress

  • Both parties point to the upcoming added Congressional district for Florida as a win

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney are among those leading a three-day retreat at ChampionsGate, an Orlando attractions-area resort community in Osceola County — well away from the Beltway bubble. 

The House GOP’s focus is the 2022 midterm elections, and how to win back a majority — and control — of half of Congress.

The climb of control is steeper for Republicans in the Senate, but they have just a five-seat minority in the House, which will be dramatically altered thanks in part to Monday's release of the latest U.S. Census Bureau's population count. Because of Florida's growing population, the Sunshine State is poised to gain a U.S. Congressional district.

“I think you’re going to see (New York) Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo and President Biden continue to be Florida’s greatest real estate agent,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Florida, whose 6th Congressional district includes Flagler and Volusia counties and parts of Lake and St. Johns counties. “Look at the states losing congressional seats and losing population, New York, Maryland, Illinois — a lot of, frankly, liberal-run and left run states. People are voting with their feet.”

It will be up to state legislatures to draw the lines to define exactly where their new and former congressional districts will place. 

While Republicans see the once-a-decade census results as a positive, so do Democrats.

One anticipated location for Florida’s new Congressional district is in the Lake County region. 

“We are improving the lives of millions of Americans, and a lot of the population growth is in Democratic areas,” said U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, whose 9th Congressional district includes all of Osceola and parts of Orange and Polk counties. “You can try to gerrymander all you want, but the seats have to go where the growth is. You can’t put seats where no one is. It’s defined by people. So I think a lot of it is up in the air, whether it’s blue states picking up seats in the South.”

The Census count is giving added optimism to Republicans, holding their annual retreat in Central Florida. It’s a break from the D.C.-area host site. 

The focus for Republicans is getting members all on the same page and pegging the issues and policies the party thinks will most translate to people and ultimately votes. 

“We really think we have a great shot at taking the majority back in 2022, and charting out what we plan to do the day after is incredibly important,” Waltz said. “Right now, we’re faced with a situation with this administration that talked a great game about bipartisanship, but what we’re seeing are ultra-left and progressive bills and priorities.”

Republicans say they want to reign in what they call "splurge-like" spending by Democrats.

But Democrats in the House are looking to hold firm, saying they and the Biden administration are on the right track. 

“Congress continues to be functional which it hasn’t been in a while," Soto said. "We’re delivering on vaccines, we’re delivering on relief, we’re passing a major infrastructure package, we’re bringing our troops home from Afghanistan. That’s going to be a tough record to attack."