Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., may be frontrunner for chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee should Republicans win control of the House in November, but Jason Smith, R-Mo., whose efforts in recent months mark him as a close second and Adrian Smith, R-Neb., trails just behind in a tight race to lead one of Congress’ most powerful committees.
The House Ways and Means Committee has broad authority to draft tax legislation and is one of the few committees whose policies directly impact the municipal market. The committee’s chair has the power to set its legislative agenda and can essentially control which legislation has a chance to pass, making the person in that seat of great importance to the muni market.
Buchanan has been a member of Congress since 2005 and a member of the Ways and Means Committee for over a decade. He ranks as the 67th most bipartisan House member on the Lugar Center’s Bipartisan Index and in 2020, was ranked highest among the 29-member Florida delegation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for his record of bipartisanship and creating jobs.
In this election cycle, Buchanan has received contributions of $3.69 million as of Aug. 3, and led Q2 fundraising efforts by raking in $860,000 between April and June, according to Federal Election Commission data. The donations may serve as a barometer of what donors want or predict in terms of committee assignments.
Jason Smith is an ambitious up and comer, known for his fiery partisan attacks in committee and floor debates. He gave up his bid to take over the retiring Roy Blunt’s, R-Mo., Senate seat to focus his energy on the House. He has been a member of Congress since 2013 and also serves on the House Budget Committee.
Smith has total campaign contributions of $2.1 million as of July 13, his most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission, bringing in $430,000 in Q2.
Buchanan has been handing out lists of his accomplishments to his Republican colleagues in the House since the news of former Rep. Devin Nunes’ retirement in December 2021. Nunes was the second-most senior Republican on the committee after Kevin Brady of Texas, who had already announced he would not seek another term beyond 2022. Smith has been pushing his bid for chairman hard in recent months, as during the Congressional recess in August, Smith traveled to 22 states and 28 Congressional districts to hold fundraisers and events.
Nebraska Rep. Adrian Smith trails just behind Jason Smith in campaign contributions, raising $330,000 in Q2, including $57,500 in a pre-primary filing covering early April and $1.2 million so far in total contributions. He has been a member of Ways and Means for almost 12 years, and is a staunch advocate for farming policy, as his district is one of the largest agricultural districts in the country.
But all three candidates receive other fundraising via their leadership PACs. Still, Buchanan appears to be the frontrunner to succeed Brady should the Republicans take the House in November, receiving high profile donations from Bill Gates, billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, founder and chief executive of Third Point.
As ranking member of the Ways and Means’ Health Subcommittee, the fifth subcommittee he has led since joining Ways and Means, Buchanan has also been the recipient of donations from executives of healthcare and nursing home companies, including a $22,000 from a corporate PAC of Dallas-based Axxess, a home health technology company.
Tax firms are also beginning to bet on Buchanan, who received $30,000 from Ryan LLC, a Dallas-based tax services firm and a donation from the audit and tax group at law firm Grant Thornton.
Other contributors that didn’t give to Jason or Adrian Smith include electric utility trade group Edison Electric Institute, the American Council of Life Insurers, financial firm TIAA, Home Depot and the American Health Care Association, among many others.
But muni advocates often tout their ability to work across the aisle and the retiring Brady, who piloted the Ways and Means to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that eliminated advance refunding, will bring fresh possibilities to the position.
All three candidates are staunch Republicans in favor of President Trump and all strongly opposed President Biden’s Build Back Better bill, which for a time included some muni market priorities. But all of them equally tout their abilities to work across the aisle, one of the muni market’s key taglines.
Emily Brock, director of the federal liaison center at Government Finance Officers Association said that her efforts on Capitol Hill have always been met with a fair amount of Republican support in the House.
Buchanan’s experience leading the Florida Chamber of Commerce before his time as a lawmaker is encouraging, Brock said, and in the few times that GFOA has met with Buchanan, he has expressed familiarity with municipal bonds, which is an important step.
Prior to being elected to Congress in 2006, Adrian Smith also served for eight years as a member of his city council.
But the closest race ahead lies between Jason Smith and Buchanan, who’ve both been very vocal about their bid for chairman. Q3 fundraising figures will tell more about the progress of each of their respective campaigns, but how Republicans fare in the elections across the country will be most important.
“My first priority is to help Republicans win back the U.S. House majority in 2022,” Buchanan said.