A squad of their own

This year, North Carolina sent five new representatives to Congress—all Republicans, and the largest number of freshmen lawmakers from any state. Of the eight House seats that Republicans flipped nationwide in the 2024 election, three of them came from the Tar Heel state. This important group is learning together and sticking together in their priorities—similar to a well-known “Squad” of four freshman Democratic women that bonded over their arrival on Capitol Hill in 2019 but without a catchy nickname.

“I think a lot of people identify with the problem of coming into a big place and looking around and not really feeling at home,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y. and a member of the Squad, told WORLD. “You kind of find a few people that you can experience life [in Congress] with together. I think that experience lasts a while. Everyone kind of approaches this work differently.”

Not all freshmen circles become as famous as the Squad. But who new members choose to build relationships with can say a lot about how they will try to advance their priorities.

In the case of the new Republicans out of North Carolina, all five members have declined to answer whether they would be willing to join the group that so often sets the tone for the Republican side of the aisle: the Freedom Caucus.

“Probably not,” Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., said when asked about the possibility. He added that he hadn’t officially ruled it out either, though.

The Freedom Caucus has a history of bucking Republican leadership in pursuit of conservative wins. It also advertises itself as the most effective champion of many of the freshmen’s stated priorities.

“We all got the same mandate,” freshman Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., told WORLD. “We want to fix the border; we want to fix the economy. We’re all kind of banding together on that mandate.”

Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., a former pastor and now a freshman congressman, emphasized the elements of that mandate on the campaign trail.

“I think any freshman has a goal of keeping the promises they made on the campaign trail. And I think we were pretty consistent with our message,” Harris said. “Really, [we are] trying to correct course over what we’ve seen over the last four years.”

When asked if joining the Freedom Caucus would help him advance those priorities, Harris said he couldn’t say.

“I’ve certainly known a lot of the folks in the Freedom Caucus for a long time. I don’t like to live in hypotheticals or speculation so I’m not going to presume anything, but I have a great appreciation for the Freedom Caucus all the way back to its early days,” Harris said.

Other members of the North Carolina freshman class had a more definitive response.

“I’m not joining any caucus,” Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., a veteran and business owner, told WORLD. “I am an independent voice. My job here is to take the will of my constituents and to turn that into actionable policy here in Washington, D.C., and I think I can do that best when I’m not tied in one direction or the other.”

Fellow freshman Rep. Tim Moore, R-N.C., a former North Carolina state legislator and attorney, says he’s more focused on building relationships across the board than making affiliations with any particular ideological bent.

“I’m not really interested in that right now, and I’m friends with a lot of the guys who are members of the Freedom Caucus,” Moore said. “I’m very conservative on fiscal policy but I just—I want to try to have broad relationships across the entire conference. I’ve been here a month. I want to focus on the committees … and relief efforts in North Carolina. If I pick a top issue, that’s No. 1.”

If any GOP freshmen want to join the Freedom Caucus, they will have to wait for an invite. The caucus is secretive about its selection process, but Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the group’s chairman and a founding member, told WORLD there isn’t a set timeline for inviting new members.

“It’s only the members who we think have a voting record or will have a voting record consistent with the principles of the Freedom Caucus,” Harris said.

In the meantime, the five freshmen from North Carolina are busy building relationships in Congress and with each other. Mid-interview with Moore in the basement of the Capitol building hallways, Rep. Knott stopped and slapped Moore on the shoulder.

“He got engaged last night!” Knott said.

I began to congratulate Moore as Knott walked away, but Moore hastily explained that wasn’t true.

“He’s getting me back—because he was talking to reporters and [I said], ‘Hey man, have you told people about switching parties to Democrat?” Moore said. “All the freshmen get along really well. We were all thrown in this soup together; everyone is just trying to figure it out. So you develop some pretty good relationships with folks.”