Winners, Losers and Lessons From a Miserable Year in Congress

Congress has become a far better platform for personal brand building than for legislating, and 2023 showed it. While plenty of lawmakers went viral and crossed into the public consciousness, most often it was for dysfunction, corruption, or both.

There were a whopping 19 votes just to name a House speaker and just 27 actual laws signed, many of them routine, like renaming buildings. The biggest legislative victories were bills that did nothing more than avert self-created problems, like potential government shutdowns.

That record sets low expectations for 2024, when Congress will face the same divided government, the same tiny majorities in both chambers, and looming elections that will only add to partisan impulses. Amid the misery, here are our congressional winners and losers from the past year, and the lessons their successes, or failures, point to heading into the New Year.:

Winners

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — When you go from virtual unknown to third-ranking position in American government, you’ve had a good year. Johnson has an unenviable job, but his elevation has put a hard-right conservative into a significant position of power, and raised the profile of a Louisianian that few people, even on Capitol Hill, knew before September.
Lesson: The Donald Trump wing of the party remains ascendant, after Johnson succeeded where several more-established GOP leaders failed.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) — She was the only member of House GOP leadership who didn’t try to become speaker after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, which means she’s also the only one who didn’t get embarrassed by being rejected. Stefanik later scored one of the most viral moments of the year with sharp questioning about antisemitism on college campuses. The scene ended the tenure of the president of the University of Pennsylvania, and gave Stefanik a big moment in the spotlight.
Lesson: In the social media era, you don’t need the biggest title to have influence.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — The House minority leader is usually the least powerful major figure in Congress, but in his first year in charge, Jeffries has had unusual clout. As House Republicans balked at compromise, GOP leaders were forced to rely on Democratic votes for must-pass bills, like the debt ceiling compromise and two spending bills to avert government shutdowns. Despite his party’s many factions, Jeffries has largely maintained unity, a positive sign for him after he replaced former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The cherry on top: A state Supreme Court ruling that threw out New York’s congressional maps has potentially eased Jeffries’ path toward becoming the country’s first Black speaker.
Lesson: Democrats will continue wielding some power in the House, despite being in the minority.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — If the point of Matt Gaetz is to draw attention to Matt Gaetz, this year was a resounding success. His opposition to McCarthy’s fist run for speaker was just a prelude to an even bigger moment, when he led the first vote in the history of Congress to formally unseat a speaker. Gaetz drew national attention and the ire of many of his fellow Republicans. He’d probably consider that a win-win.
Lesson: Consider this the prime example of brand building trumping all.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) — The freshman had about as rough a start as you could imagine: still healing from a stroke, he often struggled to articulate himself and fell into major depression. But by year-end Fetterman was back to himself, crackling with sarcasm, jousting with Republicans, and regularly going viral. (“F— that” he tweeted when one Republican proposed splitting up aid to Israel and Ukraine). He’s an unusual presence in Congress, but hanging around the Capitol grounds now in his signature hoodie, he looks and sounds again like an everyday dude who happens to have a fancy job, which is how he likes it.
Lesson: Democrats can do trolling, combative, and personality-driven politics too.

Losers

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — What if you get your dream job, but get fired after nine months? McCarthy had to grovel through 15 rounds of voting to become speaker, then had to calibrate his every move against the demands of the House Freedom Caucus. He went from speaker of the House to out of Congress in less than a year.
Lesson: Leadership isn’t what it once was, especially in a GOP fueled by Trump-ian disruption.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) — He’s one of the only major players in the House speaker fight who emerged with his dignity intact. McHenry guided the chamber during the chaotic three-week stretch without an elected leader and showed Frodo-like resolve in resisting calls to grab power himself. He also helped put together the bipartisan deal that averted a catastrophic default on the country’s debt. So maybe it’s harsh to put him in this column, but for all he did, McHenry is still out. Facing term limits as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, he won’t seek reelection.
Lesson: The inverse example proves our premise: legislating and governance isn’t enough to ensure your continued influence in Congress.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and GOP Institutionalists — The traditional wing of the GOP keeps fading. After McCarthy got booted other GOP leaders in line to succeed him were blocked. Romney, once a presidential nominee, was hounded out of the party. And the decades-long leadership of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears to be nearing its end amid health concerns. His push to send more money to Ukraine embodies the GOP’s traditional emphasis on international power, especially when it comes to facing Russia, but resistance from other Republicans shows how much things have changed.
Lesson: See McCarthy above.

Johnson — He has the hardest job in Congress. He’s spent his time wrangling with a tiny minority in which unity and teamwork are in short supply, and his margin is getting even smaller in 2024 after McCarthy resigned and Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was expelled. House hardliners are already hounding him over two compromise bills he’s put forward, and he’ll have to either forge another bipartisan deal by Jan. 19 or embrace a partial government shutdown.
Lesson: Leading the House GOP might be the worst job in Washington.

GOP Hardliners — Yes, they scored a big win in the speaker fight. But what have they gained on policy? The hard right has shaped numerous GOP bills in the House, but the legislation has been so one-sided it’s all DOA in the Senate. When more mainstream, but still conservative, bills have come up, the Freedom Caucus has tanked them, undercutting their own party leaders. The result was that more moderate, bipartisan policies approved by the Senate were the ones that actually got enacted.
Lesson: For some lawmakers, the fight is more important than the outcome.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) — A longtime leader on immigration and foreign affairs, Menendez was sidelined as fellow senators negotiated a deal centered on both of those topics. A federal indictment full of damning details, including gold bars found in his home, will do that. Menendez escaped one indictment after a mistrial in 2017, but this time his political support has collapsed and New Jersey’s political king-makers are already looking past the longtime Garden State powerhouse.
Lesson: Gold bars are a bad look.

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) — Needs no explanation.
Lesson: Sometimes, it’s still better not to draw attention.