Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has been elected to serve as vice chair of the Senate GOP conference, the No. 5 position in Republican leadership.
The new role: Capito has been an adviser to the leadership team since 2015. She said Wednesday that she was “excited to expand" her role and that she was committed to listening more "to the men and women across our country raising families and working hard to strengthen America" and to helping "communicate our optimistic vision for the future.”
When she declared her candidacy for the position in March, she said that she viewed the vice chair spot largely as a “communications position,” one which helps bring together a "conference that sometimes has diverse views" and communicating its policy directives "not just to the members but to the country at large.”
Capito led a group of Republican senators in 2021 in proposing a counter to the Democrats' infrastructure plan. The GOP proposal ended up being shelved in favor of one that was crafted by a bipartisan group of senators.
Context: Capito was elected without opposition along with the rest of the new leadership team except GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who prevailed 37-10 over Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
Leadership elections ended up taking place as scheduled on Wednesday despite a push from conservatives to delay them.