Rep. Blake Moore hopes new leadership role will help GOP ‘go out and win the future’

Newly-elected House GOP vice chair Blake Moore prides himself on being an optimist, quick to build bridges and even quicker to get in the weeds on the most pressing policy issues of the day.

With Wednesday’s surprise ascent to one of the top leadership roles in the House Republican Conference, Utah’s 1st Congressional District representative told the Deseret News he has been entrusted with applying those same constituent-serving characteristics to strengthen his party at the national level.

“I look at this role as a way to help other members, oftentimes freshmen or less tenured folks, to communicate what I believe is the Ronald Reagan sort of optimism that exists within conservative principles, to go out and win the future,” said Moore, who is only in his second term.

What will Blake Moore do as vice chair of the House Republican Conference?

Moore said his new role comes in addition to his seat on the coveted ways and means and budgeting committees, and will give him a place at the table with the party’s seven other elected leaders on matters of organizing messaging and selecting the makeup of House committees.

Moore will serve as an assistant to House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, helping her to schedule daily one-minute speeches from conference members, pen op-eds and coordinate their colleague’s communications strategies.

“My job is to be able to help members nail down what message is best for them and their districts and how to go about leveraging the tools that we have to best communicate that message,” Moore said.

This message will often center around kitchen-table issues that affect all Americans, like energy costs, job growth and government oversight, but will need to be applied differently by each Republican lawmaker depending on the needs of their district.

A unique message for the Republican Party

For this reason, Moore said his role isn’t to be a spokesperson for the party but rather to help empower every member to communicate the party’s values effectively.

But Moore hopes his unique approach will have real impact on the party’s trajectory, believing that this is what got him elected to his new leadership position and is what led to his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the first place.

When Moore first ran for Congress in 2020, his platform was distilled to “being an optimistic conservative voice for the next generation.”

“The next generation and younger Americans need to really have someone in the conservative movement to look up to,” Moore said. “And we feel like we have had some success with that. And I want to share more of that with the conference.”

After months of Republican infighting around budget issues and the speaker’s gavel, and following a sobering performance in off-year elections, Moore said a focus on substance — “reality over rhetoric” — in its messaging will communicate to the American people that the Republican Party is a party of serious solutions.

A first for Utah

In addition to Moore being the first-ever Utah Republican on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax legislation, the second-term congressman now appears to be the first Utah representative to ever serve on the party’s House leadership team.

“We’ve always been heavy on good committee work,” Moore said, referring to former Rep. Chris Stewart’s position on the appropriations committee and Rep. John Curtis’ position on energy and commerce. “This is a chance to sort of influence things through a leadership perspective, too, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Despite the increased prominence given to Moore’s new role after his predecessor became speaker of the House, Moore said he doesn’t see the position as a launching pad for future ambitions in party leadership. Instead, he views it is an opportunity to expand his impact for Utah and for the country.

“I just want to do a good job at this particular role and I’m not worried about what comes after it,” Moore said.

However, Moore admitted his penchant for forming “authentic” relationships with his colleagues from across the ideological spectrum has been key to his success and will hopefully lead to a stronger Republican Party.

“And I think that my colleagues recognize that and to some degree rewarded that with electing me in this role and giving me a chance to showcase what my team and I can do,” Moore said.