This is one in a series of editorials celebrating The Hill's 30th anniversary.
When I took the job for The Hill covering House Republicans in the summer of 2014, I knew things were going to get interesting. But I could not have predicted how wild the next seven years would be.
Tea Party waves have swept away many fiscally conservative rebels into office during the past two election cycles. People like Rep. Mark Meadows (RN.C.), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (RS.C.), and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) are trying to make a name for themselves against the establishment. These are ambitious people.
The following January, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and a handful of other conservative bomb-throwers would form the House Freedom Caucus, a new group that would change Republican politics on Capitol Hill. If these disparate rebel groups unite and vote as a bloc, they realize they have the power to shape policy, or at least make life miserable for their leaders. I noticed.
A series of surprising events soon followed. The wily and press-friendly Meadows made bombshell statements and filed charges. Resolution of motion to leave expel Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio); Mr. Beyner, a devout Catholic, said the morning after hosting Pope Francis at the Capitol that he would resign rather than plunge the House into chaos in a protracted floor fight over the gavel.
Then came an even bigger surprise. Instead of pushing for an election to replace Mr. Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told his colleagues just before the vote that he was not qualified for the job at this time and was withdrawing from the race. .
Then-Congressman Ryan Costello (R-Pennsylvania) came out and broke the news to reporters: “McCarthy is out.” “Would you like to say that again?” I answered to make sure I heard him correctly. McCarthy was absent, he reiterated. The House of Commons was once again thrown into chaos.
I immediately called the editor-in-chief, Ian Swanson, and told him what I had just learned. His headline aptly captured the moment. “Shocking! Mr. McCarthy withdraws his House bid.”
Mr. McCarthy's feud with the Freedom Caucus in 2015 presaged an epic showdown with House Freedom Caucus leaders and other far-right agitators in this Congress, and ultimately led to Mr. This led to his own ouster from the chairmanship.
In the meantime, we saw Donald Trump win the presidency and crush the Republicans on Capitol Hill. In 2017, Washington was rocked by the Capitol Baseball shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, which nearly claimed the life of then-Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana). President Trump was also impeached over allegations that he withheld military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden.
For years, I sat next to my Hill colleague and friend Mike Lillis in a windowless media space in the basement of the Capitol that I affectionately called “the cave.” In 2020, we looked back at the range of major stories we covered on The Hill. These included an attempted coup against the sitting speaker, a horrific assassination attempt, the impeachment of the president, and Congress' efforts to respond to a deadly global pandemic.
We told each other that there would be no surprises after such a thing. we were wrong. On January 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to stop lawmakers from certifying Biden's victory.
Although the battle took place on the upper floors, Lilith and I also witnessed horrific events in the basement of the building. We watched as Capitol Police officers dragged the limp bodies of their colleagues to safety, much like scenes from a war zone. Another officer was pelted with bear and pepper spray and had water thrown in his eyes.
The police backed up and were yelling at us to run too. That afternoon and evening, we crouched in the cave for hours while other colleagues took shelter in other parts of the complex or covered the riot outside the Capitol.
We then recorded our experiences of the day on The Hill and in the historical record.
These stories are just some of the magazine's stellar coverage of Washington over three decades. But I want to thank The Hill, and editor Bob, for giving me a front row seat to history and allowing me to share with readers some of the most important political stories of our lifetimes. Thanks to Cusack and Ian Swanson.
Scott Wong is a senior Congressional reporter at NBC News. Mr. Wong served as a senior staff writer for The Hill from August 2014 to January 2022.
