In a party of firebrands, Graves sidesteps limelight

WASHINGTON — Rep. Sam Graves doesn’t think “compromise” is a dirty word.

That brands the Missouri Republican as “old school,” a term he frequently uses to describe his legislative style. He strays from the limelight despite his perch as head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which he calls a “work committee, not a show committee.” He prefers closed-door negotiations to public sparring, and he recognizes that you can’t get everything you want.

It also sets him apart from some other members of his party — like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio and even President-elect Donald Trump — who are known for their uncompromising styles.

“It just isn’t the Sam Graves show,” he said in an interview with Roll Call, surrounded by framed photos of vintage airplanes, model trains and traces of his family’s farm back in Missouri. He’s a certified pilot who can fly “just about any plane there is out there,” said a friend, former Republican Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania, who preceded Graves as the top Republican on the Transportation panel.

Hanging on the wall in his committee office is a framed square of paper where, a few months earlier, the House clerk scrawled in pencil “387-26” — the final passage vote for landmark Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization legislation he guided.

“That bill is a good example: I didn’t get everything I wanted, even though I’m chairman of the House Transportation Committee, but I got almost everything that I wanted,” he said. “You can’t get emotionally attached to your legislation to the point of wanting to burn the House down to get what you want.”

Whether he remains chairman is in the hands of his colleagues. The Republican Steering Committee is expected to decide this week whether Graves will retain the role or be replaced by Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., who chairs the Highways and Transit Subcommittee. Last week, the group voted to grant Graves a waiver from term limit rules so he could run for chairman — a vote that bodes well for Graves, Shuster said.

‘Lead by example’

A bipartisan vote on the massive FAA bill is an uncommon feat in the 118th Congress. The past two years have been marked by inflamed intraparty tensions, an ousted House speaker and televised showdowns.

Partly because of the chaos, the FAA bill is among about 100 or so public laws this Congress has passed, according to a Roll Call analysis. The 118th Congress is behind previous sessions in legislative output so far. As of late October, the 118th Congress has enacted 106 laws. At that point in the previous Congress, the running tally was 214.

Graves the legislator compared his work to that of Graves the pilot.

“When you climb in the cockpit, you have to just completely push everything out and concentrate on what you’re doing. It allows me to compartmentalize and just focus on what I want to do,” he said. “I compartmentalize, that’s how you get stuff done.”

Graves and Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member Rick Larsen, D-Wash., both kept their heads down during the particularly tumultuous 2023 congressional year, when former Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted as speaker and the chamber faced government shutdown threats.

Jordan, a Freedom Caucus founder, employs a style that once prompted former Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, to liken Jordan to a “legislative terrorist.”

“If you want a show committee, go down the hall,” became a common refrain in their Rayburn Building committee room.

Down the hall could mean the House Judiciary Committee, a panel chaired by Jordan that took on Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. A little deeper in the Capitol is the Oversight and Accountability Committee, where Greene insulted Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s “fake eyelashes.” Crockett then jabbed at Greene’s “bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body.”

Meanwhile, Graves and Larsen negotiated and passed the House FAA bill in 2023 while the Senate version stalled for the better part of a year. Legislation that the panel has advanced includes two Coast Guard reauthorization bills — one in 2023 and, when the Senate didn’t produce their version, a revised one in 2024, which the House passed in May — and a pipeline safety reauthorization bill. The committee is now working on a bipartisan, bicameral water resources bill.

“We really impressed upon members that if you want to be on TV in D.C., there are committees for that. If you want to be on TV in your district, this is the committee for you,” Larsen said in an interview. “We agreed that we can be an island of partnership in a sea of partisanship. … It never hurts to lead by example.”

Many of Graves’ colleagues and friends agreed that his “all work, no show” mentality sets him apart from others.

“In the 20 years that I’ve known him, he’s never lost it and called me a ‘horse face’ or whatever,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., who represents the district next to Graves’ and has become close with him over the years. “But he’s not a rug either. He’s tough, but he’s always cordial.”

One place they haven’t found common ground: Cleaver insisted he won’t fly with Graves until he replaces his decades-old flight jacket. “Once you see it, you’ll understand,” Cleaver said, adding that he has considered introducing legislation to force Graves to replace it. Graves’ response: “It’s comfy!”

Trump priorities

His willingness to compromise doesn’t mean he’s any less of a Republican.

Graves may not sport a Donald Trump tie to votes like his colleague Troy Nehls, R-Texas, or wear a ‘MAGA’ hat to the State of the Union like Greene, but he said in an interview that he “fully intends to deliver Trump’s priorities” in the upcoming Congress. Behind the scenes, he’s raised millions of dollars for GOP members on the Transportation panel during this Congress, according to a source.

He also holds a consistently fiscally conservative voting record. He voted against the 2021 infrastructure law and 2022 climate law, citing concerns over excessive government spending, and he continues to slam Biden administration policies aimed at spurring a fast transition to electric vehicles.

Trump considered Graves for Transportation secretary, according to multiple sources. Graves’ pitch was that his transportation résumé speaks for itself and if Trump wanted someone to execute his agenda, Graves is the guy, a source said.

Trump instead nominated Fox Business television personality and former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy — a pick that’s in step with many other nominees thus far, such as Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice for Defense secretary.

Graves said he remains committed to executing Trump’s agenda from Capitol Hill.

“In the coming Congress, it’s the President Trump show, and we need to deliver his priorities,” he said. “And that’s what I fully intend to do.”

The White House may still keep Graves close, sources said. Graves’ former chief of staff and staff director, Paul Sass, called Graves an “industry leader” and said he expects the Trump administration to seek his counsel on policy, no matter what role Graves is in.

“When you walk into the room with President Trump, and you walk in the room with Sean Duffy, Sam is the expert,” Shuster said. “I mean, he’s been there, he’s done that. He’s a guy that I think they will listen to. I think Speaker [Mike Johnson] told Trump he couldn’t take another House Republican.”

Sky retreat

Graves said he still flies any chance he can get. He treats it as a retreat from politics and chaos. He would fly to D.C. from his district in northern Missouri if he could, but airspace restrictions force him to land about a two-hour drive from Capitol Hill, he said. He can’t do as many air shows as he’d like since taking over as chairman.

But when the House passed the final version of the FAA bill, sending it to the White House for the president’s signature, Graves said he went home to Missouri and hopped into the cockpit of his 1947 Piper Cub, a small, tandem two-seater airplane that’s simple in design. It’s slow-flying and doesn’t even have a radio, Graves said.

“To just go out in the evening and just fly around the countryside, around the farm and my district, that’s my favorite thing to do,” he said. “That’s what I did, I just went flying.”