Rand Paul chooses ranking member slot at Senate HELP

Paul M. Krawzak, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 11, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced Wednesday he plans to serve as the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee when Democrats take control of Congress next year.

The move clears the way for Senate Ethics Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., to use his seniority to ascend to ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Paul currently chairs, and touches off several other shifts at the top of other committees.

It fits in with Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s bid to use her seniority to succeed Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, as top Republican on the Appropriations panel. If Paul did not go to the top spot on HELP, Murkowski, R-Alaska, would be next in line for that committee in the next Congress.

Murkowski is second in seniority on Appropriations to Collins, who was defeated for reelection. But she faces a potential challenge from Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who is next in line behind her.

Paul said in a press release that he plans to bring the same approach to the HELP Committee as he did as chairman of Homeland, where he said he “challenged entrenched bureaucracies, forced federal officials to answer for their actions, and pulled back the curtain on what Washington tried to keep hidden.”

He cited calling Dr. Anthony Fauci before the committee to probe the former federal health official’s role in pandemic-related shutdowns and the origin of the COVID-19 virus, and releasing thousands of pages of pandemic-related documents. The panel voted in August to hold Fauci in criminal contempt of Congress for declining to answer questions about the pandemic during a highly charged hearing.

Paul, an ophthalmologist, said at HELP he will “stand against efforts to put Washington between Americans and their doctors, their children’s schools, and their paychecks.” He predicted “a rush toward socialism unlike anything we have seen” when the Democrat-controlled Congress convenes in January.

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