Rep. Joe Wilson in Strong Shape to Chair Foreign Affairs Panel

With less than two weeks to go before the House Republican Steering Committee chooses committee chairmen for the 119th Congress, the race to wield the gavel of the Foreign Affairs Committee is down to three lawmakers.

With incumbent Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, “termed out” after three two-year terms, sources with the House GOP Conference say it is unlikely he will get a waiver permitting him to chair Foreign Affairs a fourth time.

So the contest is between Republican Reps. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, Ann Wagner of Missouri, and Darrell Issa of California. All are well liked by fellow conservatives, but recent signs indicate Wilson — 77 and a U.S. representative since 2001 — has the edge in the closing days of a genuinely “insider” campaign.