Character

Representative Broderick

vindictive/retributive partisan strategic/manipulative off-stage but consequential

Broderick functions as an off‑stage House Republican antagonist whose legislative maneuvers force the White House into wrenching choices. Recurring as a sponsor of vindictive riders, he uses procedural leverage—here, a punitive land‑use rider tucked into a banking conference report—to exact political retribution and reshape policy outcomes. Broderick operates through influence rather than on‑screen presence: his actions catalyze staff fury, strategic debate, and moral tradeoffs for Josh, Toby and the President. He thus occupies a stable narrative role as a consequential, adversarial legislator who converts partisan grievance into tangible costs for the administration.

5 appearances

Also known as: Rep. Broderick, Representative Broderick, Broderick (Rep.)

Representative Broderick's Journey

A timeline through the narrative

5 moments

S1E8 · Enemies

Vindictive Rider Upsets Banking Vote — Team Rushes to Bartlet

Not physically present; inferred coldly calculating and instrumentally political.

Representative Broderick is presented off‑stage as the sponsor of a punitive land‑use rider, operating through procedural attachment to the Banking Bill to exact political retribution against the administration and to …

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S1E8 · Enemies

Hostage‑Taking Rider: Veto or Swallow

Calculated and retaliatory — intent on making the administration pay for earlier political defeats.

Off-stage actor whose legislative maneuver (sponsoring and inserting the rider) catalyzes the internal White House conflict; present only as named antagonist and political lever in the conversation.

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S1E8 · Enemies

Hostage to Principle: The Veto Choice

Not present physically; narrative inference: politically pleased to disrupt, calculating the leverage gained.

Off-stage actor whose legislative maneuver (attaching the rider) is the catalyst; his presence is felt as a deliberate provocation shaping the room's moral and strategic debate.

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S1E8 · Enemies

Toby Refuses the Compromise

Not present; represented as adversarial and politically calculating.

Representative Broderick is invoked as the sponsor of the last‑minute rider; he is off‑stage but functions as the proximate antagonist who provoked Toby's anger and the discussion of political tradeoffs.

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S1E8 · Enemies

Josh Refuses to Fold — He Calls Crane Out in the Roosevelt Room

Not present; characterized by staff as adversarial and politically opportunistic — a source of antagonism toward the administration.

Representative Broderick is invoked as the ostensible sponsor of the rider; he is not present but his legislative action is the proximate cause of the crisis being argued over between …

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