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Democrats face uncertainties amid invigorating successes

House Democrats returned to Washington on Monday feeling newly invigorated by their strong performance in the midterm elections, but also facing uncertain terrain on two big fronts: The lower chamber remains too close to call, and the future of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) remains unknown.Pelosi had previously pledged to step out of the top leadership spot at the end of this term — an enormous shake-up that would transform the face of the party, after two decades under Pelosi’s reign, and spark a scramble of younger lawmakers racing to fill the void.

But the Democrats’ stunning showing at the polls last Tuesday has altered the thinking around the Democrats’ leadership roster next year.

Many in the party are now saying the results have put Pelosi in the driver’s seat to keep the top spot — if she wants it.

As of Monday evening, Democrats had already retained the Senate and still had very slim hopes of depriving the GOP of a House majority. It’s the best showing by the president’s party in an initial midterm election since 2002.

A Pelosi bid to remain in power would quickly spark an outcry from some Democratic lawmakers, who are eager for new leadership and stand ready to hold Pelosi to her promised exit. They might have a tough time blocking her, however, particularly if Democrats find themselves in the minority and Pelosi needs only half of her caucus to stay in place.

“A very narrow majority has been ably handled by this Speaker, and continuity is an entirely rational impulse here,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.). “I can understand if members of my caucus aren’t there, but the discipline and the unity that was achieved in the 117th Congress, I think, could be achieved in the 118th Congress.

“Speaker Pelosi’s a known quantity, and so I’m very much open to that.”

Pelosi, for her part, is famously opaque about her plans, and this year is no exception: She has repeatedly declined to play her hand.

The midterm elections arrived just 10 days after her husband, Paul Pelosi, was assaulted in their San Francisco home by a lone intruder who bludgeoned the 82-year-old with a hammer, according to the charges filed by both local and federal law enforcers. And the Speaker has made clear that the attack will influence her decision, even as she’s refused to disclose what it is until the final House results have come in.

“My decision will then be rooted in the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus,” Pelosi said Sunday in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” program.  “But none of it will be very much considered until we see what the outcome of all of this is.”

How long that takes is anyone’s guess.

Republicans are still widely expected to flip control of the lower chamber. As of Monday night, 19 close races were yet to be called, and Republicans had secured only 212 seats — six shy of the number they’ll need to seize the majority. Many of those outstanding races are in Western states, including California, where ballot-counting can sometimes take weeks.

The delayed outcome has put the Democrats’ leadership landscape in a state of limbo, forcing a number of up-and-coming lawmakers to wait, ever more anxiously, for Pelosi to announce her intentions before they declare theirs.

Pelosi’s top two deputies — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Democratic Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) — have both made it clear that they were never a part of Pelosi’s term-limit promise. But they’ve also been careful not to get ahead of the Speaker.

The same outward patience is being demonstrated by the three members of the second tier of Democratic leadership — Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.) — who are primed to run for higher spots at the first opportunity.

Jeffries is widely viewed as the favorite for the top position whenever Pelosi steps aside. But Hoyer, after almost 20 years right behind Pelosi, has his own loyal following. And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a close Pelosi ally and prolific fundraiser, is also reaching out to lawmakers as he considers a bid for that spot, according to several sources.

In the meantime, the attack on Pelosi’s husband appears to have only strengthened her hand within the caucus, as more and more lawmakers say they’re ready to support whatever course she chooses.

“It’s led everybody to say it’s her timetable. And when she sets it, and decides to move, then we’re going to respect that,” Rep. David Trone (D), who won a tight reelection contest in western Maryland last week, told CNN. “We’re going to defer to the Speaker, for all the great work she’s done.”

Amid the debate over Pelosi’s future, reports have emerged suggesting the famously Roman Catholic Speaker is eyeing an exit from Congress in order to pursue an ambassadorship in Italy — an idea soundly rejected by Pelosi’s office on Monday.

“The Speaker has no interest in becoming the U.S. Ambassador to Italy,” spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted. “She intends to continue serving in Congress regardless of her decision about House Democratic leadership.”

For all its tensions, the debate swirling around the Democrats’ leadership future is not nearly as heated as the fight across the aisle, where Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who’s seeking to replace Pelosi if the House changes hands, is facing a revolt from conservatives demanding new House rules next year.

McCarthy’s resistance to those changes is expected to spark a challenge to his leadership bid this week, reportedly from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), former head of the far-right Freedom Caucus, when Republicans huddle for a closed-door vote on Tuesday.  

McCarthy is expected to prevail easily in that contest, which requires support from only half of the GOP conference. But it could be a gauge of whether McCarthy has enough backing to become Speaker in January, when he would need a majority of the full House — 218 votes — to take the gavel.

“Tomorrow is primarily about demonstrating that nobody has 218 votes,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), another Freedom Caucus member, said Monday. “And I suspect that there will be a number of people who will be interested in becoming Speaker once it’s clear after tomorrow that there’s not 218 votes.”

Another wild card in both leadership battles has been former President Trump, who is expected to announce the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday — the same day as the House GOP leadership elections. 

The combination of factors has put most of the focus this week on the Republicans, giving Pelosi a cushion of time to weigh her own leadership decision. Her allies say that can only help her if she does choose to stay.  

“Never underestimate a determined Nancy Pelosi,” said Takano. “People who underestimate her often end up sorry.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Republicans worry Trump’s launch could upend Georgia's Senate race

Former President Trump’s expected announcement tonight of a presidential bid has many Republicans none too happy as they turn their attention to boosting Herschel Walker in next month’s Georgia Senate runoff. 

 Trump has been itching to bust through the gates and make his third presidential bid in as many cycles official. He has an announcement scheduled for 9 p.m. at his Mar-a-Lago resort. 

 But the expected move has baffled Trump allies and other Republicans alike as the political world focuses in on Georgia, where Walker is set to take on Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) on Dec. 6. 

 “No, it doesn’t help,” one GOP strategist with Trump World ties told The Hill. “The 2022 midterms are not over and anything that takes away the ability to fundraise, to get the message out there, to keep the media and the journalists focused on this race, is bad for the Republican Party as a whole.” 

 Jason Miller, a top adviser to the former president, said late last week that Trump should push back his official foray into the 2024 GOP primary, telling Newsmax that “priorities A, B and C need to be about Herschel right now.”  

 “This is bigger than anything else in the country. We’ve got to show the focus is on Georgia,” Miller said.  

 A day later, however, Miller said Trump would indeed move ahead with the campaign reveal and that it will be “a very professional, very buttoned-up announcement.” 

 Miller is not alone in having concerns. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is also said to be considering a presidential bid, on Monday tweeted the GOP should have “one focus” — helping out Walker — and added that he is “all in.”  

 The chatter surrounding Trump’s planned announcement comes with three weeks to go until the Georgia race, in which Walker is a minor underdog against the incumbent Democrat. Warnock topped Walker by 35,000 votes, or about 0.9 percentage points, in last week’s contest but was unable to eclipse the necessary 50 percent marker to avoid a runoff.  

Republicans are still wondering what Trump’s involvement in the race will be, but the former president is almost certain to be a factor. 

Ahead of runoffs in the state in January 2021, Trump held two rallies to support then-Sens. David Perdue (R) and Kelly Loeffler (R) — who went on to lose to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) and Warnock, respectively.  

Some Republicans blamed Trump for the losses, believing his claims of a rigged and stolen presidential election prompted potential GOP voters to stay home. 

Now, as some Republicans in part blame Trump again for the party’s underwhelming showing in the midterm elections, the level of Trump’s involvement could be telling, including whether MAGA Inc., his super PAC, will spend to boost Walker.  

MAGA Inc. spent $3.4 million on ads supporting Walker in the final month of the campaign. By contrast, Trump’s Save America PAC spent $4.4 million on ads targeting Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) ahead of his primary romp this year over Perdue.  

 “That PAC needs to be spending a ton of money to help in Georgia,” the strategist with Trump World ties said. “This race cannot come down to Trump versus Warnock, and the more forward facing he puts himself into the race, the more it becomes Trump vs Warnock or the media rather than Walker vs Warnock or the media. That’s the race we’re trying to win right now. 

 “I haven’t heard of any Republican who wants Trump to step up in a forward-facing way to get involved in the Georgia election,” the strategist added. 

 Adding to the GOP’s issues in the Peach State, the contest will no longer determine control of the Senate, diminishing the stakes — and the incentive for some Republicans to go to the polls. 

Democrats retained the Senate majority over the weekend when Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) defeated former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt (R).  

 Walker also will also be bereft of the benefit of having Kemp on top of the ticket. Kemp defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams last week to win reelection and cleared 50 percent, meaning that Walker will not have the governor’s coattails atop the ticket as he did last week. 

 “Why would it possibly be more favorable for Herschel in the first week of December?” one GOP operative said about the looming runoff. “Warnock has never trailed on a ballot the 3 times voters have been presented with him as a general election candidate for Senate.” 

 Some Republicans argue that Trump sidestepping the Georgia race would be foolhardy, as Walker still needs any and all supporters in the ruby-red rural counties to turn out for him, something Trump can help with. They also say Trump delaying his launch is unrealistic given that lawmakers are calling for leadership elections to be pushed back or conducted on time because of the runoff. 

“I would make an argument that it can be helpful. The Trump factor in this is baked in,” said a second GOP operative with Trump ties. “It’s not like voters are like, ‘Oh I wonder if Herschel Walker and Donald Trump are connected.’ It’s not like you can separate the two, so why not get the benefit of it?” 

 “I don’t think it’s fair for everyone to leverage Georgia for their own political interests and not expect to do the same,” the operative added.

Source: TEST FEED1

GOP future fraught ahead of Trump announcement

Republicans are staring down a looming fight over the future of the GOP as former President Trump prepares to announce a 2024 White House campaign this week.

Trump is poised to charge ahead with the announcement from his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday, despite protests from some Republicans who are still sifting through the aftermath of underwhelming midterm elections that they blame partly on the former president.

That poses something of a conundrum for the GOP, who are aware of the vise-like grip Trump maintains on the conservative base but are also concerned that Trump could prove to be a liability among the broader electorate, which has already rejected him once.

“There’s no doubt that his greatest strength is going to be in the primary,” one Republican strategist said. “The problem is — and the thing I just don’t think he’s come to terms with — is that for a lot of voters, he’s toxic, and that’s part of what you saw in the midterms.”

While Republicans went into Election Day expecting voters to sweep them into the House and Senate majorities, that “red wave” never materialized; Democrats held their narrow Senate majority, and while control of the House hasn’t yet been finalized, the GOP appears likely to win only the narrowest of majorities.

Indeed, many Republicans say that Trump is largely to blame for the party’s lackluster midterm performance. In the nation’s most competitive Senate contests, Trump’s endorsed candidates were struck by disappointing losses. Exit polls showed that the former president is less popular than President Biden, whose approval rating has been underwater for much of the year.

“The midterms basically showed that he wasn’t as strong as people perceived him to be,” said Saul Anuzis, a Republican strategist and former Michigan GOP chair. “The exit polling showed that among independents and moderate Democrats, people turned out to vote against him.”

That Trump’s influence may be waning could prove problematic should he move forward with a campaign announcement on Tuesday. Months ago, it appeared likely that Trump could scare off most potential primary challengers by announcing a campaign of his own, Anuzis said. Now, there may be more of an appetite among GOP luminaries to challenge him.

“I think you have a good 20 other alternative candidates, and I think there are a lot of people who wouldn’t mind moving on,” Anuzis said. “Six months ago I would have said nobody could beat him. Today, I think there’s at least an opening to that.”

One potential challenger is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won reelection last week in a 19-point landslide. While DeSantis hasn’t directly addressed his plans for 2024, he’s refused to rule out a White House bid — a decision that made him the recent target of Trump’s criticism.

John Thomas, a GOP strategist, is planning to move forward with plans to launch a super PAC backing a DeSantis presidential bid. Thomas had put the plans on hold in the months leading up to the midterms.

A number of elected Republicans have also urged the party to take the midterm results as a sign that it’s time to move on from Trump.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who easily won reelection, has repeatedly said it would be politically unwise for Trump to announce a White House bid before Christmas.

Outgoing Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Sunday that Trump had cost the party in the last three election cycles and said it would be “a mistake” to nominate him and see it happen in a fourth.

Virginia Lt. Gov Winsome Earle-Sears (R), who backed Trump in 2020, said she would not do the same in 2024. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), meanwhile, sought to downplay the notion that Trump was the standard-bearer of the modern GOP, ticking off a list of fellow Republicans, including DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), whom he said are key leaders in the party.

“When any party is out of power, as Republicans are now, we don’t have a single leader,” Cotton, who has ruled out a 2024 presidential bid of his own, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The former president is obviously very popular with many of our voters, but we also have important other leaders as well.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s Tuesday announcement will play out against a backdrop of uncertainty among congressional Republicans. The House majority is still undecided, but members like Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) have already issued statements voicing support for Trump should he run in 2024.

In the Senate, Trump loyalists like Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have pushed to delay leadership elections amid calls from Trump and others to remove Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) from his post.

In a bid to show his strength with congressional Republicans, Trump has invited some members down to Florida to attend Tuesday’s announcement, according to a person familiar with the matter, though it was not clear who would be there given House GOP leadership elections are scheduled for the same day.

Even some members of Trump’s orbit are torn on the Tuesday announcement.

Kayleigh McEnany, who served as Trump’s press secretary on his 2020 campaign and in the White House, said last week that Trump should postpone his announcement while Republicans focus on winning a Georgia Senate runoff in early December.

Jason Miller, a longtime aide to Trump, said last week he was advising Trump to delay the announcement. But by the end of the week he was matter-of-factly stating that Trump would hold a “very professional, very buttoned-up announcement” of his candidacy for 2024.

One former Trump campaign adviser said they weren’t sure how many aides with ties to Trump would attend Tuesday’s announcement. Still, the former adviser said the announcement is likely to generate attention for Trump and remind party members that he still carries significant influence over the party.

“It is remarkable this amount of consistent support and stranglehold President Trump has within a Republican primary,” the former adviser said. “He’s got that 30-35 percent that ain’t going anywhere.”

Source: TEST FEED1

What a housing market correction could mean

The U.S. housing market could be heading toward a correction after more than two years of massive price growth that has more recently been offset by the Federal Reserve’s attempt to curb inflation by raising interest rates.The central bank’s effort has led to a sharp rise in mortgage rates, a decline in the number of homes under contract and a record monthly price growth slowdown in September of 2.6 percent. 

A correction would allow buyers to spend more time on the market and possibly have less competition for homes, but experts say the recent price drops may not be enough to offset high mortgage rates combined with historic price increases during the pandemic. 

National housing market corrections are rare, economists told The Hill. Though there is no set definition, the experts said the market is in a correction when changing conditions cause home prices to drop. 

“We are seeing that now as home values at the national level have fallen a bit from their June peak, part of a rebalancing of the housing market as prospective buyers are pulling back because of soaring costs and sellers are reacting by lowering their list price or accepting a lower offer on their home,” Zillow senior economist Jeff Tucker told The Hill in an email. 

“But home values are nowhere near a 10% decline from peak levels nationally,” Tucker said, noting that a correction in the stock market refers to a decline of 10 percent or more from peak levels. 

Average home prices fell by 0.4 percent in September to $358,283 from their June peak at $359,719, according to Zillow data.

Yelena Maleyev, an economist with KPMG Economics, told The Hill in an email that the recent price declines can be viewed in the context of the unusually fast price growth over the last two years.  

“Due to pandemic-related distortions, home prices grew at a historically fast pace over the last few years. This has led to many markets around the country to be considered overvalued,” Maleyev said. 

“According to Moody’s research, over half of the country’s housing markets are overvalued as of the middle of this year. This leaves a lot of room for those markets specifically to see their home prices come back down to Earth,” she added. 

Some of these price declines have been seen in metros where prices soared during the pandemic, and especially those to which remote workers flocked for lower costs of living. 

Data released last week by the National Association of Realtors showed home prices increased in most U.S. metros last quarter. Seven of the top 10 metros experiencing the biggest price gains were in Florida, where the typical price jump was more than 18 percent, and half of the nation’s most expensive markets were in California. 

Nationwide, prices for an existing, median-priced single-family home rose by 8.6 percent from last year to $398,500, despite the current price slowdown.  

Even as buyers are seeing some relief from slight price declines, soaring mortgage rates continue to push homeownership out of reach for many Americans. 

Since the Federal Reserve began its series of aggressive interest rate hikes, mortgage rates have more than doubled. The rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose above 7 percent again last week after falling slightly a week earlier. 

These rates are driving up payments, and recent data shows that average monthly mortgage payments have risen by nearly 50 percent from pre-pandemic levels. 

Average monthly payments have increased by more than $600, bringing the monthly payment on a typical single-family home to $1,840 after a 20 percent down payment. 

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters following the central bank’s latest interest rate hike earlier this month that the agency is aware of the negative impact the Fed’s activity is having on the housing market.

“Housing is significantly affected by these higher rates, which are really back where they were before the global financial crisis. They’re not historically high, but they’re much higher than they’ve been,” Powell said. “We do understand that that’s really where a very big effect of our policies is.” 

High rates also mean that a price correction may not be a major benefit to buyers for two main reasons, Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist for the real estate company Redfin, told The Hill.

“The first is that any drop in home prices so far has yet to fully offset the rise in mortgage rates, leaving homebuyers monthly mortgage payment still much higher than when rates were lower at the start of the year,” Marr said in an email.

“If home values do begin to fall enough to offset the rise in rates, buyers will also be dissuaded from buying a home that is falling in value—no one wants to catch a falling knife and risk being the greater fool,” he added. 

Still there could be a bright spot for buyers even if high mortgage rates counteract some of the positive impacts of price declines. 

“This small price dip isn’t helping buyers break through. The impact of higher mortgage rates far outweighs the impact of slightly lower prices,” Tucker said.

“The silver lining for buyers is the reduced competition rather than anything related to the cost of a home,” Tucker added. “Buyers who can overcome affordability hurdles and remain in the market will have less competition and more time to consider their options, which is a stark change from last year when bidding wars were the norm.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Five questions hanging over Trump's big Tuesday announcement

Former President Trump is seeking to reclaim the political stage with a Tuesday evening event at his Mar-a-Lago resort that he first teased a week ago, before the midterm elections.

The expectation is that Trump will announce a 2024 campaign for the presidency — a quest that, if it succeeds, would make him the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve nonconsecutive terms.

Trump has floated the possibility of another White House bid more or less constantly since leaving office almost two years ago. 

Now the moment is here, and several big questions are about to be answered

Will Trump actually declare his candidacy?

The biggest question is the most obvious — will Trump truly launch a 2024 bid?

Up until results started coming in from last week’s midterms, it sounded like a done deal.

But Trump had a miserable cycle. High-profile endorsees such as Mehmet Oz, Doug Mastriano, Blake Masters and Tudor Dixon all lost. Exit polls showed 58 percent of voters holding an unfavorable impression of Trump, far overtaking the 39 percent who view him favorably.

Trump had once hoped to take advantage of a tailwind of success from the midterms. Instead, the GOP is debating the extent to which he is an electoral millstone around the party’s neck.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) told Fox News last week that Trump had “become a liability.” Longer-standing Trump critics within the GOP such as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have raised their own objections with new vigor. 

Hogan told CNN on Sunday that 2022 represented “basically the third election in a row that Donald Trump has cost us the race.”

The suddenly chilly climate has reportedly led some Trump advisers to advocate for the postponement of a 2024 launch.

And there is a further complication: the Senate runoff in Georgia, set for Dec. 6, between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and former football star Herschel Walker (R), another Trump endorsee. 

The political danger for Trump is that he announces a White House bid, the race in Georgia becomes a proxy judgement on him and his candidate loses.

For all that, it would be highly unusual if the braggadocious Trump backs down from an expected campaign launch.

Do any major networks carry the event live?

Trump still earns plenty of headlines, but, when it comes to rallies and other live events, he has struggled to get the kind of coverage he enjoyed during his presidency and, before that, over the course of his 2016 campaign.

Many cable networks faced criticism back then from liberal-leaning viewers who charged that TV producers had recklessly handed over chunks of airtime to Trump.

More recently, there have been questions about the newsworthiness of meandering Trump rally speeches that do little more than regurgitate his many falsehood-littered grievances.

An announcement of a presidential candidacy would obviously be newsworthy — and it can be expected that some of the further-right, smaller networks will cover it live.

But can Trump still seize the agenda as he used to?

Most networks were disinclined to discuss their coverage plans.

“CNN covers the news,” a CNN source told The Hill. “When a former president announces he is running for president again, it is news. We will cover the news, as appropriate, as we do every day.”

Does he attack other Republicans?

In one sense, Trump has already fired the starting pistol on a 2024 run. 

He did so on the Saturday before Election Day when he called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “DeSanctimonious” at a Pennsylvania rally.

Since then, Trump has also attacked Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) as well as reprising his frequent attacks on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and firing back at internal critics such as Earle-Sears.

The attacks on DeSantis are the most noteworthy. 

After his initial volley, Trump went on to describe DeSantis as an “average REPUBLICAN governor with great Public Relations.” In remarks published by The Wall Street Journal, Trump also threatened, “If he did run, I will tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering.”  

To his supporters, the name-calling and shade-throwing are just the latest iteration of an approach that helped propel Trump to the White House in 2016, even as it appalled the media.

But Trump is no longer attacking from a position of strength. 

DeSantis won reelection in Florida by almost 20 points last Tuesday, a remarkable result in a state that was recently considered a battleground.

And Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe last year in a state President Biden had carried comfortably in 2020.

For many Republicans, figures such as DeSantis and Youngkin represent a brand of conservative politics that should be aped rather than derided.

How defensive is he about the midterm results?

Trump has clearly been hurt by the outcome of the midterms.

That said, he has been written off numerous times before in his political career — dating back to his incendiary announcement speech in June 2015 — and has always come back.

One question for Tuesday night will be the extent to which Trump tries to change the narrative around the midterms.

The former president has already tried this on social media.

“While in certain ways yesterday’s election was somewhat disappointing, from my personal standpoint it was a very big victory — 219 WINS and 16 Losses in the General —Who has ever done better than that?” he asked Wednesday on Truth Social.

It is also possible that Trump simply tries to move past the midterms or asserts that Republican defeats were down to the weakness of individual candidates rather than any missteps of his own.

In an interview with NewsNation broadcast on Election Day, Trump told correspondent Markie Martin, “If they win, I should get all the credit, and if they lose, I should not be blamed at all.”

NewsNation and The Hill are both owned by Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Are there any surprises?

More than seven years on from the launch of his first campaign, predicting Trump’s actions remains a fool’s errand.

There is, as always, the possibility of the former president throwing a curveball.

But, so far, it looks like he is closing in on a campaign launch. 

“Hopefully, tomorrow will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” he wrote on Truth Social on Monday.

Source: TEST FEED1

Liz Cheney trolls Kari Lake for losing Arizona governor's race: 'You're welcome'

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) appeared on Monday to troll Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake after she was projected to lose in her race for governor.

In a tweet on Monday, Cheney quoted a tweet from Lake from late last month that included a letter that mockingly thanked the congresswomen for her “anti-endorsement.” Cheney had weighed in on the race by urging voters to cast a ballot against her fellow Republican.

“You’re welcome, @KariLake,” Cheney said in her tweet Monday. 

In her letter to Cheney, Lake said donations to her campaign had skyrocketed and her website crashed. Lake also noted Cheney’s loss in her own election.

“Thank you again for the huge boost to our campaign! Enjoy your forced retirement from politics,” Lake said in her letter. “I know America will rest easier knowing that one more warmonger is out of office.” 

Cheney, a critic of Trump and one of two Republicans serving on the committee investigating Jan. 6, released an ad last month that targeted Lake and the GOP nominee for secretary of state, Mark Finchem, who have publicly touted Trump’s continued false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. 

Cheney’s tweet came just after Arizona counties reported its latest round of ballots and after several networks called the close race for Hobbs.

Source: TEST FEED1

Pence on if Trump should be president again: ‘I think we’ll have better choices in the future’

Former Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview that aired Monday he believes there are “better choices” when asked if former President Trump should ever be president again.

“Do you believe that Donald Trump should ever be president again?” ABC’s David Muir asked Pence.

“David, I think that’s up to the American people,” Pence responded. “But I think we’ll have better choices in the future.” 

“People in this country actually get along pretty well once you get out of politics,” Pence told Muir. “And I think they want to see their national leader start to reflect that same, that same compassion and generosity of spirit. And I think, so in the days ahead, I think there will be better choices.” 

Trump is widely expected to announce another bid for the White House at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday. 

Pence’s remarks come after he detailed in an op-ed published by The Wall Street Journal that he was upset with Trump about the events of Jan. 6, 2021, noting that his family was with him. A mob of pro-Trump supporters at one point chanted, “Hang Mike Pence” as they stormed Capitol that day.

Pence’s op-ed was adapted from his forthcoming memoir, “So Help Me God,” which is slated to be released Tuesday. 

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has detailed how Trump and his allies pressured Pence not to certify President Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

When it came to running himself in 2024, Pence said it was under consideration.

“Will you run for president in 2024?” Muir asked Pence. 

“We’re giving it consideration in our house,” Pence replied. “Prayerful consideration.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Republicans get closer to House majority, clinching two Arizona districts while Democrats win one in Oregon

Republicans inched closer to a House majority on Monday, claiming two seats in Arizona while Democrats won a hotly-contested race in Oregon.

The Associated Press called Arizona’s 1st Congressional District for Rep. David Schweikert and the state’s 6th District for Juan Ciscomani around 9:25 p.m. The AP called Oregon’s 6th Congressional District for Democrat Andrea Salinas shortly after.

With the two Arizona districts, Republicans control 214 seats while Democrats have 206, leaving Republicans with four more seats before they can declare a majority. About a dozen House races remain to be called.

The Arizona results are sure to be a relief to Republicans and a blow to Democrats’ slim hopes of a surprise victory in the House. Democrats had been eyeing the 1st District in Arizona all week as a pickup opportunity as the race remained tight and they had hoped to keep the newly drawn 6th District, which includes much of what used to be Democratically-held 2nd District, out of GOP hands.

Oregon, on the other hand, saw Democrats claim a newly drawn seat as Salinas, who has served in the Oregon state House since 2017, defeated Republican businessman Mike Erickson. The 6^th District sits southwest of Portland and was created following the 2020 census. 

In Arizona, Schweikert defeated Democrat Javin Hodge to earn his seventh term in the House in a newly drawn 1st District, which includes Scottsdale and parts of Phoenix.

Schweikert, who was first elected to the House in 2010, faced a tougher reelection battle this campaign cycle after his district went from favoring former President Trump by 4 points to one President Biden would have won by 1 point in 2020.

Ciscomani, a former senior adviser to Arizona’s outgoing Republican governor, beat out former Arizona state Rep. Kirsten Engel (D) in the newly drawn 6th District that includes the edges of Tucson and parts of southeastern Arizona. 

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), who did not run for re-election, currently represents most of the new district that was drawn more friendly to Republicans, and Ciscomani had received millions of dollars in funding from the House GOP’s campaign arm and other national Republican groups.

Updated at 10:25 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

Rep. Andy Biggs to challenge McCarthy for Speaker

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) late Monday announced a run for Speaker, challenging House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the Republican conference’s nomination to the post.

“We have a new paradigm here, and I think the country wants a different direction from the House of Representatives. And it’s a new world, and yes, I’m going to be nominated tomorrow to – to the position of Speaker of the House,” Biggs said on Newmax Monday night.

“We’ll see if we can get the job done and the votes,” Biggs said. “It’s going to be tough. I mean, Kevin – Kevin has raised a lot of money and done a lot of things. But this is not just about Kevin. I think it’s about the institutional direction and trajectory.”

The challenge from Biggs, a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, comes as House Republicans’ expectations of a red wave crashed into a ripple in last week’s midterms. Election projections have still not yet called a majority of House seats in Republicans’ favor, but the GOP believe they will end up with a slim majority.

McCarthy needs to win a majority from House GOP members in a secret-ballot election on Tuesday to secure his conference’s nomination for the post. After that, all House members will vote on the floor on the first day of the new Congress in January, where McCarthy would need at least 218 votes to secure the Speakership, assuming all 435 members are sworn in that day.

Biggs did not step up as an alternative to McCarthy at a House GOP leadership candidate forum on Monday afternoon, according to sources in the room.

​​Bigg’s challenge comes as the House Freedom Caucus is pressing GOP leadership to make rules changes that, on the whole, would empower individual members and weaken the power of leadership.

His plan to challenge McCarthy, however, is not supported by all Freedom Caucus members.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned that Republicans in a slim majority face risks if they are not unified behind one candidate, and that a handful of moderate House Republicans could join Democrats to support a compromise Speaker candidate.

“We have to elect Kevin McCarthy,” Greene told reporters Monday. “I can’t support a challenge that will allow the Democrats to – to elect their own speaker by pulling some of ours.”

She added that she is trying to talk to her colleagues who are hesitant about supporting McCarthy to convince them to support the GOP Leader.

In a validation of those fears, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a moderate, told NBC News on Monday that he would theoretically vote with Democrats to support a consensus candidate if McCarthy could not get 218 votes on the floor. But Bacon later stressed to reporters that he thinks McCarthy will get to that number, and that working with Democrats is “not even a realistic scenario.”

There are concerns about who would be the consensus alternative that 218 House Republicans could support on the floor. Freedom Caucus members helped to derail McCarthy’s speakership bid in 2015 after former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) resigned, resulting in Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) becoming Speaker, which was later seen as a disappointment to some Freedom Caucus members.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who previously challenged McCarthy to lead House Republicans, has been brought up by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) (who is not a member of the House Freedom Caucus) as a possible alternative. But Jordan, who is set to chair the House Judiciary Committee in a GOP majority, has repeatedly said that he supports McCarthy for Speaker.

Biggs told reporters last week that McCarthy’s reluctance to bring up impeachment articles made him question whether he should be Speaker. Biggs has introduced impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and joined impeachment resolutions against President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“I think that his statement recently that [we] shouldn’t impeach Secretary Mayorkas indicates maybe we’re not gonna be as aggressive going forward as we should be,” Biggs said last week.

McCarthy has downplayed prospects for bringing up impeachment multiple times, saying that he does not want to use it for “political purposes.”

Biggs also called for more “decentralization” of the conference and a more robust policy and oversight plan. “We need to have a very positive statement of what we’re going to accomplish and do and I haven’t seen that yet,” he said last week.

McCarthy led House Republicans in releasing a “Commitment to America” policy and messaging plan for a House majority in September, but some Freedom Caucus members think that it was not explicit enough about plans for the majority.

Supporters of McCarthy are brushing off Biggs’s bid.

“I’ve got respect for Mr. Biggs. But at the end of the day, Kevin McCarthy is our best strategist. He’s our best fundraiser. He’s our best recruiter. He did more to retake the majority than anybody in the entire conference,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), adding that not giving McCarthy the gavel now “would be an insult.”

Mychael Schnell contributed.

Updated 10:06 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1