“When you start losing Mississippi and Maine simultaneously, then you clearly have lost popular sentiment… If the Democrats can discipline themselves to listen to the American people, they could create a new majority that could govern for quite a long time.”
— Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), quoted by the New York Times.
“President Donald Trump left open the potential of using U.S. military force against Cuba before he leaves office, saying that he wants to ‘get Cuba done before I leave,'” the Washington Sun reports.
Said Trump: “I would like to be able to do it.”
“The Black share of the electorate in Georgia rose to its highest level in more than a decade, with the turnout rate among young Black voters outpacing that of young white voters. Both trends contributed to a heavy leftward shift in the state this year,” the New York Times reports.
“Democrats had a historically good election night in Georgia. Senator Jon Ossoff won re-election by 18 percentage points, which was the largest margin of victory for a statewide Democrat in more than two decades. Down the ballot, the party romped to victory, flipping the state house and every statewide office. That included the governorship, with Keisha Lance Bottoms elected the first Black governor in Georgia’s history.”
“Tech titan Jensen Huang’s head rolled this morning. He may be dragging Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick down with him,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The scandal around the former Nvidia CEO has lawmakers demanding Lutnick answer some tough questions about his handling of Chinese companies’ access to American AI technology.”
“It’s not just Democrats either. Several Republicans said Thursday they want Lutnick to come to Congress to testify, and the White House is actively discussing whether the Commerce secretary should be pushed out.”
Reuters: White House discussing Howard Lutnick’s future as commerce secretary, sources say.
“Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, is weighing a run for president in 2028,” MS NOW reports.
“But his party’s sweeping victories in last week’s midterm elections have pushed back his timeline for a decision.”
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“Paul LePage, a bombastic former governor of Maine who once described himself as ‘Donald Trump before Donald Trump,’ has defeated his progressive challenger,” the New York Times reports.
“He becomes the rare Republican in the midterms to flip a Democratic seat that hadn’t been redrawn.”
Bloomberg: “It was another abrupt U-turn for Trump, who had also threatened to launch new strikes if no deal was reached. But widespread Republican losses in last week’s midterm elections underscored how unpopular the conflict was with regular Americans.”
“That’s forced Trump into an uncomfortable position between two choices: either ramp up strikes again or hold off on more attacks and double down on an economic squeeze of Iran in the hopes of future concessions. Now he’s weighing a third approach — downplaying hopes of a comprehensive diplomatic solution and instead accepting a stalemate.”
“Newly minted NRSC Chair Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is stacking a team to claw back Senate seats for Republicans in 2028,” Axios reports.
“Moreno has the unenviable job of chipping away at a healthy Democratic majority in just two years, with an unhelpful map, an unpopular war and an unpredictable boss in the White House.”
“Moreno is bringing in top GOP brass to assess what went wrong in 2026, reassure top donors and map out a 2028 comeback.”
“A top Democrat is cracking open the door to implementing committee leadership term limits next Congress as lawmakers start to circulate proposals,” Semafor reports.
Said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA): “I have to look at exactly what it is, but I think that some change might be helpful.”
She added: “Talent isn’t always just about one person in one position. It’s about using the diversity of the caucus. So I hope we can do things so that people can play a lot of roles to help get things done.”
“Democrats greeted Rep. Jim Jordan’s election this week to become the next leader of the House Republican conference as evidence that the GOP is doubling down on its most extreme flank even after sweeping midterm losses,” the Washington Sun reports.
“House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is likely to become the next speaker of the House, told reporters it ‘remains to be seen’ whether he can work with Jordan next year.”
Said Jeffries: “I know Jim from my days on the Judiciary Committee, and he’s going to have to chart out where he moves forward.”
“The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a multibillion-dollar bill that would fully fund a key retirement benefit for combat-injured veterans with disabilities, but the measure’s fate in Congress was uncertain amid a dispute over how to pay for it,” the New York Times reports.
“Republican leaders moved to sidestep the disagreement on Wednesday by speeding through a competing measure before Democrats had a chance to try to defeat it. That bill, the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act, addresses the retirement pay change and a wide range of veterans programs, all financed by future cuts in benefits for sleep apnea and tinnitus, two conditions that often afflict combat veterans.”
“The narrower version that passed on Thursday, by a lopsided vote of 392 to 18, was forced to the floor by Democrats and would omit those cuts. All Democrats and 181 Republicans backed it.”
“Kansas state Sen. Cindy Holscher (D) was projected to win the state’s gubernatorial race, according to Decision Desk HQ, keeping the office in Democratic hands and denying Republicans one of their best pickup opportunities this year,” The Hill reports.
“Nevada’s incoming Democratic governor wants to negate the Electoral College,” the New Republic reports.
“Aaron Ford said Wednesday that he thinks the state should join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement where member states give their electoral votes in every presidential election to whoever wins the national popular vote.”
Said Ford: “I didn’t initially support it frankly because I hadn’t done enough research on it, but I have researched it and, looking at the Electoral College, understanding the, frankly, racist underpinnings of it in the first place leads me to believe that we need to get rid of it.”
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday there’s a ‘very good chance’ that the U.S. budget deficit under President Donald Trump has likely peaked,” CNBC reports.
Said Bessent: “We are going to be laser focused.”
“Democrats promised quick action next year to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks as they seek to deliver on campaign promises to clean up corruption in Washington,” Bloomberg reports.
“Still, it wasn’t clear whether they would include the president in the stock trading ban, which could provoke opposition from Republican lawmakers or a presidential veto since Donald Trump has actively traded stocks and chafed at restrictions on his financial dealings while in office.”
Said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “We’re cleaning up the mess here in the Congress, with the executive branch, and at the Supreme Court, and that should begin by prohibiting members of Congress from trading stocks.”
“In one important sense, polls got the story of this year’s election right: They showed Democrats winning the House and leading in the race for control of the Senate,” the New York Times reports.
“By another measure, this year’s polls were among the worst in recent memory. When looking across all pollsters, surveys systematically underestimated the support of Democratic candidates, and they did so on a scale that rivaled or even exceeded the heavily criticized misses of 2016 and 2020, when polls underestimated Republicans.”
“Overall, national polls this year underestimated the strength of Democrats by around four percentage points. Across the key Senate races, the polls underestimated Democrats by an even larger five-point miss, compared with an average of about 3.5 points across all Senate races.”
“House Democrats are moving toward allowing members to vote on the floor by proxy again after Republicans ended the Covid-era practice in 2023 — but the free-for-all rules that resulted in scores of members routinely voting remotely are unlikely to return,” Politico reports.
“Instead, members are coalescing around narrower proposals that would allow only new parents or those undergoing medical treatment to have colleagues cast their votes.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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