“The celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz is preparing to jump into the Pennsylvania Senate race on the Republican side, a move that would shake up contested primary and general election contests,” the Free Beacon reports.
“The 61-year-old Oz has begun hiring a staff and reaching out to potential allies.”
Punchbowl News: “Before the Friday night vote, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy met with a number of Republicans who were potential ‘yes’ votes for the infrastructure bill in Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s office. McCarthy pleaded with the group to hold back their votes until Democrats crossed the 218-vote threshold for passing the bill on their own. Leadership believed everyone was in agreement on the plan, GOP sources said.”
“Rep. John Katko (R-NY) then saw this clip on TV in which Scalise and Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) dumped all over the $1 trillion-plus measure.”
“Katko was furious about this clip, sources told us, and voted early for the infrastructure bill on the House floor, ignoring McCarthy’s entreaties. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) did the same. By then, it was clear that the Democrats were going to win. But the whole incident demonstrates once again how tense the mood is in the House these days — in both parties.”
Washington Post: The GOP floats punishing 13 of its members. Their sin? Giving Biden a win.
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) is soliciting donations for an “exploratory” bid for Texas attorney general, the Texas Tribune reports.
From the site: “We need a Texas Attorney General whose top attorneys working for him have not found it necessary to send a letter to the FBI urging an investigation into corruption of their boss.”
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is calling for a series of investigations into Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) after the Arizona Republican took to Twitter this week to advertise violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and President Biden,” The Hill reports.
Said Pelosi: “Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated.”
Former Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), a Republican candidate for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022, has taken numerous calls urging him to shift gears and try instead to return to the U.S. House, the Carolina Journal reports.
“President Joe Biden is planning to host an in-person meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, the first of its kind in more than five years,” Reuters reports.
A new report released today finds that the “proportion of electricity the United States gets from solar and wind nearly quadrupled between 2011 and 2020,” the Washington Post reports.
“The analysis also found that if the current growth rate continues, wind, solar and geothermal would meet current electricity demand levels by 2035 — which is when President Biden aims to have an entirely fossil-fuel-free grid.”
Sara Goddard: A fossil fuel industry under fire. Will it last?
“Legislators in Annapolis are expected to unveil drafts of a new congressional map this week, offering potential blueprints for the state’s eight House seats for the next decade,” Politico reports.
“And while there are certainly enough Democratic voters in the state to make all of them blue, it’s not clear how aggressive mapmakers will ultimately be in targeting GOP Rep. Andy Harris.”
After Gov. Chris Sununu (R) announced he will pass on the U.S. Senate race, WMUR reports that former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) “will not run for any office in 2022.”
“At least 13 senior Trump administration officials illegally mixed governing with campaigning before the 2020 election, intentionally ignoring a law that prohibits merging the two and getting approval to break it,” the Washington Post reports.
But here’s the huge caveat: “No punishment is expected to be assessed because, by most legal interpretations, the president in office at the time is the only person who can take action to fire or reprimand his political appointees when they act illegally.”
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram settles on the correct pronunciation of Beto O’Rourke’s name.
“Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown infuriated progressives with his winning write-in campaign last week against the democratic socialist who beat him in the primary,” Politico reports.
“Now prominent left-wing Democrats are calling for the veteran New York mayor’s head, urging Democrats to strip Brown of his position on the Democratic National Committee.”
“Glenn Youngkin ran like a teenaged girl in a slasher movie away from Donald Trump. They’re making fun of him on ‘Saturday Night Live’ for how much he tried to run away from Donald Trump.”
— Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), in an interview with the New York Times, explaining that Donald Trump is still “a tremendous liability” for Republicans, even when he’s not on the ballot himself.
New data suggests that politics and hard news have moved to the back burner of the national conversation, with sports — and particularly the NFL — generating more interest, Axios reports.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) told Politico that he did not give Senate Minority Leader Mith McConnell (R-KY) or Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) a heads up on his decision not to run for U.S. Senate.
Said Sununu: “I guess you’ll have to let them know. I haven’t talked to them.”
New York Times: “Pfizer and BioNTech are expected on Tuesday to ask federal regulators to expand authorization of its coronavirus booster shot to include all adults.”
“The Food and Drug Administration is considered likely to grant the request, perhaps before Thanksgiving.”
“Inflation at the wholesale level rose 8.6% last month from a year earlier, matching September’s record annual gain and offering more evidence that inflationary pressures are not yet easing,” the AP reports.
Just published: They Called Us “Lucky”: The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War’s Hardest Hit Unit by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Jim DeFelice.
Roll Call: “Ruben Gallego counts 11 times he got lucky in Iraq, 11 times during his deployment in Iraq’s Anbar province that he barely escaped death. In his new memoir with American Sniper co-author Jim DeFelice, he credits luck — not skill, not training, not God — for surviving.”
Writes Gallego: “I’ve had my run of luck in real life and exhausted it. I’ve lived my eleven lives and will try my best to make my twelfth a good and happy one.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.