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Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral Thursday morning at Washington’s National Cathedral is, in many ways, a memorial for the Republican Old Guard.
Cheney, of course, was a foreign policy hawk and a pillar of the party’s establishment wing, which dominated American politics for decades. Some eight years after he left office, Donald Trump rose to the pinnacle of the GOP, bringing with him an isolationist worldview, brash populism and a flamboyant style that was diametrically opposed to the conservative philosophy embraced by Cheney and like-minded colleagues.
The Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol hardened the rift, with Trump lashing out against Cheney’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who later served on the House select committee that investigated the attack. A Trump-backed primary challenger defeated the younger Cheney in a 2022 primary, and both she and her father endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris last year.
Yet the same week as Cheney’s funeral, a symbolic goodbye for one of the president’s top Republican critics, a new breed of Republican Trump resisters seized the spotlight. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia ramped up her very public breakup with the leader of the MAGA movement, tangling with the president over his “America First” agenda and the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
That led Trump to launch a blistering attack on Greene on his Truth Social platform. “[A]ll I see ‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” he wrote in a post announcing he was “withdrawing” his endorsement of his onetime most steadfast ally.
Meanwhile Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the prime force behind the release of the Epstein files, also drew Trump’s wrath. The president mocked Massie’s remarriage, more than a year after his wife’s death. “His wife will soon find out that she’s stuck with a LOSER!” Trump wrote.
Trump is supporting a primary challenger against Massie and has suggested he’d support one against Greene.
It remains to be seen whether these new intraparty divisions will grow in the coming months. For Thursday, at least, they were largely absent from Cheney’s memorial service, where former Presidents Joe Biden and George W. Bush and former Vice Presidents Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle sat side by side in pews at the front. Notably, neither Trump nor his current vice president, JD Vance, was invited.
Starting gate
Plains populist returns for Round 2: Union mechanic Dan Osborn, whose independent Senate campaign came within 7 points of defeating Nebraska Republican Deb Fischer last year, is running again, this time against the state’s other GOP senator, Pete Ricketts. Osborn says he learned from his first run and is better positioned this time. Republicans say they are as well.
Campaign indictment: The Justice Department on Wednesday accused Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of using FEMA overpayment funds to support her 2021 congressional campaign in Florida, Roll Call’s Ryan Tarinelli reports. Our friend Jacob Rubashkin of Inside Elections has previously reported on other aspects of the congresswoman’s use of taxpayer dollars.
Redistricting roundup: A panel of federal judges blocked Texas from using its newly drawn congressional map in next year’s elections, Roll Call’s Michael Macagnone reports. Gov. Greg Abbott said the state would appeal the ruling, setting up a potential Supreme Court decision. In Indiana, Trump’s push for a new map appears stalled after the state Senate’s GOP leader said the chamber wouldn’t convene for a special session next month because Republicans lack the votes to adopt a new map. Meanwhile, a state House committee in GOP-controlled Florida has scheduled a Dec. 4 meeting that could be a first step toward redrawing the state’s congressional lines.
#CAGOV: Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, joined the race for California governor, Roll Call’s Victor Feldman reports. His entrance comes as other Democratic candidates in the race have struggled to break out ahead of the June nonpartisan primary.
Disapproval week: The House voted Tuesday to disapprove of how Illinois Democrat Jesús “Chuy” García announced his retirement, with 23 Democrats joining all present Republicans on the vote, Roll Call’s Nina Heller reports. Fellow Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez prompted the vote, setting up a rare intraparty push to condemn another lawmaker. Separate attempts to censure Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida did not succeed.
Runoff scheduled: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has scheduled a Jan. 31 special election runoff to pick the successor to the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, nearly 11 months after his death. Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards, the top two finishers in this month’s first round, will face off for the Houston-anchored 18th District seat.
Start planning your vacations: The House and Senate schedules for next year are out, with extended district work periods set for August and October, ahead of the midterm elections.
Life after Congress: Former Rep. John Katko has turned to television in his post-congressional career, our Managing Editor Jessica Wehrman reports as part of our recurring series on former lawmakers. The pilot TV show the New York Republican launched last year with his local Syracuse-based PBS station, which he describes as a way to speak to people in the political middle, was picked up by the PBS World channel.
ICYMI
Dem endorsements: DMFI PAC, which supports pro-Israel Democrats, endorsed four Senate hopefuls: Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won endorsements for her Senate campaign from Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. In a battleground House race in California, local school board trustee Randy Villegas picked up the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders in his challenge to GOP Rep. David Valadao. Former Vice President Harris endorsed former Biden administration aide Dan Koh in the race for Massachusetts’ open 6th District. And in the special election to succeed Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, Sen. Andy Kim has endorsed former Rep. Tom Malinowski, while Gov. Phil Murphy is backing Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, his former campaign manager.
Battleground launches: In New Jersey, Somerset County Commissioner Sara Sooy is the latest Democrat to launch a challenge to GOP Rep. Thomas H. Kean Jr. in the 7th District. And in California, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho and local Planned Parenthood official Lauren Babb Tomlinson are running for the redrawn 6th District, which is open after Democratic incumbent Ami Bera said he would seek reelection from the now-bluer 3rd District. And in Virginia, Navy veteran Jason Knapp joined the crowded Democratic race to take on GOP Rep. Rob Wittman in the 1st District.
Florida men: Navy veteran and former NASA chief of staff Bale Dalton announced a challenge to GOP Rep. Cory Mills, who survived a censure attempt in the House this week and became the subject of an Ethics Committee investigation. Dalton has the support of former NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, his former boss and longtime Florida senator. Three other Democrats are already challenging Mills in the 7th District, while the congressman also drew a primary challenger this week, with businesswoman Sarah Ulrich launching a campaign. In the 13th District, conservation advocate Reggie Paros announced a challenge against GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna. Both seats are DCCC targets next year.
Primaries coming in NY: Chuck Park, a former Foreign Service officer, launched a challenge to Democratic Rep. Grace Meng in the Queens-based 6th District. Meanwhile, the progressive group Justice Democrats is backing Darializa Avila Chevalier, who on Thursday entered the primary to take on Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
#CA11: San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan announced a run for the deep-blue seat that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is vacating. Former San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who had been seriously considering a bid, told The San Francisco Standard that she won’t run.
#VA6: Author and former local news reporter Beth Macy has joined the crowded field of Virginia Democrats vying to take on Republican Rep. Ben Cline in this deep-red Shenandoah Valley seat. Macy is the author of several books, including “Dopesick” and “Paper Girl.”
#NY12: The Democratic race to succeed retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler in Manhattan keeps growing. The latest entrants include Cameron Kasky, a Parkland school shooting survivor who told Vanity Fair that traditional candidate qualifications “don’t matter to people anymore,” and LGBTQ rights activist Mathew Shurka. Trump critic George Conway, a former Republican who lived in the district before relocating to the Washington area during Trump’s first term, is also considering a bid.
Guv roundup: Connecticut Republican Erin Stewart, the former mayor of New Britain who’s long been touted as a candidate for statewide office, launched her challenge to Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont this week. In neighboring Rhode Island, Republican businessman Robert J. Raimondo, who says he is a third cousin of former Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo, is running for governor. In South Dakota, GOP Gov. Larry Rhoden, who succeeded Kristi Noem in January after she resigned to become Homeland Security secretary, will seek a full term next year. And in Kansas, term-limited Gov. Laura Kelly formally endorsed state Sen. Ethan Corson’s campaign to keep the governorship in Democratic hands.
Redistricting fallout: Democrat Anuj Dixit, a voting rights attorney, is dropping out of the race for the redrawn 48th District, less than three months after switching from the 41st District, which was dismantled under the state’s new map. Meanwhile, in Texas, Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett said he was “hopeful” about seeking reelection next year after the court decision to block the new GOP-drawn map. Doggett said in August that he would retire from his Austin-based district if the new map was upheld, avoiding a potentially messy primary against fellow Democrat Greg Casar.
Nathan’s notes
When it comes to handicapping political races, the most recent presidential election is typically a good measure of a House seat’s partisan performance. But after this month’s off-year election results that saw Democrats win big, the 2020 results might be a better indicator of what might happen in 2026, Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales of Inside Elections writes.
What we’re reading
Tipping point: Nevada may be ground zero for the fight over the no-tax-on-tips policy, which Republicans hope will be an advantage as they seek to unseat the state’s three Democratic House members next year, Politico reports. But Democrats are pushing back and arguing that the Republicans’ plan doesn’t go far enough to benefit the state’s many tipped workers.
#MESEN: Maine Senate hopeful Graham Platner has been more open with sharing his personal struggles after four combat tours in the Middle East as the Democrat continues on the campaign trail after a string of controversies. Maine Public Radio reports that his vulnerability is resonating with those coming to his rallies.
All politics are hyperlocal: The New York Times delves into the sticky politics of homeowner associations, focusing on a legal battle in Alexandria, Va., that has pitted a Trump-supporting homeowner against his HOA.
Trump vs. MTG: For Republicans in Georgia’s 14th District, the breakup between Trump and their congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is like “Mom and Dad are separated,” The Washington Post reports. And a Republican primary challenge to Greene could be difficult in this deep-red district in northwest Georgia.
The count: 93.4 percent
That’s the president’s success rate so far this year on House votes he’s taken a position on, according to a Roll Call analysis. To date during the 119th Congress, House members have cast votes on 61 measures that Trump has weighed in on, and his position has prevailed on 57 of those votes.
Such a success rate would represent the president’s second-most successful year with the House, behind his perfect 2017 (when he went 35-for-35) and just a tick ahead of his 93.3 percent mark in 2018 (when he prevailed on 28 of 30 votes). These years are the most successful of any Republican president since we started measuring presidential support in 1953.
Trump this week avoided what could have been a fifth loss for the year when he acquiesced to public pressure and political realities and dropped his long-standing opposition to the House effort to advance legislation designed to compel the Justice Department to release its records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The bill moved quickly through Congress this week, with all but one House Republican voting for passage, and Trump signed the measure Wednesday.
— by Roll Call’s Ryan Kelly
Coming up
New Jersey Gov.-elect Sherrill will resign her House seat at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, setting the stage for the outgoing governor to call for a special election for the Democratic-leaning 11th District.
Meanwhile, pre-general election fundraising reports are due with the Federal Election Commission by the end of Thursday in the Dec. 2 special election for Tennessee’s 7th District. Spending on behalf of GOP nominee Matt Van Epps is ramping up as Republicans work to keep the deep-red seat in party hands. State Rep. Aftyn Behn is the Democratic nominee.
Photo finish
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The post At the Races: The new Republican resisters appeared first on Roll Call.
