Summary
- Arizona Republican Jeff Flake announced that he will block all judicial nominations in the Senate until there is a vote on legislation to protect Robert Mueller’s investigation.
- Donald Trump endorsed a criminal justice reform bill at the White House today, marking the chance for a rare bipartisan legislation in the lame duck session.
- Kevin McCarthy of California was elected minority leader in the next Congress.
- Democrats gained another House seat when Andy Kim was declared the winner in New Jersey’s third congressional district.
Updated
Trump uses criminal justice reform to take a shot at Bill and Hillary Clinton.
He touts the bill as “rolling back the Clinton crime law that disproportionately targeted the African American community”.
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Trump announces support of criminal justice reform bill
Speaking in the White House, Donald Trump came out in support of the First Step Bill.
“I am thrilled to announce my support for this bill,” said Trump, who was joined by Republican lawmakers including Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate judiciary committee.
The bill still faces uncertain prospects in the Senate where Republicans are divided about the issue of criminal justice reform and where some Democrats are skeptical that the legislation doesn’t go far enough.
Updated
Flake to oppose all judicial nominees until Mueller vote
Jeff Flake is finally using his leverage in the Senate after his attempt to get a vote on legislation to protect the Mueller investigation was blocked. Flake said he will oppose all Republican judicial nominees both on the floor of the Senate and in the Senate judiciary committee until his bill gets a vote.
With Republicans currently holding a 51-49 majority in the Senate, this means that Vice-President Mike Pence has to be present to cast a tiebreaker if all other senators vote along party lines. Republicans currently have an 11-10 majority on the judiciary committee. A no vote there would not stop nominations from moving forward but would present a significant impediment.
Flake’s leverage is limited. He is only a senator for six weeks and the Republican majority in the Senate will grow next year. However, his current stance would still be an impediment for Mitch McConnell in his effort to remake the federal judiciary. All pending judicial nominations lapse at the end of this Congress and any nominee left unconfirmed will have to start the whole process over next year.
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Jeff Flake's bid to protect Mueller investigation blocked
As expected, the attempt by Jeff Flake to bring up legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller has just been blocked. It was done under Senate rules that required unanimous consent of that chamber and there was an objection.
Flake asks "unanimous consent" for Senate to start debate on bill to protect Mueller. McConnell objects, blocking consideration of the bill. Flake now on flr, defending Mueller investigation. Flake effort tied to Sessions firing last week.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 14, 2018
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The sentencing of Rick Gates in the Mueller probe has been postponed again as prosecutors have asked for another delay as the former #2 for Paul Manafort continues to cooperate with prosecutors.
NEW: Mueller's team says that Rick Gates continues to cooperate and they're not ready for him to be sentenced. Ask for another status report in January. pic.twitter.com/6Qw8kUFqH4
— Chad Day (@ChadSDay) November 14, 2018
If you’re waiting for Maine to count its ballots, you’ll have to wait another day.
No tabulation today. 26 towns to go... pic.twitter.com/bnVF4Bi1By
— MaineSOS (@MESecOfState) November 14, 2018
There will be no result in the tight race for Maine’s Second Congressional District where incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin currently holds a narrow lead over Democrat Jared Golden in what will be the first congressional election in the country decided by ranked choice voting. Neither candidate got 50% of the vote and second choices will be tallied up from two left leaning independents who combined to receive 8% of the vote.
Utah Republican Mia Love is suing to stop votes from being counted.
Love, who narrowly trails Democrat Ben McAdams in a Utah congressional race that has yet to be called, is saying county election officials are not appropriately allowing poll watchers to challenge ballots cast by mail.
Turnout in Montana in the 2018 midterms exceeded that in the 2016 general election.
Montana becomes the first state/district where raw votes cast in 2018 have surpassed 2016 levels: it's now at 101.4%.
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 14, 2018
Turnout also surged in other areas across the country to beat 2016 levels including in Austin, Texas.
The 2018 midterms are expected to have the highest turnout of any off-year election since 1914 when many states did not allow women to vote, Jim Crow was still in effect and the voting age was 21.
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There’s more speculation and intrigue about whether Nancy Pelosi has the votes to become House speaker in January.
Multiple Democratic members who publicly support Pelosi are speculating to me on background that she doesn’t have the numbers and can’t get there.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) November 14, 2018
Pelosi needs an absolute majority of the House to back her as speaker when the new Congress begins in January. The longtime Democratic leader served as speaker from 2006-2010.
However, a number of freshman Democrats ran their campaigns pledging to oppose Pelosi who is one of the most politically toxic figures in the country and she faces a cadre of hardcore detractors in the Democratic caucus as well.
The question is whether those opposed to her can block her election by the whole House in November.
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Democrat Andy Kim wins New Jersey congressional race
Democrat Andy Kim was declared the victory against two-term Republican Tom McArthur in a south Jersey congressional district on Wednesday.
BREAKING: Democrat Andy Kim wins election to U.S. House in New Jersey's 3rd congressional district. #APracecall at 2:44 p.m. EST. @AP election coverage: https://t.co/miEWlbTVZW #Election2018 #NJelection
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 14, 2018
Kim’s win leaves Republicans with only one of New Jersey’s 12 congressional seats and the 34th seat picked up by Democrats in the midterms.
Updated
There is now a Robert Mueller themed ice cream truck in Washington DC.
It will offer flavors such as IndictMint Chip to those in Washington who like the resistance and still possess a sweet tooth for outdoor ice cream in November.
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Trump renewed his unfounded belief that there is massive voter fraud in the United States in an interview with the Daily Caller.
“The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes,” Trump complained. “When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It’s really a disgrace what’s going on
He then added: “If you buy a box of cereal – you have a voter ID.” No identification is needed to purchase cereal or any other breakfast food in the United States.
Trump has previously falsely claimed that up to 5m votes were illegally cast in the 2016 presidential election
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Democrats are now going on the air and running television ads in the Mississippi special election runoff as well.
The runoff will be held on 27 November.
MS-Sen: Senate Majority PAC is placing their first TV buy. Start date is Friday, 11/16
— Medium Buying (@MediumBuying) November 14, 2018
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Liz Cheney, the first-term congresswoman from Wyoming and daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney, was elected to House Republican leadership as well today. She will be conference chair in the next Congress.
Liz Cheney was just elected Conference Chair of the GOP - making her the only female in House Republican leadership
— Matt Laslo (@MattLaslo) November 14, 2018
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Kevin McCarthy elected minority leader in next Congress
California Republican Kevin McCarthy handily won election to be the Republican leader in the House next year over Jim Jordan, a stalwart of the hard right Freedom Caucus.
GOP member in the room tells #FoxNews Rep. Kevin McCarthy wins election to be House Republican leader 159-43 over Rep. Jim Jordan.
— Mike Emanuel (@MikeEmanuelFox) November 14, 2018
Member in the room tells me it was just announced. #Breaking
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The looming Senate runoff in Mississippi may be the occasion for Trump’s first political rally since the midterms.
Politico reports that Trump is considering a trip to the Magnolia State to shore up appointed incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith against Democrat Mike Espy in the runoff to fill the term of Thad Cochran, who retired earlier this year. National Republicans were already planning to spend $1m to shore up Hyde Smith in the race even before her controversial comment about being invited to “a public hanging” which some claimed raised the spectre of Mississippi’s history of lynchings.
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Another potential 2020 Democratic candidate has made a key hire in an early state.
Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has hired veteran South Carolina Democratic operative Phil Chambers on his political action committee.
Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and Chris Coons of Delaware are expected to push for a vote today on legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired. However, under Senate rules, even one objection would block consideration and it is expected that this will happen.
The impact of the midterms in California’s politics was particularly marked.
As Philip Bump from the Washington Post notes, this is the most heavily Democratic delegation that California has sent to the Capitol since the civil war.
Updated
If you’re following the intrigue around whether Nancy Pelosi can be elected speaker of the House, this is a handy cheat sheet of those freshman Democrats elected on pledges to oppose her.
CHEAT SHEET. The 9 Dem Frosh who campaigned saying they'd oppose Pelosi.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) November 14, 2018
Joe Cunningham, SC
Jason Crow, CO
Conor Lamb, PA
Max Rose, NY
Mikie Sherrill, NJ
Jeff Van Drew, NJ
Elissa Slotkin, MI
Haley Stevens, MI
Abigail Spanberger, VA
Another 23 frosh Dems left the door open.
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House Democrats gathered for the first time since reclaiming the majority at a closed door meeting on Wednesday morning.
As Nancy Pelosi works to secure the 218 votes needed to be speaker, the caucus took a moment to celebrate their victories – which may not yet be finished as results continue to trickle in.
Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chairman Ben Ray Luján, who oversaw the House election campaigns, received a standing ovation, according to several Democrats in the room. The Democratic congressman who were elected governor – Jared Polis of Colorado, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Michelle Luján Grisham of New Mexico also received standing ovations. They also celebrated the victories of congresswomen Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona who are headed to the Senate, Keith Ellison who will be Minnesota’s attorney general – and Beto O’Rourke whose spirited campaign came remarkably close to defeating Texas senator Ted Cruz.
It was the “most jubilant I’ve seen the caucus” since arriving in Washington in January 2016, California congressman Ro Khanna said.
Democratic fortunes could continue to improve. Last night, Democrat Josh Harder, a venture capitalist, beat Republican congressman Jeff Denham. The party has gained 33 seats so far and appears on track to gain as many as 35 or more.
The caucus is scheduled to meet again later this afternoon for another closed door meeting where the new members will be introduced. Meanwhile, House Republicans will be voting on their new leadership team.
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The White House has posted its response in the Jim Acosta lawsuit.
The filing says:
“The President and White House possess the same broad discretion to regulate access to the White House for journalists (and other members of the public) that they possess to select which journalists receive interviews, or which journalists they acknowledge at press conferences.”
You can read it here.
Updated
Trump to make criminal justice reform announcement today
The White House released an updated schedule to add
“THE PRESIDENT will make an announcement regarding H. R. 5682, the “First Step Act” in the Roosevelt Room at 4:30PM EST.
The bill represents a major reform of criminal sentencing laws in the United States.
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The presidential line of succession will change next year and not just because Paul Ryan will no longer be speaker.
The vice-president is first in the line of succession if something happens to the President. He is then followed by Speaker of the House and then President Pro Tempore of the Senate. This position is traditionally given to honor the longest serving senator in the majority. With the retirement of Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, this means that Chuck Grassley of Iowa will be the third in line next year.
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A retiring Republican congressman, Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania, has a very pointed criticism of Trump’s messaging over the last week of the campaign and how it changed the balance of power in the lower chamber.
Answer - Yes. It drove up Hispanic turnout in competitive House districts in CA, FL, AZ, & changed narrative of positive economic news in other competitives. Was as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning. https://t.co/iPw7oJcyRC
— Ryan Costello (@RyanCostello) November 14, 2018
The recount drama is continuing in Florida and this is quite an arresting image of ballot storage in Broward County.
I asked Broward County officials to show me where the over and under votes are being stored — these are the ballots that will be counted in a hand recount. They took me down a hall to where boxes of sealed ballots are in bins behind a locked fence guarded by a Sheriffs deputy pic.twitter.com/s6HpZa9lfj
— Jon Ward (@jonward11) November 14, 2018
A picture of the new freshman class in the House shows the differences between the incoming Democrats and the incoming Republicans.
The 2018 midterm elections helped Democrats elect a diverse class of incoming members but the losses suffered by Republicans made their House caucus even less diverse.
The proportion of white men within the Democratic caucus is set to drop from 41% to 38% next year while the same percentage is set to rise among Republicans from 86% to 90%.
Republicans suffered because of a wave of retirements among female members. Further, the “blue wave” led to the defeat of a number of potentially historic members of their caucus. In Florida, Carlos Curbelo, a leading moderate of Cuban descent lost his seat and in Utah, Mia Love, a Haitian American, is trailing in a race that has yet to be called.
In California, Young Kim, who would have been the first Korean American woman elected to Congress, also is in a race that is too close to call while Eddie Edwards, who would have been the first African American elected in New Hampshire, lost his race.
In contrast, Democrats have number of milestones in their caucus. They have elected the first two Muslim-American women and the first two Native American women to serve in Congress.
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Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is pushing a change to state law so that he can run for re-election and for the White House simultaneously.
Merkley, a progressive stalwart, has made a number of visits to early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire. However, Oregon law currently prevents someone from running for two offices at the same time.
In recent years, two vice presidential candidates have run for re-election to other federal offices. In 2000, Joe Lieberman ran for re-election to the Senate when he was Al Gore’s vice-presidential nominee and, in 2012, Paul Ryan did the same when he was Mitt Romney’s pick.
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Fox News backs CNN in Acosta suit
Fox News has issued a statement in support of CNN’s lawsuit on behalf of Jim Acosta. The network’s president Jay Wallace has weighed in to support the effort to allow Acosta to regain access to the White House.
“FOX News supports CNN in its legal effort to regain its White House reporter’s press credential. We intend to file an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court. Secret Service passes for working White House journalists should never be weaponized. While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the President and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people.”
Updated
There are still nine House races that have not been called yet. This is a good sense of the state of play.
Uncalled Races Update: Ds have netted 33 seats & have at least a 21-seat majority. 8 races are too close to call & #ME02 will be decided via ranked-choice
— Ally Mutnick (@allymutnick) November 14, 2018
Ds lead in #NJ03 #NY22 #UT04 & #CA45 (by 261 votes)
Rs lead in #NY27 #TX23 #CA39 (by 711 votes) & #GA07 (by 533 votes)
A French government spokesman has expressed his displeasure with Donald Trump’s tweetstorm yesterday.
When asked on Wednesday about the U.S. leader’s Twitter posts, French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux was critical.
“Yesterday was November 13, we were marking the murder of 130 of our people,” Griveaux said. “So I’ll reply in English: ‘common decency’ would have been appropriate.”
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Unsurprisingly, Mitch McConnell was re-elected by Senate Republicans to be their leader again this morning.
By acclimation, @senatemajldr was re-elected as the #Senate Majority Leader. pic.twitter.com/zFrKFTykz9
— STEW 🇺🇸🐶 ⚾️ (@StewSays) November 14, 2018
An opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued Wednesday morning has said that the appointment of Matt Whitaker to be acting attorney general is constitutional. The OLC is part of the Department of Justice.
This doesn’t have the force of law but will serve as the crux of the government’s legal arguments as litigation proceeds to attempt to force federal courts to declare Whitaker’s appointment to be unconstitutional.
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Nancy Pelosi faces another obstacle in her bid to become Speaker of the House again. One longtime Democratic opponent of hers within the caucus, Tim Ryan of Ohio, says he won’t vote for her on the floor in January.
Ryan unsuccessfully challenged Pelosi in internal elections with the Democratic caucus in 2016 but supported her on the formal floor vote conducted by the whole House.
Tim Ryan tells reporters that there is zero chance he’ll vote for Pelosi on the floor this year, unlike 2016 after he challenged her internally and lost.
— Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) November 14, 2018
Latino turnout surged in the 2018 midterms as my colleague Lauren Gambino reports.
Ben Ray Luján, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that compared to the previous midterm election, Latinos increased their participation by 174% in 2018. Pacific Islanders increased their numbers by 218% and African Americans by 157%.
“Latino voters played a pivotal role in taking back the House,” Luján said on a conference call hosted by the Latino Victory Fund, a political action committee. He said the Latino vote was especially consequential in a handful of House races across demographically diverse Sun Belt battlegrounds: Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Texas.
Chuck Schumer has been re-elected to be the Democratic Leader in the Senate.
Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been re-elected to be Senate Minority Leader by acclamation, per a source familiar.
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) November 14, 2018
It is forbidden to take pictures on the floor of the House and one newly-elected Democrat is already violating that rule.
I will just note this picture on the House floor is a violation of House rules by a newly elected member of Congress. Good start. https://t.co/ZqecoR9fit
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) November 14, 2018
A bill to lower the voting age to 16 in Washington DC suffered a major setback Tuesday when two previously supportive members of the city council flipped their positions and voted to table the bill.
If passed, it would allow 16-year-olds to vote in the 2020 presidential election and play role in casting the District’s three electoral votes.
Updated
Conservative lawyers are starting a group called Checks and Balances as a counterweight to what they see as Trump’s betrayal of constitutional norms.
The group includes George Conway III, the husband of top White House aide Kellyanne Conway, as well as a number of conservative legal notables including top constitutional law professors Jonathan Adler and Orin Kerr and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge.
Updated
Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is moving closer to a 2020 presidential bid. Politico reports that Castro held a meeting of allies in San Antonio on Monday to plot next steps.
GOP holds leadership elections
House Republicans will hold their leadership elections today to pick their leader in the next Congress. Kevin McCarthy, the current House majority leader, is the heavy favorite to take the role of minority leader. The top spot in House Republican ranks is open with the retirement of Speaker Paul Ryan.
McCarthy is being challenged by Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the leaders of the hard-right Freedom Caucus.
Updated
Democrat Josh Harder was declared the winner in California’s 10th congressional district last night besting four-term Republican Jeff Denham.
The district in California’s Central Valley is over 40% Latino and Denham, a moderate on immigration, was hurt by Trump’s fiery rhetoric on immigration in the final days of the campaign.
Good morning. Democrats won another congressional seat overnight, House Republicans are holding leadership elections on Capitol Hill and there’s more palace intrigue in the White House. It’s Wednesday in American politics.
