I probably didn't see it those times. "Exercise undue influence over" would be OK, since that's your opinion, but rigging is specifically altering votes, such as traditionally through ballot-stuffing.
I can understand extending the meaning to that. Though it's not precise, people will understand it in context. But not for this. Claiming "the establishment rigs elections" causes a lot of people to think they are actually doing that, whereas the people who vote for the candidates the establishment folks favor are primarily responsible for the election results. You can't gerrymander an entire state or determine how a party's voters vote. Sure, you can pressure donors not to donate, etc., but we've seen voters have other ideas.
Not them, but I think they’re referencing the fact that Sandoval won two terms as the Republican NV Governor and for the most part was well liked. Whereas Lombardo may only get a single term before voters toss him.
However, it’s very much important to mention that Sandoval himself wasn’t exactly a guarantee to win any race as a blue chip candidate, he had the good fortune to run in 2 very bad years for Democrats in 2010 and re-election in 2014. Had he been up in 2026, he’d probably only get 1 term too.
I wish more background info on TN-7 had been provided. Until the Republican legislature gerrymander following the 2020 census there was a longstanding Democratic district centered in Nashville. A Blue Dog Democrat named Jim Cooper held that seat for many terms. The GOP eliminated him by carving Nashville into three pieces and sticking each one into a contorted-design new district including many rural voters. Of course the Republicans won big in all three of those newly-drawn districts in 2022 and 2024.
The Digest writers may not have felt the need to provide that background because they may have assumed that everyone here knew that already. Considering that the cracking of Nashville was heavily covered on DKE when it happened, I think it's a perfectly fair assumption.
I totally understand, but there are only so many times we can repeat ourselves before we risk boring readers! We referenced the cracking of Nashville in another lead item (which is also prominently linked in today's newsletter) just a week ago: https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-gop-readies-offensive
I'd like to add my two cents from rural Tennessee. This is the first time in 25+ years that we have all 95 counties with an organized State Democratic Party. We didn't have one in my area for many years. Now, we are organized and helping with TN-7.
We ( 3 rural counties) held a No Kings rally October 18th in PIkeville TN and had over 100 show up, plus so many honks and thumbs up from folks. Older folks talk about how this whole area was FDR Democrats since the 30's and things fell apart when Dems focused on the money raised instead of the working class voter.
Yes, this was Trump-land last year, but he has betrayed the farmers with his tariffs and ruining a lucrative contract with China. Now, farmers are facing financial ruin and bankruptcy.
1 in 5 in rural TN depends on SNAP benefits. They have suffered for 2 months without it and relying on food banks. Our Democratic Party raised $980 AND 350 LBS of food donations plus 38 Minestrone soup kits.
Our local Party is helping Aftyn Behn in TN-7 with phone banking and canvassing. We are all excited about this race. She represents the Democrats of the FDR era. She cares about the people and not the rich. She wants affordable groceries & health care.
Her opponent, Matt Van Epps, was endorsed by Trump and last Monday stated he would vote to NOT release the Epstein files. 24 hours later, the House voted 426-1 and Senate voted by unanimous consent to release the files. Trump signed it into law, thus, Matt earned the nick name: Matt Van Epstein.
Thanks very much for that on-the-ground report. About this: "Older folks talk about how this whole area was FDR Democrats since the 30's and things fell apart when Dems focused on the money raised instead of the working class voter." Decreasing tariffs in favor of freer trade and letting the Japanese dump stuff and hollow out American manufacturing in exchange for them letting the U.S. station troops and nuclear weapons there and not go communist or neutral was bipartisan policy, but the Democrats have _always_ been superior to the Republicans for working people since FDR. So the perception that, somehow, the Republicans were ever better for working people in anyone's lifetime is pretty crazy. All those fired PATCO members would be shocked to hear that. Sure, if you go back to Lincoln, he supported workers, but that is decidedly not the Republican Party of Reagan, let alone Trump!
Thank you!! Republicans of the 19th century are not the ones we have today. Grant and Lincoln have nothing in common with MAGA today.
FDR did more for Appalachia than anyone. He brought electricity by creating TVA, which brought lucrative jobs along with power. Now Trump & Blackburn want to privatize it. FDR and Eleanor helped with literacy, indoor plumbing and 20 acres and a mule communities, such as Crossville, TN. Wiki has a terrible write up saying it was a failed community, but I differ with this. Another thing FDR did was to enact the child labor laws. A friend of mine told me his grandfather was pictured on a horse drawn wagon filled with children headed to the coal mines. His grandfather was 7 and had black lung disease at 29. Appalachia was a poor and brutal area until FDR. Today, we are regressing because of poverty, lack of health care, and unaffordable prices. They need to vote for their own economic interests instead of billionaires and the vast defense industry.
I don't think any of that will happen. It will divide the field into progressives vs moderates vs other factions. You will still get to see nasty fights but not like the ones between Bernie and Warren, both of whom adhere to almost the same ideology. It will also eliminate late stage dropouts.
The current system (while not perfect) has worked fine in producing nominees who have broad support amongst the party from Biden, Obama to Clinton. So I don't get the push to suddenly upend the primaries completely and start experimenting with new things. Its fine for a few states to move around the calendar otherwise leave it the way it is.
That might be dangerous, though. If any of the people I had wanted to win the 2020 primaries had won, they probably would have lost the general election, and more people might have voted for them with an RCV system. But we're treading on dangerous ground to talk too much about that.
Say it ain't so Ken. I'm old enough to remember when the media lost its mind and vowed to exact retribution in blood because Iowa didn't have its caucus results available by 10 p.m. back in 2020. I wonder how they'll feel about never again having results available until the next afternoon at the earliest.
On the other hand, the media didn't exactly do anything to get said retribution.
Plus, this would be ratings gold for them. A presidential nomination process where the early states have an extra day of wall-to-wall coverage built in by default is the media's dream come true. They can keep everyone's eyes on them and their advertisers for that much longer.
I shouldn't have inferred it was merely the media who vowed lifetime cancellation for Iowa after they couldn't report their caucus results the evening of the caucus. The Democratic Party dropped us like a bad habit afterwards too.
I'm not sure you're right that it would be the media's dream come true to navigate the hyper-confusing tabulation cycles of RCV. It might be for cable news but I suspect most producers and consumers of news like headlines on predictable timelines. The chaos and unrest that will ensue when a high-profile election outcome is "stolen" because of RCV would be a media bonanza though. I'll give you that.
The problem with this idea is the states primarily administer elections or the party can foot the cost of running a caucus. 12 states have outright banned RCV and the rest would probably have to get laws changed in order to allow it.
Needless to say I don't see the DNC having much success is convincing the legislatures in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and other red states to allow for state run RCV elections.
" “You can win a city as a socialist. You can’t win a state. You can’t win nationally as a socialist," Andrew Cuomo says, starting off - fuel for speculation about his future plans to run for office again. "
Not sure how anyone can think that losing to a socialist is anything but the permanent end of his political career. And if the Democratic nominee had been Lander instead, Cuomo would've been lucky to crack 25%.
I think he's addicted to feeling important and being famous, being a Cuomo. So many people are like this, even when they have nothing to offer, and they refuse to leave politics when all other signs point in that direction.
Surely the disgraced sex pest who badly lost both a primary and general mayoral election despite name recognition and institutional support knows best about the future of the party
If you're on either platform, I'd encourage folks to like and retweet them. Early engagement tells the algorithms to boost content to others who might like it! Let's help get her message out to more like-minded folks.
The publication has a tendency to benefit from negativity and cynicism. I used to read it long ago but found it was depressing the more articles I skimmed through. So I stopped reading it. I’ve found other sources of news information more valuable and objective.
Besides, the publication’s name is an oxymoron as it really doesn’t cover economics so much as world affairs in general.
The thing is any Speaker is in an impossible situation. Completely acquiesce all authority to Trump; burn respect among rank and file and get hurt politically. Push back a little? Get shoved out by Freedom Caucus and get hurt politically.
“More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.”
We all know the next GOP House speaker is going to be Gym Jordan right? Making Mike Johnson look like a moderate. It’s a never ending step down cycle where each one is worst than the last.
He might even be open to offering a beer or two for McCarthy to chat about the good old days when they served together!
Mike Johnson only came into the House starting in 2017, the first year Trump was POTUS in his first term. McCarthy on the other hand started his first term in the House after the 2006 midterms so he and Boehner worked together more directly. Even Boehner left before Trump took office.
Oh Johnson. He had it better when Biden was POTUS. Hahaha
I could see Don Bacon & Victoria Spartz resigning. Bacon is already retiring and probably won't be getting a spot in the Trump admin so he has nothing to lose atp.
Spartz because last cycle she expressed interest in running for Senate and then surprised everyone by announcing she'd retire. Then said she might unretire, then reaffirmed she'd retire, then threatened to resign, and then finally ran for reelection and scraped by in her primary with 39% of the vote. She didn't take any committee assignments this congress and she's clearly a lose cannon so who knows what she'll do.
Spartz is a sell out to crypto, DOGE, and is a nuthead, especially as someone whom I am offended is Ukranian. I am 2nd generation Russian Jewish from what used to be Chinigov, Ukraine back in the early 1900’s.
I would be more than happy to get Spartz out of office, even if it means she’s primaried.
Most Ukranians are straight forward, loyal and open minded. Granted they have different personalities and perspectives but when I see Spartz referring to the Justice Department under President Biden acting like the KGB, that’s an insult not only to us Ukranian-Americans but Russians as well.
Problem for the GOP is, they already had it bad after the elections earlier this month. More retirements is evidence that increasingly more House Republicans want to have a life and not be humiliated. This is not a good sign if the GOP wants to be in control over its messaging.
He almost did then. Applegate would have won one of the few House seats Democrats were able to flip back in that year, including the success Josh Gottheimer had in unseating Scott Garrett them.
Now that Amy Acton, a physician who performed heroically during COVID as director of the Ohio Department of Health, is assured of the Democratic nomination, she can tie Ramaswamy's vaccine skepticism to RFK Jr's disastrous reign at HHS.
news stories this AM: Lynne Walz, NE state senator and distant cousin of Tim, announces exploratory campaign for NE governor. Friend of mine in NE, not even noon local time, puts out an Actblue page that doesn't exactly look exploratory. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/lynne-walz-1
I really think school boards are where Democrats should own the agenda and show the GOP what they believe in as far as education.
The broader conversation is to fight back against the accusation by the GOP and MAGA that education, namely college education, is indoctrination. We really need to have a better counter messaging on this.
CA-Gov: Despite initially declining to run in February, Attorney General Rob Bonta appears to be considering a late entry, as well as Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (both from the East Bay, which is where Swalwell is also from). This comes the week after Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer continued to widen the field.
Keep in mind that Newsom went from being Mayor to Lt. Governor and then Governor. He had no real state government experience otherwise. I would prefer getting a Governor closer to Jerry Brown in terms of state government experience so at least California as a state is being managed better.
Rob Bonta has unique government experience that could help him as Governor:
-San Francisco Deputy City Attorney for 9 years from 2003-2012.
-Councilmember in the Alameda City Council for 2 years from 2010-2012.
-Assemblymember for 8+ years from 2012-2021.
-Attorney General since 2021.
He's quite experienced but has not served in executive officer as Mayor or any other form.
Bonta has to immediately deal with accusations of campaign finance violations before he enters the gubernatorial race or they are going to be a liability for him.
Bonta was a witness but not a target of the FBI investigation into the Duong family, donors for former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. He is fine here but has been attacked by the Fair Political Practices Commission (which is based in Sacramento) over improper uses of campaign funds over hiring a law firm to defend him in the process of the investigation.
The campaign finance violation accusations seem to be nonsense because as Bonta and his team have argued, this was for an investigation that has concluded. This won’t stop fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidates or GOP candidates from using this against Bonta before the June primary.
I agree. Bonta has been a great Attorney General and am fine with him being Governor from a competenecy standpoint and moving on from Newsom after all these years.
Daly City will also be fired up as California would have it's first Filipino Governor. The city has a substantial Filipino population.
I wish Mia Bonta could become AG after him lol. Tbh, that would be the more interesting open race with a lot more competent candidates that governor if he does move there.
This is the same idea, but a little different: there are N candidates failing to break through for the top two primary. A potential candidate sees that, decides it's their shot to fix things by jumping in. End result: there are now N+1 candidates failing to break through for the top two primary.
I'm surprised so many of them are seeing this as a reason to jump in when the evidence is so clearly that of a reason to stay out.
a beautiful district, but the clown car of people running for the seat makes me thankful I moved out of the district before the ads started. that's what they never tell you about jersey, you move here and every single year is a major election. The ads are never ending!
It's inexcusable to use the word "rig" for anything other than actual rigging. If you continue this, I'll report you next time.
What would be the better word? "Influence" or "distort"?
Also, I've used this word before and you didn't raise concerns then.
I probably didn't see it those times. "Exercise undue influence over" would be OK, since that's your opinion, but rigging is specifically altering votes, such as traditionally through ballot-stuffing.
Rigging has also been used to describe gerrymandering.
I can understand extending the meaning to that. Though it's not precise, people will understand it in context. But not for this. Claiming "the establishment rigs elections" causes a lot of people to think they are actually doing that, whereas the people who vote for the candidates the establishment folks favor are primarily responsible for the election results. You can't gerrymander an entire state or determine how a party's voters vote. Sure, you can pressure donors not to donate, etc., but we've seen voters have other ideas.
If Emerson has NV Gov even, I suspect Ford is ahead, especially in this environment.
Lot of undecideds, though.
I wonder if that photo ID amendment will pass again in a D+10 environment. It did in Wisconsin even when Susan Crawford won by double digits.
Joe Lombardo ain't Brian Sandoval—that much is for sure.
Could you enlarge on that?
He's not dominating the polls like Sandoval did if the race is tied at 41.
True, but I thought you meant in terms of his work as governor.
Not them, but I think they’re referencing the fact that Sandoval won two terms as the Republican NV Governor and for the most part was well liked. Whereas Lombardo may only get a single term before voters toss him.
However, it’s very much important to mention that Sandoval himself wasn’t exactly a guarantee to win any race as a blue chip candidate, he had the good fortune to run in 2 very bad years for Democrats in 2010 and re-election in 2014. Had he been up in 2026, he’d probably only get 1 term too.
I think Behn will likely lose the special race, but if the GOP candidate only wins by single digits, it's a BAD sign for Rs in blue state districts.
I wish more background info on TN-7 had been provided. Until the Republican legislature gerrymander following the 2020 census there was a longstanding Democratic district centered in Nashville. A Blue Dog Democrat named Jim Cooper held that seat for many terms. The GOP eliminated him by carving Nashville into three pieces and sticking each one into a contorted-design new district including many rural voters. Of course the Republicans won big in all three of those newly-drawn districts in 2022 and 2024.
The Digest writers may not have felt the need to provide that background because they may have assumed that everyone here knew that already. Considering that the cracking of Nashville was heavily covered on DKE when it happened, I think it's a perfectly fair assumption.
I totally understand, but there are only so many times we can repeat ourselves before we risk boring readers! We referenced the cracking of Nashville in another lead item (which is also prominently linked in today's newsletter) just a week ago: https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-gop-readies-offensive
And we delved deep into the district's backstory when we first profiled the race in August: https://www.the-downballot.com/p/morning-digest-why-tennessee-democrats
I'd like to add my two cents from rural Tennessee. This is the first time in 25+ years that we have all 95 counties with an organized State Democratic Party. We didn't have one in my area for many years. Now, we are organized and helping with TN-7.
We ( 3 rural counties) held a No Kings rally October 18th in PIkeville TN and had over 100 show up, plus so many honks and thumbs up from folks. Older folks talk about how this whole area was FDR Democrats since the 30's and things fell apart when Dems focused on the money raised instead of the working class voter.
Yes, this was Trump-land last year, but he has betrayed the farmers with his tariffs and ruining a lucrative contract with China. Now, farmers are facing financial ruin and bankruptcy.
1 in 5 in rural TN depends on SNAP benefits. They have suffered for 2 months without it and relying on food banks. Our Democratic Party raised $980 AND 350 LBS of food donations plus 38 Minestrone soup kits.
Our local Party is helping Aftyn Behn in TN-7 with phone banking and canvassing. We are all excited about this race. She represents the Democrats of the FDR era. She cares about the people and not the rich. She wants affordable groceries & health care.
Her opponent, Matt Van Epps, was endorsed by Trump and last Monday stated he would vote to NOT release the Epstein files. 24 hours later, the House voted 426-1 and Senate voted by unanimous consent to release the files. Trump signed it into law, thus, Matt earned the nick name: Matt Van Epstein.
Thanks very much for that on-the-ground report. About this: "Older folks talk about how this whole area was FDR Democrats since the 30's and things fell apart when Dems focused on the money raised instead of the working class voter." Decreasing tariffs in favor of freer trade and letting the Japanese dump stuff and hollow out American manufacturing in exchange for them letting the U.S. station troops and nuclear weapons there and not go communist or neutral was bipartisan policy, but the Democrats have _always_ been superior to the Republicans for working people since FDR. So the perception that, somehow, the Republicans were ever better for working people in anyone's lifetime is pretty crazy. All those fired PATCO members would be shocked to hear that. Sure, if you go back to Lincoln, he supported workers, but that is decidedly not the Republican Party of Reagan, let alone Trump!
Thank you!! Republicans of the 19th century are not the ones we have today. Grant and Lincoln have nothing in common with MAGA today.
FDR did more for Appalachia than anyone. He brought electricity by creating TVA, which brought lucrative jobs along with power. Now Trump & Blackburn want to privatize it. FDR and Eleanor helped with literacy, indoor plumbing and 20 acres and a mule communities, such as Crossville, TN. Wiki has a terrible write up saying it was a failed community, but I differ with this. Another thing FDR did was to enact the child labor laws. A friend of mine told me his grandfather was pictured on a horse drawn wagon filled with children headed to the coal mines. His grandfather was 7 and had black lung disease at 29. Appalachia was a poor and brutal area until FDR. Today, we are regressing because of poverty, lack of health care, and unaffordable prices. They need to vote for their own economic interests instead of billionaires and the vast defense industry.
Quite enjoyed reading about the history of what is now CA-14 over the past century. A welcome addition to the Digest.
Thank you! Enjoyed doing that deep dive, which turned out to go back further than I knew before I started!
Wasn't this fantastic? Jeff Singer wrote this item. I loved editing it just because I got to read it!
Former state senator Lynne Walz (cousin of the Minnesota governor) is the first major Democrat to challenge Nebraska Gov. Pillen
Rather strong candidate, considering how much she was able to win by despite the lean of her district.
Axios says Dems are considering ranked choice voting for the Pres primaries.
Ken Martin is behind the push.
How will that interact with the proportional allocation of delegates?
Good Lord
How would that work on a state-by-state basis?
I can't even begin to imagine the amount of game playing, favor currying and bribe seeking that this would engender.
I don't think any of that will happen. It will divide the field into progressives vs moderates vs other factions. You will still get to see nasty fights but not like the ones between Bernie and Warren, both of whom adhere to almost the same ideology. It will also eliminate late stage dropouts.
There was a late stage dropout in the NYC primary. I don't see it eliminating late state dropouts.
The current system (while not perfect) has worked fine in producing nominees who have broad support amongst the party from Biden, Obama to Clinton. So I don't get the push to suddenly upend the primaries completely and start experimenting with new things. Its fine for a few states to move around the calendar otherwise leave it the way it is.
I'd support getting rid of all caucuses, though.
Afraid of an AOC/progressive win in a multi-candidate field.
And I certainly don't get how that would interact with the proportional allocation.
Some delegates for your % of the vote + more for the "winner."
Just delete the mention of any candidate bro. It violates the rules to not discuss 2028 candidates.
I'm for that. RCV allows folks to support who they really want first, rather than the lesser of evils.
That might be dangerous, though. If any of the people I had wanted to win the 2020 primaries had won, they probably would have lost the general election, and more people might have voted for them with an RCV system. But we're treading on dangerous ground to talk too much about that.
Say it ain't so Ken. I'm old enough to remember when the media lost its mind and vowed to exact retribution in blood because Iowa didn't have its caucus results available by 10 p.m. back in 2020. I wonder how they'll feel about never again having results available until the next afternoon at the earliest.
On the other hand, the media didn't exactly do anything to get said retribution.
Plus, this would be ratings gold for them. A presidential nomination process where the early states have an extra day of wall-to-wall coverage built in by default is the media's dream come true. They can keep everyone's eyes on them and their advertisers for that much longer.
I shouldn't have inferred it was merely the media who vowed lifetime cancellation for Iowa after they couldn't report their caucus results the evening of the caucus. The Democratic Party dropped us like a bad habit afterwards too.
I'm not sure you're right that it would be the media's dream come true to navigate the hyper-confusing tabulation cycles of RCV. It might be for cable news but I suspect most producers and consumers of news like headlines on predictable timelines. The chaos and unrest that will ensue when a high-profile election outcome is "stolen" because of RCV would be a media bonanza though. I'll give you that.
No. RCV works better in the general election, not in the primary process.
Of course, I am also referencing Berkeley and San Francisco mayoral races, both of which have RCV in the general election while being nonpartisan.
Focus on getting Democrats control over both chambers of Congress, followed by the White House. Then we can have this conversation.
The problem with this idea is the states primarily administer elections or the party can foot the cost of running a caucus. 12 states have outright banned RCV and the rest would probably have to get laws changed in order to allow it.
Needless to say I don't see the DNC having much success is convincing the legislatures in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and other red states to allow for state run RCV elections.
"Surely seems like Andrew Cuomo is gearing up for another run
INBOX: Below is an Open Letter From Andrew M. Cuomo, the 56th Governor of the State of New York."
https://x.com/createcraig/status/1992943087132508171
" “You can win a city as a socialist. You can’t win a state. You can’t win nationally as a socialist," Andrew Cuomo says, starting off - fuel for speculation about his future plans to run for office again. "
https://x.com/JCColtin/status/1992974916514378082
My soul needs an AOC vs Cuomo vs Schumer 2028 lol.
WTF is wrong with this guy?!?
Not sure how anyone can think that losing to a socialist is anything but the permanent end of his political career. And if the Democratic nominee had been Lander instead, Cuomo would've been lucky to crack 25%.
He's obviously addicted to elective politics. I guess election campaigns give him a rush.
I think he's addicted to feeling important and being famous, being a Cuomo. So many people are like this, even when they have nothing to offer, and they refuse to leave politics when all other signs point in that direction.
Surely the disgraced sex pest who badly lost both a primary and general mayoral election despite name recognition and institutional support knows best about the future of the party
Singular: Run.
Plural: The runs.
I really do wish Cuomo would just go away and not insist on sharing the latter with us.
Cuomo's actions makes it clear that he has trouble understanding the word "no" in all its uses.
This got a good laugh/groan from me.
You're completely correct, of course.
Let him run for NY-12 and split the moderate vote so Kasky and Schlossberg have a chance.
Maybe Andrew Cuomo should have his brother Chris Cuomo leave the media and make a run for instead.
Jk
TN-07: Aftyn Behn has a new ad out this morning. She just posted it on BlueSky and Twitter:
https://bsky.app/profile/aftynbehn.bsky.social/post/3m6evynwatk2s
https://x.com/aftynfortn/status/1992944436616290621
If you're on either platform, I'd encourage folks to like and retweet them. Early engagement tells the algorithms to boost content to others who might like it! Let's help get her message out to more like-minded folks.
If you want a good laugh:
https://www.economist.com/the-world-ahead/2025/11/12/an-optimistic-guide-to-the-coming-year-in-america
Word about the Economist:
The publication has a tendency to benefit from negativity and cynicism. I used to read it long ago but found it was depressing the more articles I skimmed through. So I stopped reading it. I’ve found other sources of news information more valuable and objective.
Besides, the publication’s name is an oxymoron as it really doesn’t cover economics so much as world affairs in general.
https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1992972604521562595
Some House Republicans consider retiring in the middle of the term and following MTG's footsteps.
Rats fleeing from a sinking ship.
And creating problems for their caucus on the way out, a real fuck you to Trump and Johnson.
Where Trump is king and Johnson is Pinocchio. ;)
Oh man, that would be GREAT.
Johnson deserves this, among other things.
The thing is any Speaker is in an impossible situation. Completely acquiesce all authority to Trump; burn respect among rank and file and get hurt politically. Push back a little? Get shoved out by Freedom Caucus and get hurt politically.
Grab your popcorn.
“More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out.”
🍿🍿🍿 Done!
From his lips to God's ears.
Kevin McCarthy is watching the news thinking:
“Mike Johnson is a worse House Speaker than me? Thank GOD. I am vindicated!”
McCarthy seems like a rational statesman compared to what Johnson has done
And Paul Ryan looks like Winston freaking Churchill compared to both of them. It is bananas...
We all know the next GOP House speaker is going to be Gym Jordan right? Making Mike Johnson look like a moderate. It’s a never ending step down cycle where each one is worst than the last.
Hell, it'll probably be Clay Higgins.
Boehner is probably bawling somewhere.
He might even be open to offering a beer or two for McCarthy to chat about the good old days when they served together!
Mike Johnson only came into the House starting in 2017, the first year Trump was POTUS in his first term. McCarthy on the other hand started his first term in the House after the 2006 midterms so he and Boehner worked together more directly. Even Boehner left before Trump took office.
Oh Johnson. He had it better when Biden was POTUS. Hahaha
Is it mentioned which specific members are considering retirement? The immediate one that comes to mind for me is Bill Huizenga.
There's no mention. It's a shot in the dark, but my guess is one could be Mike Turner of Ohio. He has expressed his displeasure with Johnson before.
I believe his seat had been on one of the House Democrats' target lists. Can't remember if it's DCCC or a memo sent out earlier.
I could see Don Bacon & Victoria Spartz resigning. Bacon is already retiring and probably won't be getting a spot in the Trump admin so he has nothing to lose atp.
Spartz because last cycle she expressed interest in running for Senate and then surprised everyone by announcing she'd retire. Then said she might unretire, then reaffirmed she'd retire, then threatened to resign, and then finally ran for reelection and scraped by in her primary with 39% of the vote. She didn't take any committee assignments this congress and she's clearly a lose cannon so who knows what she'll do.
Spartz is a sell out to crypto, DOGE, and is a nuthead, especially as someone whom I am offended is Ukranian. I am 2nd generation Russian Jewish from what used to be Chinigov, Ukraine back in the early 1900’s.
I would be more than happy to get Spartz out of office, even if it means she’s primaried.
But if she really retires, good.
I also have partial Ukrainian ancestry and have extended family in Lviv - she is a disgrace
Most Ukranians are straight forward, loyal and open minded. Granted they have different personalities and perspectives but when I see Spartz referring to the Justice Department under President Biden acting like the KGB, that’s an insult not only to us Ukranian-Americans but Russians as well.
The suggestion that republicans will lose the majority from early retirements before the midterms even happen feels very too good to be true to me.
I'd love to see it happen, but I suspect we will get less than that.
I think you're right. The Republican who becomes the one to flip control would live in fear the rest of their life.
Problem for the GOP is, they already had it bad after the elections earlier this month. More retirements is evidence that increasingly more House Republicans want to have a life and not be humiliated. This is not a good sign if the GOP wants to be in control over its messaging.
What do we need, 4 or 5?
A temporary Speaker Jeffries could do wonders. Heck in this environment, a special is not a GOP layup.
Just to reply to myself: 219-213 atm.
TN-07 tomorrow. Likely 7. 220-213.
Early Jan, MTG leaves. 219-213.
Late Jan, TX-18. Dem. 219-214.
April: NJ-11. Dem. 219-215.
It will be June/July before GA can fill MTG's seat. Barring a huge TN upset, we need 6 early retirements in January.
Slight correction: TN-07 election is Dec. 2nd, so in 8 days, not tomorrow. Thank you for doing the math though for the rest of us!
Thanks.
Early voting for TN-07 ends tomorrow, partly because the election is right after Thanksgiving.
Hopefully one of them won’t be Darrell Issa. I want him defeated for re-election for good.
He’s too dedicated to the cause of helping the GOP no matter what it’s issues are.
I was SO hoping that Issa would lose to Doug Applegate in 2016.
He almost did then. Applegate would have won one of the few House seats Democrats were able to flip back in that year, including the success Josh Gottheimer had in unseating Scott Garrett them.
Now that Amy Acton, a physician who performed heroically during COVID as director of the Ohio Department of Health, is assured of the Democratic nomination, she can tie Ramaswamy's vaccine skepticism to RFK Jr's disastrous reign at HHS.
The people of Ohio have to see it as a disaster in order for that to work. I hope they correctly do but…
How many measles cases there?
news stories this AM: Lynne Walz, NE state senator and distant cousin of Tim, announces exploratory campaign for NE governor. Friend of mine in NE, not even noon local time, puts out an Actblue page that doesn't exactly look exploratory. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/lynne-walz-1
Good News Monday read on races that are often the first step towards higher elected office, yet usually get ignored by the party.
In culture war backlash, Democrats sweep school boards
The party recruited and invested in school board races to oust Republicans. It worked.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/21/culture-war-democrats-school-boards-00663699
https://archive.ph/mClrd
I really think school boards are where Democrats should own the agenda and show the GOP what they believe in as far as education.
The broader conversation is to fight back against the accusation by the GOP and MAGA that education, namely college education, is indoctrination. We really need to have a better counter messaging on this.
CA-Gov: Despite initially declining to run in February, Attorney General Rob Bonta appears to be considering a late entry, as well as Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (both from the East Bay, which is where Swalwell is also from). This comes the week after Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer continued to widen the field.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2025/11/24/the-shapeshifting-governors-race-00666711
Soon every resident of California will be a candidate for Governor.
That is funny, but I am not running for CA-Gov. I'm running for Board of Equalization!
(Snark, though I once thought about it...)
Bonta would become my instant favorite, but I worry if he can really consolidate folks to win and would hate to lose him as AG...
I second your comment. He would be head and shoulders above the rest in my opinion, and worth losing as ag for a chance of him being governor.
Keep in mind that Newsom went from being Mayor to Lt. Governor and then Governor. He had no real state government experience otherwise. I would prefer getting a Governor closer to Jerry Brown in terms of state government experience so at least California as a state is being managed better.
Rob Bonta has unique government experience that could help him as Governor:
-San Francisco Deputy City Attorney for 9 years from 2003-2012.
-Councilmember in the Alameda City Council for 2 years from 2010-2012.
-Assemblymember for 8+ years from 2012-2021.
-Attorney General since 2021.
He's quite experienced but has not served in executive officer as Mayor or any other form.
Bonta has to immediately deal with accusations of campaign finance violations before he enters the gubernatorial race or they are going to be a liability for him.
Bonta was a witness but not a target of the FBI investigation into the Duong family, donors for former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. He is fine here but has been attacked by the Fair Political Practices Commission (which is based in Sacramento) over improper uses of campaign funds over hiring a law firm to defend him in the process of the investigation.
The campaign finance violation accusations seem to be nonsense because as Bonta and his team have argued, this was for an investigation that has concluded. This won’t stop fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidates or GOP candidates from using this against Bonta before the June primary.
https://www.kcra.com/article/rob-bonta-complaint-filed-campaign-funds-legal-help/69531767
Totally, it's a really unfortunately story at a bad time. But if he enters, I'm joining the Bonta Brigade lol
I agree. Bonta has been a great Attorney General and am fine with him being Governor from a competenecy standpoint and moving on from Newsom after all these years.
Daly City will also be fired up as California would have it's first Filipino Governor. The city has a substantial Filipino population.
I wish Mia Bonta could become AG after him lol. Tbh, that would be the more interesting open race with a lot more competent candidates that governor if he does move there.
Well, it may be a conflict of interest for Mia Bonta to be AG if Rob Bonta is Governor. After this, sure.
She would also be the first Puerto Rican to serve as AG. Xavier Becerra is Mexican.
Reminds me of the xkcd comic on standards. https://xkcd.com/927/
This is the same idea, but a little different: there are N candidates failing to break through for the top two primary. A potential candidate sees that, decides it's their shot to fix things by jumping in. End result: there are now N+1 candidates failing to break through for the top two primary.
I'm surprised so many of them are seeing this as a reason to jump in when the evidence is so clearly that of a reason to stay out.
Good God, we have to suffer Cauvin campaign ads.
Who?
JL Cauvin, Trump impersonator running in NJ 11
a beautiful district, but the clown car of people running for the seat makes me thankful I moved out of the district before the ads started. that's what they never tell you about jersey, you move here and every single year is a major election. The ads are never ending!