Congress

Capitol agenda: Dems plot redistricting revenge

Published

2 months ago

May 14, 2026

Democrats are ready to play hardball after a stunning series of redistricting losses that could kneecap the party’s power in Congress for years to come.

“We’re going to win in November, and then we’re going to crush their souls as it relates to the extremism that they are trying to unleash on the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Wednesday.

Jeffries will hold a caucus-wide meeting Thursday morning with House Administration’s top Democrat Joe Morelle to discuss next steps on the party’s election security strategy.

The mid-decade map redrawing war marks a reversal from years of high-minded Democratic rhetoric that included advocating for independent redistricting commissions, campaign finance curbs and more. Democratic leaders are now openly discussing overriding those safeguards as Republicans use the courts and their control of state governments to consolidate and enhance their own party’s power.

Democrats’ call to action comes after the Supreme Court’s April decision to slash the Voting Rights Act, kicking off a GOP mad dash to crack majority Black, safe Democratic seats in the South. The Virginia Supreme Court’s rejection of a map last week that would’ve given Dems four new seats this year dealt another blow.

Jeffries and fellow Democratic leaders laid out an ambitious plan this week to redistrict before the 2028 elections in states like New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon and Washington where their party currently holds power but cannot immediately redraw House lines.

But opportunities to redistrict in 2026 are running dry for the party, except for a potential last-ditch pick-up in Maryland, where Democrats want to eliminate Rep. Andy Harris’ district even with the state’s primary two weeks away and mail-in ballots already issued.

Prominent Democrats are heavily pressuring state Senate President Bill Ferguson to move for a map redraw now after preventing the party from trying to draw an 8-0 map months ago, Gregory Svirnovskiy reports. Ferguson’s spokesperson Wednesday said the leader told Maryland’s governor he’s “open to a conversation about next steps.”

“At this point, the Republicans are literally doing everything in their power to create all Republican congressional delegations in the South and to squeeze out every possible seat,” Rep. Jamie Raskin told Blue Light News in an interview. “So if [Ferguson’s] initial position was that he didn’t want to be part of continuing a downward spiral, that consideration should be gone.”

The party’s anger also translates to a growing appetite to remake the Supreme Court, which many House Democrats say is ushering in an era of “Jim Crow 2.0.”

Rep. Johnny Olszewski, who has introduced legislation to term-limit the justices, said in an interview that the VRA ruling was “a straw that broke the camel’s back.” And Rep. Sean Casten said there are tools to “kneecap” the Supreme Court that Congress has never used, such as stripping their power to review lower court rulings.

“I think everybody from the top of our caucus to the bottom are saying we have got to push back on them,” Casten said.

— SURVEY SAYS: Separately, new results from a Blue Light News Poll show many Democratic voters want their party leaders to fight back hard — even if it means breaking up districts designed to protect the power of Black voters and other minority communities. Read the results here.

What else we’re watching:

— SENATE GOP COOL ON SUMMER RECONCILIATION 3.0 PLAN: Senate Republicans aren’t sold yet on their House counterparts’ plan to finish a third party-line spending package before summer recess. “We’re still working on reconciliation 2.0,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday when asked if his chamber was also planning a pre-recess timeline for a third bill.

— HOUSING BILL COMES TO HOUSE FLOOR: House GOP leadership is planning to put an amended housing bill up for a fast-track floor vote next week, despite President Donald Trump’s calls for the chamber to pass the Senate’s version as-is. Senior House lawmakers late Wednesday reached a bipartisan deal and released bill text. The final House text would maintain restrictions on Wall Street’s purchase of single-family homes — a priority for Trump — but would significantly scale back the Senate bill’s limitations on so-called institutional investors in the housing market.

Riley Rogerson, Andrew Howard, Erin Doherty, Jordain Carney, Kelsey Brugger, Katherine Hapgood and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

10 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

17 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

20 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”