Congress
Capitol agenda: Dems want Schumer silent on Maine
Nobody understands the stakes of finding a replacement for Graham Platner quite like Chuck Schumer.
But nobody in his party is suggesting he should have anything to do with it.
The anti-establishment fervor energizing Democrats’ voter base is putting Schumer and other party leaders in a delicate spot. They are aching to ensure whomever may take Platner’s place on the ballot is better vetted after POLITICO’s exclusive reporting on allegations of sexual assault against him, which Platner denies.
Still, even the appearance of the Senate minority leader controlling voters’ choice is stoking fears of deflated turnout and internal fighting that could risk the chance to unseat GOP Sen. Susan Collins and snatch the chamber’s majority.
“The opposite of maximally participatory is any version of events where Chuck Schumer and out-of-step party leaders in D.C. are calling the shots for Maine Democratic Party leaders,” Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green said in an interview. Green’s group had backed Platner before pulling their support Monday and pushing for another progressive pick.
“This can’t happen as a party insider backroom deal,” Sen. Chris Murphy posted on X. “Voters are sick of the status quo and they need to have a say here – or our party will squander whatever credibility we have left.”
To be clear: Platner has not dropped out of the race, despite the vast majority of Democratic senators Schumer leads calling for him to step aside. He has until July 13 to make a decision, and the Maine Democratic Party would need to name his replacement by July 27.
Meanwhile, that group Tuesday night accused Platner’s team itself of attempting to “put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like,” according to a press release. The organization tried to assure voters it was committed to an “open, inclusive, transparent, and fair,” path forward.
Platner’s campaign responded to the claim by saying it had reached out to the state party to discuss the possible process of replacing him.
“While Graham wouldn’t want to be a part of the process, he would want to make sure the voters and volunteers make this decision — not the political establishment,” a spokesperson said.
Lauren French, a spokesperson for the Senate Majority PAC, a group aligned with Schumer, said “this should be a Maine-centric decision.”
But as high as the stakes are for the party, the stakes are similarly high for Schumer, whose leadership has been challenged across the Democratic Senate map, including in Maine as his handpicked candidate Gov. Janet Mills struggled mightily before suspending her campaign in April.
“[Schumer] knows it’s important in their calculus to win the Senate so I don’t see him turning a blind eye to this,” said one veteran Democratic strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “But yes if people think he’s tipping the scales or something there’s going to be more fighting.”
Spokespeople for Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
In another sign of the toxicity of showing establishment ties at this moment, one potential Maine candidate expressed doubt about supporting Schumer as leader if elected.
“I think that’s a question to be determined,” Nirav Shah, who said he is “evaluating” jumping in the race, told Alec Hernandez in an interview. “I’ve got concerns, as do many, with his leadership, but that’s not a question I want to go to right now.”
Read also: Maine Democratic voters are wary about repeating mistakes of 2024
What else we’re watching:
— MCCONNELL’S ABSENCE COMPLICATES PENTAGON BUDGET BOOST PLANS: Sen. Mitch McConnell’s uncertain health status threatens to upend Trump’s defense budget plans at a critical moment for the Iran war and midterms. The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican was admitted to a Washington hospital June 14 for undisclosed medical issues, and his staff has not offered any information on when he will return to Capitol Hill. McConnell — who chairs the Senate Appropriations panel that controls Pentagon spending — will be key in moving any of the multiple funding plans forward that Trump is pushing.
— FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: JOHNSON EYES PREGNANT TOURIST MEASURE: Speaker Mike Johnson is exploring whether to put legislation on the House floor that would end the ability of pregnant women to enter the United States legally to gain citizenship for their children. The possible vote, described by four people granted anonymity to share details of private conversations, would be a way for Johnson to appease hard-liners who are demanding action on birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump administration efforts to undermine it.
Leo Shane III, Connor O’Brien, Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, wants the Justice Department to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and limit the scope of a tax audit immunity component of the pact.
Trump told reporters earlier Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t.”
“I’d like to see them compensated,” he added, referring to people he considers victims of government abuse, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
To advance Tuesday, Blanche needs to pick up Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another senator on the panel with similar concerns. He can’t lose any GOP votes if he wants to be reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.
Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.
Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.
After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.
He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.
President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.
Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.
“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”
On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.
“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.
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