Congress
Capitol agenda: Trump 1.0 enemies face brutal primaries
Democrats who rose to prominence as #Resistance figures during President Donald Trump’s first term are stumbling politically during his second.
The pileup illustrates a new era for the restive Democratic base, where vocal opposition to Trump through official channels and public remonstrations no longer guarantee success in the party’s primaries.
If Democrats retake the majority in the House, leaders will have to find a balance between their base’s appetite for holding Trump accountable and election results that some strategists say suggest Americans are ready to move past Trump.
“‘#Resistance’ was a very Trump 1.0 mood, and now we are in a different moment of anger,” said Lanae Erickson, senior vice president at center-left think tank Third Way. “They’re mad about the war. They’re mad about costs. They’re mad about the establishment not having delivered anything for them.”
Alexander Vindman’s stunning loss in Florida’s Senate primary to democratic socialist Angie Nixon was the latest example this week.
Vindman, a former National Security Council aide who testified during the 2019 House impeachment inquiry, made standing up to Trump a centerpiece of his campaign. But although his national profile helped haul in big money, it couldn’t overcome the shifting politics of the party base — a predicament that has left some Democrats rattled about their prospects in Trump’s home state.
“Vindman is a hero, but memories fade and the focus of most folks is on the cost of living,” said longtime Democratic strategist David Axelrod, adding that Nixon, “made those issues her focus.”
Vindman’s not alone in the political graveyard of Trump-resistance-fighter campaigns: Two of the 2021 House impeachment managers, Reps. Diana DeGette and Eric Swalwell saw their reelection prospects fall apart as well: DeGette lost her reelection bid to a democratic socialist this summer, while Swalwell dropped out of the California gubernatorial primary after a string of sexual assault allegations.
Rep. Dan Goldman, the lead majority counsel in the first Trump impeachment inquiry, was ousted in his primary. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the Oversight and Intelligence committees during the 2021 impeachment, fell short in his Senate bid. Reps. Shri Thanedar and Al Green, both of whom led impeachment pushes against Trump, were ousted by younger challengers.
Not all the races were defined by Trump accountability politics. But one Democratic operative said the throughline is that those struggling candidates are “institutionalists” who argued the justice system was going to hold Trump accountable. Now, voters who lost faith in those institutions after Trump returned to office were sold on other candidates’ messaging railing against those very systems.
“The prescription isn’t what they were looking for anymore,” the operative said.
What else we’re watching:
— BRAID PLANS WHITE HOUSE EXIT — James Braid, the top White House aide in charge of liaising with Congress, is leaving the administration, according to a person with knowledge of the transition, granted anonymity to discuss private plans.. Braid, from his perch as director of legislative affairs, has been responsible for shepherding Trump’s agenda through a narrow majority, a job that’s become increasingly difficult as the president clashes with members of his own party.
— FIRST IN IC: OLIVER GILBERT’S COMMITTEE HOPES — Retiring Rep. Frederica Wilson’s chosen successor is eyeing her spot on House Transportation and Infrastructure, along with other committees that impact the South Florida district. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert III on Tuesday won a crowded Democratic primary in the deep blue 24th District, almost guaranteeing he’ll take Wilson’s seat come November. In an interview Wednesday, Gilbert said he has “broad interests” but named the Transportation and Foreign Affairs committees as potential options for his desired policy work, along with the Appropriations and Judiciary panels.
Samuel Benson and Dasha Burns contributed to this report.
Sen. Ron Johnson is sending a letter Monday requesting a conference meeting to discuss the midterm results and a delay in the leadership election.
Johnson has gathered enough signatures to force the meeting under the Senate GOP’s rules and is proposing the gathering for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Tuesday’s result was a stunning defeat,” Johnson and his backers write in the letter to Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. “Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice”
Republicans still expect their leadership election to be held Tuesday, where Majority Leader John Thune is so far unopposed to lead the party next year in the minority.
Sen. Chris Murphy announced Friday that he has been released from the hospital after suffering a stroke last week, but will miss “several weeks” of Senate votes while he continues to recover.
“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement. “In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today.”
He added that he remains in touch remotely with his staff and colleagues.
Murphy, who was hospitalized last weekend, said Friday that he was “diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.” Jose Suarez, the Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a separate statement released by Murphy’s office that the senator “experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”
“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez added.
Murphy is the latest senator to suffer a stroke in recent years. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) were both hospitalized for strokes in 2022. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), at that time a Senate candidate, also had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal.
The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term.
“While some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,” Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. “Big majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.”
The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives — and any other faction in the caucus — could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.
Casar laid out a “three-pronged” strategy for the CPC to “wield our power” in the three-page memo — tackling legislation, oversight and “holding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.”
“Small majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,” he said.
Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that “one of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking” was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.
“While we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,” he said.
Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for “surveillance pricing,” health care companies that are “taking advantage of seniors” through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are “putting jobs and lives at risk.”
“By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,” he said.
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