Congress
Former Rep. John Spratt remembered as ‘skilled and deeply principled lawmaker’
COLUMBIA, South Carolina — John Spratt, a former longtime Democratic congressman from South Carolina who successfully pushed for a balanced budget deal in the 1990s but was unseated decades later when his district turned Republican, has died. He was 82.
Spratt died Saturday night at home, surrounded by family, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, his daughter, Catherine Spratt, said in a post on Facebook.
Tributes quickly poured in for Spratt, who represented South Carolina’s 5th District for nearly 30 years.
Former President Bill Clinton hailed Spratt as a “skilled and deeply principled lawmaker” who was willing to work with anyone to pass legislation to make a difference in people’s lives.
In a condolence letter to the family, according to Spratt’s daughter, President Joe Biden wrote that, “Guided by his wit, wisdom, decency and grace, John deeply understood the promise of America, and he fought tirelessly to bring people together to help us live up to that promise.”
Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, in a post on X, called Spratt a man of “unmatched intellect, integrity, and kindness,” and said he would order flags across the state to be lowered to half-staff on the day of Spratt’s funeral.
Christale Spain, chair of South Carolina’s Democratic Party, said in a news release that Spratt “earned respect on both sides of the aisle, and he will be remembered for his courageous work to enhance and improve healthcare, support for our military, and his strengthening of rural communities leaves a lasting impact that will be felt for generations.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison, a South Carolina native, said he “often teased that Mr. Spratt had probably forgotten more about the federal budget than the majority of Members had ever known,” calling him “brilliant, kind, and beloved by many.”
First elected to Congress in 1982, Spratt rose through the ranks to become chairman of the House Budget Committee and the second-highest-ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
One of his proudest accomplishments, his daughter said, was his role in passing the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997.
“I’ll always be grateful for the chance to work with him, especially on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 which he co-authored and helped produce record surpluses,” Clinton said. “John was a true public servant and a really good man.”
As much of the South tilted toward the GOP, Spratt hung on to his congressional seat, fending off challengers as Republicans redrew congressional maps in their favor.
Spratt’s district had been in Democratic hands for more than 100 years until Republican Mick Mulvaney defeated Spratt in a 2010 race for the seat. Mulvaney held it for three terms before going on to serve President Donald Trump’s first administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and for more than a year, as acting White House chief of staff.
South Carolina now has six Republicans and one Democrat — Rep. Jim Clyburn, who recently won his 17th term representing the state’s 6th District — in its U.S. House delegation. Only one other district, the 1st, was briefly won by a Democrat before reverting to Republican hands.
“Serving in Congress with John Spratt was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” Clyburn wrote in a post on X, calling his former colleague “a friend and confidant, a colleague and counselor, and a mentor and partner,” as well as “an inconspicuous genius and the most ordinary, extraordinary person I have ever known.”
Spratt graduated from Davidson College, where he was student body president. Winning a Marshall Scholarship to Oxford, he studied economics, and earned a law degree from Yale. Spratt was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal after serving as a captain in the Army from 1969 to 1971, coming home to South Carolina that year to practice law with his father.
Eleven years later, he was elected to his first U.S. House term.
Survivors include his wife, Jane Stacy Spratt — to whom he was married for 56 years — three daughters, and several grandchildren.
House Democrats’ campaign arm is expanding its target list just three weeks ahead of Election Day, going on the air for the first time in four more districts with coordinated ad buys with the candidates.
The move, part of $13 million in coordinated ads launching this week across 39 districts and first shared with Blue Light News, is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s largest reach of investments this cycle as Republicans are working to defend a slew of redder seats in the final stretch.
The new districts include a toss-up race in Florida’s newly redrawn 22nd District, which Trump would have won by 10 points in 2024, as well as for Democrats’ uphill fight to defend Maine’s 2nd District, which President Donald Trump carried by nine points and where Democratic Rep. Jared Golden is retiring.
They’re also launching coordinated ads in New Jersey’s swingy 7th District, squarely within New York City’s expensive media market, where Democrats are working to unseat GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr.
The coordinated ad buys also include Texas’s redrawn 35th District, where Democrat Johnny Garcia is running neck and neck with Republican Carlos De La Cruz in a suburban San Antonio district Republicans drew to win that Trump would have carried by 10 points.
The DCCC’s move comes as President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc.-aligned super PAC and a leading House GOP super PAC are planning to ditch spending in a group of House races in the coming days, as they race to shore up other House seats and salvage the Senate GOP majority.
“As Republicans pull out of media markets and cede that they are no longer competitive in multiple districts, the DCCC is continuing to go on the offensive,” DCCC National Political Director Brooke Butler said.
The NRCC has been up with ads in the four districts for weeks.
“While Democrats are just now scraping together the cash to bail out their radical socialists in critical battleground districts, House Republicans have been dominating the airwaves in those same districts and dozens more for weeks,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said. “The DCCC is desperately playing catch-up where Republicans have already lapped them.”
The DCCC didn’t share the exact size of the specific coordinated ad buys, only saying they were six-figure commitments.
Former Rep. Mary Peltola raked in $17 million over the last three months, her campaign shared first with Blue Light News, a sizable haul for the Democratic challenger in one of the biggest Senate battlegrounds.
It’s Peltola’s largest quarterly fundraising total in her bid to oust GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. Her campaign also said it’s a record third-quarter sum for a Senate candidate in Alaska.
“Alaskans are sick and tired of DC politicians making life more expensive for everyone while they keep lining their own pockets, and they know it’s time for a change,” Peltola said in a statement thanking her supporters.
That total includes nearly $3 million in Peltola raised in July, before Alaska’s all-party primary in August, which was previously reported to the Federal Election Commission. Peltola’s campaign did not release her cash on hand for the quarter that ended Oct. 1.
Sullivan’s campaign has not yet released his third-quarter numbers. Sullivan had just under $7.3 million in cash on hand as of July 29, while Peltola had $4.6 million at that point.
Alaska has emerged as a core battleground this cycle as both parties reorient around redder states while Georgia and North Carolina tilt toward Democrats. Recent polls show a tight race.
Republicans are racing to shore up Sullivan in the four-way, ranked-choice general election in which the senator is also facing a same-name challenger in retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan. Some in the party fear he could siphon votes from the incumbent.
President Donald Trump is heading to Alaska for a rally later Tuesday in Wasilla that Sullivan is slated to attend, the senator’s campaign confirmed. Vice President JD Vance swung through the state last week.
Peltola’s fundraising prowess has helped her hold her own on the airwaves. Republicans hold a slim spending advantage on the TV ad reservations for the final three weeks of the campaign, with both parties posting over $9 million in reservations, per tracker AdImpact.
Republicans’ dreams of a productive lame-duck session are dimming.
Members returning to Washington post-election will have a mere 24 legislative days to get through a considerable list of must-pass bills and possibly messy internal leadership fights. That’s if they can overcome a potential transition of power on Capitol Hill and a foul national mood.
Lawmakers’ must-do list includes: an extension of government funding past Dec. 11 and the annual Pentagon policy bill. Major legislation to reauthorize farm, transportation and surveillance programs are also on deck.
Then there are pending bipartisan bills overhauling energy permitting and the college sports industry that many members are itching to get done.
And finally, leaders had deferred some GOP priorities — such as another party-line reconciliation bill or debt-limit increase through the end of President Donald Trump’s term.
All of the measures face their own potential political minefields individually, as well as a number of obstacles across the board:
— ATTENDANCE: There will be little incentive for lawmakers who just lost their seats — “free-range chickens,” some call them — to grind out legislative wins, if they come back at all.
“The question becomes: Who shows up for work after the elections?” Rep. Austin Scott said in an interview. “Attendance is an issue right now.”
— NEW LEVERAGE: If Democrats win control of either chamber, they’ll likely seek greater influence on legislation to push back on Trump’s actions.
For example, Democrats are fuming over the Trump administration’s recent decision to block roughly $1 billion in congressionally approved funding, which could complicate any deal on spending legislation. They’ve also blocked the annual Pentagon policy bill amid a standoff over the Iran war; and they may push for more concessions on the permitting deal.
“The lame duck will be quite different if we win the Senate,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a recent interview.
— GOP DISPUTES: While some Republicans believe that losing a chamber would jump-start the reconciliation process, others privately believe the exact opposite would happen, with incentives waning for exiting lawmakers, according to three GOP aides granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Other GOP senators, like Sen. Cynthia Lummis, are skeptical of a debt-limit increase.
A Democratic flip of the House could also spark a potentially chaotic cascade of GOP leadership elections (more on that below).
Sen. John Kennedy speculated Congress’ agenda would all come down to the vibes of the GOP conference when they returned.
“You have no idea what the mood is going to be,” Kennedy said.
What else we’re watching:
— JOHNSON SCRAMBLES LEADERSHIP OUTLOOK: Republicans are reassessing the dynamics of potential leadership races after Speaker Mike Johnson‘s comments Monday that he would run for minority leader if the GOP loses the House — just days after he floated leaving Congress altogether in that scenario. Many Republicans had predicted Johnson would step aside with a House flip, likely setting off a race between Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan for the top GOP spot. If Johnson stays put, his success may depend on the severity of the party’s loss and if Trump weighs in for a certain candidate. “I hope he’s smarter than that,” one House Republican said of Johnson’s consideration of the minority leader role. “It would end very badly and cause unnecessary damage to the conference.”
— DEMS GEAR UP ON TRADE OVERSIGHT — Democrats on the House Ways and Means, Senate Finance and other panels say Trump’s trade deals were corrupt, and they’re already lining up targets to probe. The party knows it can’t repeal Trump’s tariffs as long as he’s in the White House, but if they win control of Congress, they plan to haul in top administration officials and possibly executives to explain how Trump picked his targets in his trade war — and if others got a pass through suspected quid pro quos.
Jordain Carney, Daniel Desrochers and Oliver Ward contributed to this report.
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