Congress

GOP Drama: Cotton Seeks Intelligence Chair, Thwarting Cornyn

Published

2 years ago

December 11, 2024

Senate Republicans have discussed elevating Sen. John Cornyn to chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to party officials, a move that would hand Cornyn a prized gavel as consolation for losing his GOP leader bid and could help induce him to run for reelection in two years.

The complication, and almost certain deal-breaker: Cornyn would have to leapfrog the Republican next in line to chair the Intelligence Committee, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Cotton has privately made clear to Cornyn he would claim the position.

Likely ensuring Cotton’s ascension to the chair is the raw politics of last month’s Senate Republican leadership race between Cornyn and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). A select rather than standing committee, the intelligence panel’s chair is chosen by the majority leader. And Cotton supported Thune on the private ballot, according to a third Senate Republican, and now Thune is poised to reward him rather than the man he defeated.

A spokesperson for Thune declined to comment.

Asked if he expects to claim the gavel, Cotton on Tuesday said, “No comment.”

On Tuesday night, Cotton spokeswoman Caroline Tabler said: “Senator Thune has told Senator Cotton he’s taking over as chair. He is hiring staff, working with Senator [Marco] Rubio (R-Fla.) on the transition, and planning with Senator [Mark] Warner (D-Va.) for January confirmation hearings.”

A Cornyn representative declined to comment.

But I’m told the Arkansan has already started hiring staff and refused to be coaxed into letting Cornyn take the chair, which will be open because of Rubio’s appointment as Secretary of State. Cornyn approached Cotton to take his temperature about the post last month after the leader race, I’m told by a Republican senator, and Cotton responded by saying: “I’m going to be the chairman.”

Donald Trump is close to Texas Attorney General Paxton, who played a key role in the president-elect’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

Cornyn said after his defeat in the leader race that he planned to seek a fifth term in 2026. Yet some of the Texan’s colleagues are more skeptical, in part because Cornyn could face a formidable primary challenge from state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Offering Cornyn, a 72-year-old former judge well-liked by his colleagues, control of the panel that oversees the country’s intelligence programs was seen as a win-win, according to two GOP officials who described the considerations. He’d claim a weighty position at a moment of conflict abroad and tensions at home over the country’s intelligence and law enforcement services. And Cotton would not be without a significant post, after his victory last month for conference chair, the third-ranking slot in the Senate GOP leadership.

Cornyn served as the second-ranking Senate Republican and chaired the NRSC but, as he enters his 22nd year in the chamber, has yet to chair a committee. And because he came to the intelligence panel later in his career than 47-year-old Cotton, who was first elected to the Senate in 2014, he’s more junior than his much younger colleague.

Some well-placed Republicans hoped Cotton could be satisfied, and occupied, with his new leadership post as Senate GOP conference chair. Other Republican officials, though, were skeptical that Cotton, an Army veteran who was also eyed for a national security appointment in the Trump administration, would be so benevolent as to give up the gavel.

The previously unreported discussions among GOP senators come weeks after Cornyn fell five votes short to Thune, a race the Texan had planned for years and privately expressed confidence he would win. Lamenting the uncertainty of the secret ballot contest after his loss, the Texan ruefully identified with another lawmaker who was defeated for a leadership position and was forced to write “27 thank you notes for 24 votes.”

A close ally of former President George W. Bush and Karl Rove, Cornyn was state attorney general before claiming his Senate seat in Bush’s first midterm election. He went on to become Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s deputy for six years and, since leaving the leadership, has become something of a deal-maker. He helped negotiate, for example, the bipartisan firearms bill that passed the Senate after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Ever the affable and even-keeled jurist, Cornyn has not had a natural relationship with Trump. But the senator has tried to sustain a relationship with the once and future president, an effort which may have ensured Trump’s neutrality in the leader race. After meeting this week with Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director and the author of an enemies list of Trump adversaries, Cornyn said he was “inclined to support him, barring some unforeseen circumstances.”

Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, meets with Cornyn in his office in the Hart Senate Office Building on Dec. 9.

The test of Cornyn’s friendship with the president-elect, though, will come should the much-anticipated showdown between the senator and Paxton, Texas’s current attorney general, come to fruition. Trump is close to Paxton, who played a key role in the president-elect’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

And now that Trump is in charge of the Department of Justice once more, it’s highly unlikely the federal corruption probe into Paxton will continue. The Texas attorney general has already been acquitted by the Texas Senate in an impeachment trial and agreed to a deal on local charges, for which he’d perform community service and avoid a guilty plea.

Paxton has been circling Cornyn, and without much subtlety, so much so that last year the senator memorably shot back: “Hard to run from prison, Ken.”

Since losing his race against Thune, Cornyn has publicly and privately insisted he will run again in 2026, seeking to serve in the Senate for the remainder of his 70s.

If he does fend off Paxton, though, Cornyn is in line to be Senate Finance chair in 2027.

Invoking the lawmaker he succeeded, Cornyn noted that former Sen. Phil Gramm, while not in “elected leadership, was always in the middle of some of the hardest issues that confronted the Congress and was a warrior. And I think it’s a pretty good role model.”

There is, though, another model. After former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, a Wyoming Republican who like Cornyn had served as whip, lost a leadership race by a single vote after Republicans claimed the majority in 1994, he retired when his term was up two years later.

Congress

Kathy Hochul is trying to hold the center in a disruptive political age

Published

10 hours ago

September 7, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

ALBANY, New York — In a time of massive political upheaval, Gov. Kathy Hochul is selling herself as a conventional politician.

Thrust into the job five years ago, Hochul is running for a second full term without the baggage of Andrew Cuomo, her scandal-scarred predecessor. She has a package of policy wins to tout — like banning cellphones in schools, no-cost child care and an effort to lower car insurance rates. A prodigious fundraiser, Hochul also has a mammoth cash advantage over her Republican rival, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

Yet there are nagging worries among New York Democrats.

Frustrated voters are rejecting incumbents and establishment-backed candidates. An ascendant left is putting centrist Democrats on their back foot and providing a convenient foil for Republicans to exploit. Sweeping affordability woes and the perception that people are less financially secure than prior generations are driving voters to embrace populist, charismatic candidates.

And then there’s New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has formed a steady, pragmatic relationship with the governor, but is nevertheless highly polarizing to moderate Jewish voters and the business community. Blakeman has sought to leverage that by frequently blaming both Hochul and Mamdani for crime and high taxes.

Ratcheting up the pressure is Hochul’s need to perform well at the top of the ticket and help push down-ballot Democrats over the finish line, including those in moderate suburban enclaves. Success would enable the governor to reverse the perception — stoked by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi four years ago — that her 2022 campaign’s weak showing against Republican Lee Zeldin kept the House in GOP hands.

Hochul’s campaign referred Blue Light News to an ally, Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, for comment.

“Voters are increasingly calling BS on the sort of typical politicians and the establishment is not delivering,” he said. “The reason why Gov. Hochul is in such a strong position is because she’s so ruthlessly focused on delivering and she has delivered.”

New York is home to a handful of contested House districts that will potentially determine which party controls the chamber and the course of President Donald Trump’s final two years in office. Those stakes have led Hochul to significantly expand the New York Democratic Party’s infrastructure — long a political fiefdom solely meant to aid a governor — to support local candidates.

To win reelection by a comfortable margin — her supporters believe it should be by at least 10 points — Hochul must hold together an increasingly fraught Democratic coalition, riven by debates over socialism, Israel and how aggressively to fight Trump.

“Kathy Hochul has prided herself on being a mom governor and you see those motherly attributes coming out in how she runs the government,” said former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Hochul ally. “She’s someone who keeps all the balls in the air at one time, but simultaneously unites everybody. It’s about the grind and moving forward. It’s not about giving grand speeches or winning over the media with flashiness — it’s about getting it done.”

Hochul, a 68-year-old moderate who has spent much of her professional life in elected office, would appear to be an unlikely fit for this tumultuous moment. The mild mannered Buffalo-native does not lean on bombast. And she can appear purposefully hokey, like in her recent video with actor Kevin Bacon to promote the repeal of an anti-dancing regulation in bars.

This sedate public persona hasn’t lit voters aflame. A Siena Research Institute survey last month found her drawing only 49 percent of the vote to Blakeman’s 39 percent. Just 48 percent of voters in this deep blue state have a favorable view of her, even as many of her policies — like attempts to curb Trump’s deportation campaign and a data center moratorium — are popular.

Republicans want to capitalize on her so-so polling and persistent voter fears over public safety. They have hammered the governor over the cost of living in a deeply expensive state, blaming her for rising utility costs. Blakeman’s light-on-policy campaign has pledged to cut utility bills in half and significantly reduce taxes without explaining how he would accomplish either task.

The 70-year-old Republican nominee has hugged Trump tightly during the campaign, showing no daylight with the president even as gas prices have soared due to the war in Iran and upstate farmers have decried the impact of his tariff regime. Blakeman hosted Trump at an August campaign-style rally in which Republican speakers blasted Democrats over public safety with cheering police officers behind them.

Hochul’s campaign is eagerly highlighting the Trump-Blakeman dynamic: One of her first TV ads concludes with Blakeman declaring “peace, love and Donald Trump.”

“Everyone wants to talk about individual issues, but this is still an election on where Donald Trump stands with voters in New York — whether Democrats perceive the governor will be a voice in opposition to Donald trump or if Bruce Blakeman is going to be in lockstep with his policies,” said Jay Martin, a strategist who is working on a pro-Hochul super PAC. “That’s really the question that’s going to be answered.”

Blakeman is considered by Republicans to be their best bet to bolster down-ballot GOP candidates, especially on bellwether Long Island, where Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen are trying to hold their suburban swing seats. Blakeman has touted his ability to twice win purplish Nassau County, where Mamdani remains a deep concern for suburban voters. Those vulnerable House Democrats, as well as upstate congressional contender Blake Gendebien, have kept Hochul at arm’s length — an indication they believe her presence would hurt their chances of winning.

The Republican’s campaign, meanwhile, has eagerly laced into Mamdani and his alliance with Hochul. Blakeman has churned out videos produced with artificial intelligence depicting a smiling mayor and governor walking together. He pledged to repeal a surcharge on costly second homes in New York City that was proposed by Hochul and enthusiastically cheered by Mamdani.

And Blakeman slammed the governor for appearing at an Islamic cultural center in a head scarf, calling her “Hijab Hochul.”

“Less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, this kind of political pandering is especially tone-deaf,” he posted on X.

(Hochul’s campaign was quick to amplify that Blakeman appeared in religious garb while attending a Sikh center.)

After Trump posted about the hard scarf photo, Hochul responded: “I’ll never apologize for treating people of any faith with dignity, no matter how Islamophobic you and your enablers are.”

While significantly lagging the governor in fundraising, Blakeman has deep-pocketed allies, including New York Knicks owner James Dolan, the top donor to a super PAC supporting the GOP nominee’s bid. And Republicans believe there is a path, given the Democratic Party’s factionalism and voters’ affordability woes that have proven troublesome to incumbents.

“He needs to raise more money to do the traditional ways of introducing him as a viable alternative to Kathy Hochul — I think he is, but obviously money is the next star that has to align,” former Republican Rep. Tom Reed said. “He doesn’t have to match her one to one. The path is aligning itself.”

Blakeman will also need to win over pockets of voters who have traditionally supported Democrats — moderates who are uncomfortable with the party’s leftward drift in the Trump 2.0 era and continue to be concerned with the cost of living. And while Republicans haven’t won a statewide race since 2006, public polling this year shows independent voters are consistently disgruntled with the direction of the state.

“The traditional red-versus-blue analysis is going out the door,” Reed said. “You saw Trump tap in with the African-American vote, the trades — it’s a reflection of that,” Reed said. “It’s an opportunity for those of the silent majority that are just sick and tired of the status quo, big party bosses, they think they can just phone it in and not listen to the people of New York.”

But Zeldin’s 2022 bid — conducted in the middle of Joe Biden’s single-term presidency — still had trouble making sufficient in-roads in Democratic-dominated New York City.

Mamdani’s successful mayoral campaign last year signaled a different kind of political realignment. He knit together a coalition of mostly young voters upset with costs and highly skeptical of establishment politicians like his main opponent, Cuomo.

But Mamdani’s rise has also unnerved New York’s large Jewish population. Business leaders have been uneasy with his unapologetic battle cry to raise taxes on wealthy people and large corporations. And he has struggled to win over older Black and Latino voters — people who’ve traditionally been the backbone of the New York Democratic Party.

The governor sidestepped what stood to be a divisive primary fight when Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado dropped his long-shot bid after Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed her reelection. Hochul’s team purposefully declined to directly attack Delgado — a strategic decision that helped keep the party together. She’s been able to work well with the mayor, forgoing the historic tensions that arise between governors and mayors. Unlike some moderate Democrats, Hochul has not excoriated the hard left in her party while making clear she disagrees with them on issues like Israel and hiking taxes.

Hochul told Blue Light News in August that she expects Mamdani will be “helpful” to her campaign. But it’s an open question as to whether the mayor’s supporters can be sufficiently marshaled to support his Albany ally. At the same time, Hochul must delicately thread a needle to ensure that she does not alienate those within her own coalition who are disquieted by Mamdani’s success.

“Mamdani is a double-edged sword for the governor,” said Evan Thies, a Democratic strategist and former political adviser to ex-Mayor Eric Adams. “The numbers show he can turn out Democratic voters for her in the city — but also that he can hurt her elsewhere.”

Congress

How Talarico is countering Trump’s midterms convention

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

James Talarico is planning to counterprogram President Donald Trump’s GOP midterms convention in Dallas with a focus on affordability.

The idea from the Texas Democratic Senate candidate and seminarian: host a statewide “Love Thy Neighbor” food drive to offer a contrast with Republicans coming to town and highlight the high cost of groceries, according to plans shared first with Blue Light News.

“Next week, billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians will gather at a convention in Dallas to clink champagne glasses and toast their own corruption. They’re paying $20,000 for entry to a Billionaire Ball celebrating corrupt tariffs, billionaire tax breaks, and a new forever war that are all driving grocery costs through the roof,” Talarico said in a statement to Blue Light News. “We’ll be doing something different. We’re bringing Republicans, Democrats, and Independents together to collect groceries for our neighbors who have been screwed over by corrupt politicians.”

The campaign said it will “mobilize volunteers to collect, sort, and donate groceries for middle class Texans struggling with the high price of groceries.” The event will last from Sunday, Sept. 6 through Wednesday, Sept. 9 — the same day the GOP convention kicks off.

Talarico is also expected to field media interviews in a large warehouse near the convention.

“Texans across the political spectrum will come together to build community, show up for their neighbors, and take power back for working people,” the campaign said in a statement.

A recent poll conducted by Texas Public Opinion Research poll released last week showed Talarico leading ,his opponent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 48 percent to 42 percent.

Trump this week said he would campaign for Paxton soon.

Congress

‘I don’t think anyone is really comfortable’: Democrat leading on AI raises alarms at Trump, Zuckerberg call

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A House Democrat trying to lead her party on artificial intelligence policy sent a warning shot Friday to tech CEOs trying to undermine efforts to regulate the fast-growing technology.

In an interview, Rep. Lori Trahan raised alarm bells over a POLITICO report detailing attempts by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to personally discourage President Donald Trump from moving ahead with plans to establish an independent AI regulator modeled after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.

“I don’t think anyone is really comfortable when they see tech executives who are sitting on the stage at the president’s inauguration, and have had to pay millions of dollars to this fund and that fund, calling the shots,” said the Massachusetts Democrat.

Allowing Zuckerberg to call the shots on the proposed AI commission would be tantamount to “a complete abdication of Congress,” Trahan continued. She also suggested would use her perch on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to work with other Democrats to haul in industry executives like Zuckerberg to testify, should Democrats win back the House majority in the midterms.

“Congress’ job is to do oversight and to have those hearings,” she said. “And I think we would learn a lot from those hearings so that we can put pen to paper on thoughtful proposals. So yes, there have been a number of people, myself included, who have called for those hearings, and I think we’re going to continue to do that.”

Trahan is poised to be a major player in the coming weeks and months when it comes to AI, especially if Democrats prevail in the November elections and are forced to solidify a position on the subject; the party is currently all over the map.

Unlike other Democrats who have retreated to their corners to work on partisan proposals, Trahan has gone out on a limb by crossing the aisle to broker a deal on a bipartisan AI safety bill with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) — a package that was originally met with disdain by members of both parties.

She announced this week she would opt out of a run for a place in House Democratic leadership after being widely expected to make a play in the next Congress — in part, she said, to continue working on AI issues.

But Trahan’s comments Friday illustrate the deep distrust among Democrats, herself included, over the GOP approach to AI regulation — from Republicans waffling on whether they support the proliferation of data centers to Trump’s recent call with Zuckerberg.

Her calls are consistent with left-leaning members like Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has been at the forefront of the most aggressive proposals to crack down on top tech companies.

“The CEOs of Anthropic and OpenAI say that cutting edge AI could be as dangerous as nuclear weapons,” Casar said Thursday on X in response to the Blue Light News report. “But Trump is conspiring with billionaires for this technology to be regulated like … Hollywood movies.”

Trahan said Friday that “reasonable people can disagree on what regulatory construct we come up with” governing development and use of AI.

But, she added, “what I don’t think the American people agree with is that Mark Zuckerberg and President Trump are going to figure that out on a phone call.”