Congress

Mike Johnson’s longtime chief of staff to depart in June

Published

5 months ago

May 29, 2026

Hayden Haynes, Speaker Mike Johnson’s longtime chief of staff, will leave the job in June, Johnson’s office confirmed Friday.

Haynes will be replaced by Garrett Fultz, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff.

Haynes has been by Johnson’s side for all of his key achievements since ascending to the speakership in 2023, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping domestic megabill considered the signature legislative accomplishment of President Donald Trump’s second term. The bill made it through the House by just a single vote last summer.

But his time in Johnson’s office has not been without controversy. In March 2025, he was arrested for a DUI on the night of Trump’s joint address to Congress. Haynes pleaded not guilty the following month.

Johnson stood by his top aide.

“I’ve worked with him,” he told reporters after Haynes’ arrest. “He’s trusted and respected. And he has my full faith and confidence.”

Punchbowl News first reported Haynes’ imminent departure.

Congress

Asian voters are swinging toward Talarico in Texas. Dems still say more outreach is needed.

Published

6 minutes ago

October 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Some Democrats want their party to focus on winning back Asian American voters after they swung toward President Donald Trump in 2024. A new poll out of Texas may help their case.

The October poll, conducted by a University of California-San Diego pollster and commissioned by the left-leaning Asian Americans Texas Action Fund, found Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico leading GOP nominee Ken Paxton by nearly 17 points with Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. But, in the closing stretch of the midterms, the vast majority of respondents said they hadn’t seen direct engagement from either campaign.

More than 70% of Asian American voters said they hadn’t been directly contacted by the Talarico campaign, and 81% said they hadn’t been contacted by Paxton’s campaign, according to the findings, obtained by Blue Light News.

“After this season in Texas, it’ll be undeniable that Asian Americans are that margin of victory electorate that all campaigns need to pay attention to,” said Stephanie Cho, the executive director of Asian Americans Texas Action Fund.

Texas has been hit particularly hard by the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and the economic turmoil of rising prices. GOP statewide candidate Bo French’s xenophobic post about a group of Asian American students attending a University of Texas football game also thrust racial politics back into the spotlight.

Democrats have focused on making inroads with Hispanic voters that moved right in 2024: Counties that were more than 25 percent Hispanic swung toward Trump by 10 points compared to the previous presidential election, according to a New York Times analysis. But data shows Asian Americans have similarly slipped away from Democrats. Exit polls show Asian American voters swung toward Trump by 12 points, from 2020 to 2024.

Lawmakers, including Democratic Sens. Andy Kim (N.J.) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) have hit the campaign trail for various candidates, hoping to energize AAPI communities.

Kim, who appeared with Talarico at an event in September, told POLITICO at the time that AAPI voters “don’t feel like they’re being courted, or being targeted, or being sought after.”

“We started to take the Asian Americans for granted and did not understand some of the divisions that occur within the community,” Duckworth said in an interview. Earlier this month, she was in Atlanta holding a forum about the importance of the Asian American vote with Sen. Jon Ossoff and a fundraiser for AAPI Victory Fund, a PAC that boosts Asian American candidates.

The new poll, which surveyed 1,242 registered AAPI voters from Oct. 4 to 13 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points, also found that two-thirds of respondents think Talarico needs to do more to earn their vote — that’s virtually unchanged from the percentage who said this back in June. The numbers are worse for Paxton, with nearly 77% of voters saying the Republican needs to do more to earn their vote, a 7-point increase from June.

Talarico’s campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement that Talarico “has fought tirelessly for Texas’ AAPI community in the Texas House, and will build on that record in the U.S. Senate.”

“He has spoken out against anti-Asian and Islamophobic hate, celebrated cultural events and hosted community engagements with AAPI Texans, and is endorsed by AAPI candidates across Texas,” Ennis said.

A spokesperson for Paxton didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Jeffries edges closer to Hegseth impeachment as he eyes the gavel

Published

52 minutes ago

October 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries inched closer to calling for embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s impeachment over the weekend, pledging to take action if President Donald Trump doesn’t remove him.

“It means that we’re going to hold him accountable in the same way that we held Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem accountable,” Jeffries said to MS NOW on Saturday. “And Pete Hegseth needs to be pushed aside by the president, or we’re going to have to deal with that situation if he is not.”

The House minority leader, however, stopped short of explicitly committing to launching or supporting an impeachment of Hegseth, who has drawn ire from lawmakers in both parties.

The House could vote on articles of impeachment filed by the outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) as soon as lawmakers return to Washington after the midterms. Asked about his support, Jeffries said he will “act consistently” with his repeated calls for Trump to fire Hegseth.

Massie pledged to reintroduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth when Congress returns to Washington in a post on the social media site X on Monday morning.

Jeffries’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democrats, who are favored to take control of the House after the midterms, have vowed to go after Trump officials and allies using their oversight powers. The Pentagon has been a particularly prominent target, including over the war in Iran and allegations of war crimes, scrutiny of Pentagon business dealings and the removal of senior military officers.

“Hegseth and crew better buckle up and lawyer up because we are coming at them full on,” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) told Blue Light News last month. “It’s incredibly aggressive oversight because this is by far the most corrupt and least transparent Pentagon, I think, we’ve ever had.”

The secretary is also in hot water with the American public. Nearly two-thirds of 2024 Democratic voters and 20% of Republicans support his impeachment, according to data from The POLITICO Poll released earlier this month. Even 18% of MAGA Republicans say they favor Hegseth’s ouster.

“Hakeem Jeffries cheered on Joe Biden as he prioritized DEI and woke ideology at the Pentagon,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “Secretary Hegseth is doing a great job leading the Pentagon — and the results of Operations Epic Fury, Absolute Resolve, and Midnight Hammer [speak] for themselves.”

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

Leo Shane III contributed to this report.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Sanders could soon get a Senate bully pulpit

Published

8 hours ago

October 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Bernie Sanders is already the most prominent voice on the American left. Now he’s on the brink of getting a powerful perch to do something about it.

Sanders is poised to lead Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions if Democrats flip the chamber next week — a chance to push the party further left and shape the next presidential contest in which he’s signaled he’s unlikely to be a candidate.

“If I have anything to say about it … the agenda of the Democratic Party is going to be extremely bold,” the 85-year-old independent said. “We’re going to do what the American people want.”

Sanders’ term runs through 2030, and with President Donald Trump in the White House for at least two more years, it’s unlikely many of his sweeping legislative dreams will be fulfilled anytime soon. But with a role atop the health panel, Sanders could leverage any Trump veto of his legislation along with his own oversight powers to paint the party’s priorities for voters heading into 2028.

He’s already signaling he would make a “Medicare for All” universal health plan a signature push next year.

As for labor matters, Sanders has said he would try to raise the minimum wage, advance legislation that would expand employees’ ability to unionize and also protect workers from artificial-intelligence-driven job loss.

On education, Sanders has called to make four-year public college tuition-free and to raise teacher pay.

During his first round with the HELP gavel in 2023 and 2024, Sanders’ legislative plans were stymied by a GOP-controlled House and more moderate Democratic colleagues.

But the Senate Democratic Caucus and the party writ large have moved closer toward Sanders since then, and several of the Senate’s 2028 White House hopefuls are from the left.

Sanders may also find himself with a GOP counterpart more willing to play ball to hold administration officials accountable. Sen. Lisa Murkowski — who has raised concerns about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — could become the top Republican on HELP if Sen. Rand Paul continues to lead Homeland Security.

Joseph Geevarghese — the executive director of Our Revolution, which Sanders founded but is now an independent organization — added that a Chair Sanders “would put the affordability crisis at the center of what an opposition party should be doing” while extracting concessions from the Trump administration for working families.

“In that sense, he could become the party’s de facto leader,” Geevarghese added.

What else we’re watching:

— DEMS PLAN TRUMP TARGET FOR EPSTEIN PROBE — House Democrats are making increasingly clear they have no plans to abandon their line of inquiry into whether Trump was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, should they retake the majority in the midterms. A new report, titled “The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ’s Desperate Efforts to Cover It Up,” lists five women who have accused Trump “of raping or sexually assaulting them” in the company of Epstein.

— BLANCHE ON ALASKA: ‘THERE COULD BE A CRIME’ — Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the newly filed lawsuit to prevent Alaska state officials from certifying November’s election results if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. In a Sunday BLN interview, host Dana Bash asked what crime the administration was arguing was being committed, Blanche replied, “It depends.” “There could be a crime,” said Blanche. “But the real wrong here is that Alaskans are going to be confused and will not have their vote heard.”

Jordain Carney, Chris Marquette, Cheyanne M. Daniels contributed to this report.