Congress
State of Congress: Republicans near formal House majority
More than a week after Election Day, there are just a dozen House races left uncalled by The Associated Press. Republicans currently have 216 seats — just two away from formally clinching the majority — while Democrats have 207. In the remaining uncalled contests, Republicans currently lead in six, while Democrats have the advantage in six.
Iowa’s 1st: Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) leads by a razor-thin 731 votes over Democrat Christina Bohannan, but the AP has not yet called the race. (Miller-Meeks is no stranger to tight races, having won her first bid for Congress by just six votes.) The incumbent announced her bid for House Republican Conference secretary, a leadership post, on Tuesday citing in part her ability to win tight battleground races. A recount is possible in this contest.
Maine’s 2nd: The state kicked off its ranked-choice voting procedures on Tuesday, and officials projected the process could take three to five days. Democratic Rep. Jared Golden led by just 726 votes over GOP nominee Austin Theriault as the process kicked off.
Oregon’s 5th: Democrat Janelle Bynum has declared victory over incumbent GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. But the AP has not yet called the race, despite Bynum’s lead of more than 10,000 votes. If the margin holds, the Democrat would flip control of the seat and become the first Black member of Congress from Oregon.
California’s 21st: Despite being neck and neck on election night with his unheralded GOP challenger, Rep. Jim Costa (D) has settled into a more comfortable position as further Democratic-friendly ballot drops have emerged. He now leads by almost 4 percentage points — more than 5,000 votes — in his bid for reelection in this Central Valley seat.
California’s 9th: Incumbent Rep. Josh Harder (D) has claimed victory in his reelection bid over much-touted Stockton, California, Mayor Kevin Lincoln (R), though the AP has yet to formally call the contest. Harder’s lead stands at more than 7,000 votes — nearly four percentage points.
Alaska at-large: A large batch of ballots posted late Tuesday did little to benefit Rep. Mary Peltola (D), who still trails GOP challenger Nick Begich by nearly 10,000 votes with more than 90 percent of ballots in. However, Begich is currently short of the 50 percent threshold to win outright, potentially triggering the state’s ranked-choice voting procedures next week.
California’s 41st: Longtime Rep. Ken Calvert (R) saw his lead over Democrat Will Rollins grow to more than 8,000 votes on Tuesday. He’s claimed victory in his reelection bid, though Rollins has yet to concede.
California’s 13th: Incumbent Rep. John Duarte (R) got several friendly ballot drops on Tuesday, keeping his lead over Democrat Adam Gray at slightly more than 3,100 votes. There’s still about 30 percent of the vote left to count, so this one could come down to the wire depending on what ballots are still out there.
Arizona’s 6th: It’s not been formally called yet, but Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R) leads Democrat Kirsten Engel by nearly 6,900 votes — or 1.8 percentage points — in this purple Arizona seat.
California’s 45th: Democratic challenger Derek Tran keeps winning new batches of counted ballots handily and eating into the election night lead held by incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel (R). She lost another 1,600 votes from that lead on Tuesday from a batch of 9,160 votes — and Steel’s lead is now just 2,272 votes.
Ohio’s 9th: The longest-serving woman in congressional history, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D), appears to have held onto her right-leaning seat by a hair — 1,193 votes. Her race against GOP nominee Derek Merrin has not been called by the AP, with more outstanding absentee and provisional ballots to count, but Kaptur has claimed victory.
California’s 47th: This race has also not been called, but Democrat Dave Min claimed victory on Tuesday night over GOP nominee Scott Baugh as late batches of ballots have consistently broken his way. Baugh later conceded as well. Min’s lead is now nearly 6,000 votes in what would be a major hold of an open swing seat being vacated by Rep. Katie Porter (D).
Pennsylvania Senate: Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) trimmed Sen.-elect David McCormick’s advantage in the contest — called by the AP — to under 29,300 votes in the latest counting Tuesday and isn’t conceding. “I want to make sure that we can count the votes and make a determination about who won and who lost,” Casey said on Capitol Hill as he walked to vote Tuesday.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who headed the Senate Democratic campaign arm this cycle, said Casey “definitely” still had a path for victory. “There are a lot of votes to count,” Peters told reporters. “They have provisional ballots. They tend to break his way, so we’ll have to see how many there are and wait for every vote to be counted.”
Republicans, meanwhile, welcomed McCormick to Senate orientation Tuesday and argued Casey needed to concede.
Called races by the AP on Tuesday: Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Rep.-elect George Whitesides (D-Calif.), Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), Rep.-elect Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) and Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.)
Note: Valadao and Newhouse are the only remaining House GOP members who voted to impeach President-elect Donald Trump over his handling of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Both won reelection on Tuesday.
Congress
Massie files to run in 2028 after losing House primary
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie filed on Monday to run for his Kentucky House seat in 2028, less than a week after losing a primary fight against a challenger backed by President Donald Trump.
Massie became the latest victim of Trump’s revenge tour last week when former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein successfully ousted him in a primary that shattered electoral spending records.
Trump repeatedly railed against Massie, who has broken with the president on several high-profile issues in recent months, including the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran. Massie also helped lead the congressional effort to force Trump to release the federal government’s files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Advertising spending in his primary fight — the most expensive on record — surpassed $32 million as pro-Israel interest groups poured millions into the effort to unseat Massie, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel during his time in Congress.
Massie said in a Monday afternoon statement that the move would allow him “to raise funds to continue my political operations supporting my position as a current office holder and as a potential candidate for federal office,” adding that he had not yet decided which office to seek.
Trump also succeeded in pushing out other Republicans who challenged his leadership in Louisiana and Georgia last week, with GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Brad Raffensperger both losing to Trump-endorsed opponents.
The president also forced out several Indiana state lawmakers who opposed his nationwide redistricting efforts earlier this month, once more proving his iron grip on the party.
But Republicans in Congress and GOP operatives are fretting that Trump’s laserlike focus on vengeance could imperil the party’s legislative agenda ahead of this fall’s midterm elections and potentially cost the GOP control of Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s seat. Trump handed down an eleventh-hour endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week, more than two months after promising to weigh in on the ugly primary fight.
Congress
Khanna expresses disappointment about Massie’s defeat
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) expressed disappointment Sunday morning that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his primary last week.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Khanna said of his reaction: “Sadness, disappointment. Thomas is a real friend. He’s a good man.”
Khanna and Massie are very much on opposite ends of the classic left-right ideological spectrum, but they came together to introduce the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the release of files in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They also joined together to attempt, unsuccessfully, to block U.S. involvement in Iran.
Those efforts, as well as other votes, led President Donald Trump to repeatedly denounce Massie and campaign on behalf of Ed Gallrein, Massie’s challenger in their Kentucky congressional district. Gallrein won the primary last week with approximately 55 percent of the vote.
Speaking to host Kristen Welker, Khanna offered his analysis of Massie’s defeat.
“He was taken out for two reasons,” Khanna said. “One: He had the courage to go after some very powerful people in working with me to get the Epstein Transparency Act passed. As you mentioned, that’s historic bipartisan legislation that finally got justice for the survivors. And he had people spend millions of dollars and had the president of the United States after him.
“And second, he worked with me to stop this war in Iran. So for taking on the Epstein class and taking on war, he basically lost his state. And I admire his courage in taking those positions.”
With talk this weekend of a possible deal with Iran, Khanna said it is time for the war to come to an end.
“The answer to your question is yes. I do believe we need a negotiated deal,” he told Welker.
Congress
Absent congressmember Tom Kean Jr. starts working the phone
Rep. Tom Kean Jr., whose two-and-a-half month disappearance has stoked speculation about his health and political future, has begun more actively communicating over the phone.
On Thursday, Kean began calling Republican county chairs in his 7th Congressional District, one of the most competitive in the country in this year’s midterms. The two-term Republican also gave a “lengthy” interview to New Jersey Globe on Thursday afternoon, the first he has granted since he last voted on March 5.
Kean did not respond to a text message from Blue Light News and his voicemail was full Thursday night.
But Kean, 57, gave no details to the Globe on his undisclosed illness, which has kept him out of public view since early March. He said he’s expecting to make a full recovery, that it would not affect his cognitive health, that he plans to run for reelection and that he will publicly discuss his health at an unspecified later date.
“My doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery,” Kean told New Jersey Globe. “I understand the need for public transparency, and I appreciate the support of my constituents.”
Kean added that he plans to return to voting and campaigning in the next couple weeks. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chair of the House GOP’s campaign arm, told reporters Thursday he spoke to Kean and he will be back voting in June.
Kean’s lengthy absence has drawn national media attention, with reporters staking out his home in the wealthy 7th Congressional District, where he faces an extremely competitive reelection, with four Democrats competing in the June 2 primary to take him on in November. His campaign and office staff had repeatedly said that he expects to make a full recovery and would return to work “soon.”
But few people — even Kean’s two fellow New Jersey House Republicans — had recently reported speaking to him. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he spoke to Kean last month.
Kean called Republican chairs in his district on Thursday.
“He sounded good to me. Sounded just as normal as always,” said Carlos Santos, the Republican chair of Union County, where Kean lives.
Santos said that he did not ask Kean about his ailment, and that Kean did not disclose it. But he said Kean confirmed he’s running for reelection and that he has his support.
Tracy DiFrancesco, the GOP chair of Somerset County, also spoke with Kean.
“It was just a simple conversation. He sounded just like Tom always sounds. He sounded perfectly fine. He’s basically back. Hopefully we’re going to see him very soon,” she said. “I think he’s doing well and we’re excited to get back on his campaign.”
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