Congress
Whitehouse calls for ‘war machine’ to spar against GOP as DNC chair election looms
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is calling for DNC delegates to consider how the Democratic Party’s infrastructure can support a “war machine” to lead attacks against Republicans.
The letter to state party chairs ahead of the DNC chair election, shared first with Blue Light News, comes as Democrats scramble to figure out how to move forward after nationwide losses at the polls in November. Party leaders have bemoaned Democrats’ inability to define their own identity and push back against Republican attacks.
Whitehouse argued that Democrats have no institutional and centralized setup to attack the GOP, writing Republicans “rapidly and effectively deploy false narratives, while we struggle to bring true ones to bear.”
“We in Congress customarily say we’re ‘fighting’ for things when we really mean working or toiling,” Whitehouse wrote. “A fight means a defined adversary, a battle strategy, and actual punches thrown. Done well, it involves exposing and degrading your adversary’s machinery of warfare.”
The White House could have been a place to helm and plan offensive strategy against Republicans, but it has not effectively been used this way, Whitehouse argued.
The Rhode Island senator, an outspoken critic of so-called dark money in politics, argued that there was an opportunity for Democrats to win goodwill from the electorate by highlighting stories of surreptitious influence peddling. He proposed the addition of an “offensive coordinator” role for the party.
The ideas from Whitehouse are among a myriad of pitches from Democratic leaders on how to reform the party as it looks to elect a new DNC chair. Delegates will cast their votes for the party’s chair on Feb. 1.
Before then, the candidates — which now include Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Chair Ken Martin, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, among others — will make their case at various events.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is about to step into a political minefield as the Senate takes up a college sports bill as soon as next week — with perhaps as many reasons for his caucus to oppose it as support it.
Senators return to Washington Monday to a three-week window for legislating before they depart until November — and internal splits on both sides of the aisle are threatening passage of legislation to impose new federal rules on an industry worth tens of billions of dollars.
Schumer must decide if he wants to steer his members toward helping Republicans reach the 60-vote threshold on what could be the sweepiest bill the chamber passes before the midterms.
Backing it would mean supporting top Commerce Democrat Maria Cantwell’s efforts in crafting the bipartisan legislation that has taken months of painstaking negotiations with her counterpart, Chair Ted Cruz. But there are also plenty of downsides to promoting the bill — which has President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
One Democratic Senate aide with knowledge of the negotiations believes there’s enough opposition within the party to tank the measure on the floor as a coalition of labor rights groups and the Congressional Black Caucus warn the bill is exploitative.
“A good number of Democratic offices aren’t eager to tick off the AFL-CIO and NAACP, screw over college athletes and deliver Trump and Senate Republicans a major political win weeks before midterms,” another Democratic Senate aide with knowledge of the negotiations said.
“Bad policy. Terrible politics,” the aide added.
An aide for Schumer Tuesday did not say whether he supports the legislation. The spokesperson said Schumer “knows Congress should act to bring clarity and certainty” to the issues addressed in the measure, and that he’s “continuing to talk to members as the bill moves toward the floor.”
But continued pushback from Democratic members like Sen. Chris Murphy and the CBC — plus several labor, civil rights and athletes organizations — have thrown into question Democrats’ support.
Murphy, who has objected to the bill’s silence on college athletes’ employee status, has led the charge against the bill, refuting several posts from Cruz on social media this week.
Still, a lobbyist working on the bill, granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics, said they “could see Schumer letting [defectors] go their own way.”
“I also suspect that [Dems’] own tallies are probably showing that they can afford votes like that,” the lobbyist said of Schumer.
Meanwhile, Republicans are still working through their own divide on the bill: concerns over whether the legislation would pre-empt states’ authority to block trans athletes from competing on women’s sports teams.
Trump last month encouraged Republicans not to stand in the way of the measure over the issue after senators like Josh Hawley and Tommy Tuberville expressed hesitation.
But even if the bill were to eke by in the Senate, a hefty amount of opposition in both parties is bound to create an uphill battle in the House, where Majority Leader Steve Scalise has been less than enthusiastic about the package.
What else we’re watching:
— GOP HOPES DALLAS ENERGIZES TRUMP FANS: Republicans are hoping the Trump-centric midterm convention kicking off in Dallas Wednesday reminds their base why they fell in love with the president in the first place. The next 48 hours are geared in part toward turning out low-propensity voters who are loyal to Trump but tend to skip midterm elections. If they turn out, it won’t be because these voters like a particular congressman but because of their affinity for the president.
— COLLINS DINGS WHITE HOUSE ON TARIFFS: Sen. Susan Collins says the White House doesn’t understand how its trade war with Canada is affecting Maine. The border-state senator facing a tough re-election bid told Blue Light News she has spoken with Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about the escalating tariffs between the two countries and encouraged them to re-open negotiations. Collins late Tuesday applauded the Trump administration’s tariff exemptions on road salt and cement, stating they were “two products crucial to Maine that would be severely affected.”
Jacob Wendler, Alex Gangitano, Jessica Piper and Megan Messerly contributed to this report.
NEW YORK — Democrats are at war in Brooklyn over a maneuver some inside the party have called “corrupt,” a “power-grab” and even “fascist.” And they’re not talking about Republicans.
With weeks to go before the midterm elections, an intraparty feud is on full display among Democrats jockeying for control of the party apparatus in one of the bluest, most populous counties in the country. And some in the party worry the quarrel is exposing the limits of the party’s two most powerful politicians: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Brooklynites.
“It is not great if you’re a powerful national Democrat and you can’t stop what is functionally a coup d’etat from happening in the county party in your own backyard,” said Democratic strategist Jon Paul Lupo, noting that the Brooklyn contretemps “definitely has repercussions” and an “impact on their standing among Democrats.”
“There’s a huge incentive to try and fix it,” he added.
Controversies are by no means foreign to the Brooklyn Democratic Party. But this fight has drawn in some of New York’s biggest political names as they lambast its chair, state Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. In the weeks before a contested leadership election, she moved to change the makeup of the organization by expanding its executive committee, claiming it would promote inclusivity. Her critics insist it’s really just a play to boost her dwindling support ahead of the vote.
Democrats across the ideological spectrum — including Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs, as well as Schumer and Jeffries — came out against the move. Schumer warned such a change “sends the wrong message when we need to rally voters for the November election.”
But even the widespread criticism wasn’t enough to stop her proposed changes. A vote to implement them was held last month and narrowly passed, 21 to 19 with one abstention.
In the wake of that vote, leaders aligned with Brooklyn Can’t Wait, the self-described reformer group that claimed they had enough support to unseat Bichotte Hermelyn, are wondering if Schumer and Jeffries could be doing more to support them.
Julio Peña III — Brooklyn Can’t Wait’s pick to challenge Bichotte Hermelyn for chair — told Blue Light News last week he appreciated Schumer and Jeffries coming out publicly against Bichotte Hermelyn’s maneuver, but said he has not spoken with either.
“I do think this does not send a good message that this power grab from straight out of the Republican playbook is happening in our own backyard in Brooklyn,” he said. “We would love if they can have conversations with either … individual district leaders, or the party chair, and just say like, ‘This needs to stop.’ We’re hopeful that that can still happen.”
When asked if he thinks they would have sway, he replied: “I would hope so.”
Chi Ossé, a progressive New York City Council member who briefly considered a primary challenge against Jeffries last year, wrote on social media that “a simple call or text to a couple of these district leaders” from Jeffries and Schumer “would’ve changed the results.”
“Either they don’t care about this affront to our democracy happening in their own backyard or people don’t take their leadership seriously,” he said.
The collective pushback is uncommon in a local battle — a reality Democratic strategist Evan Stavisky said highlights how this isn’t a “run-of-the-mill fight in Brooklyn.”
But both Schumer and Jeffries have more pressing priorities to deal with beyond Brooklyn. Control of Congress tops that list.
“Anything aside from that mission, no matter how important it is, has to take a backseat,” Stavisky said. “That’s why it’s remarkable [Jeffries] and Sen. Schumer both opined on this. Their job has to be winning tough races outside of the city of New York and outside the state of New York.”
When asked if Jeffries plans to get further involved in the Brooklyn battle, spokesperson Justin Chermol said the minority leader’s focus is on the midterms.
“Leader Jeffries has publicly and privately made clear that he opposes the Kings County Democratic Party rule change,” he said in a statement last week. “With 60 days left until the midterms, he is focused on battling Republicans, fighting for an Affordable America and taking back control of the United States House of Representatives so we can end this national nightmare.”
Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Democrats are clear-eyed that what’s going on with their county party is a mess — and want to move on so they can focus on the midterms. But some pushed back on the idea that either Jeffries or Schumer should get further involved, arguing that issuing a statement was enough.
Lupe Todd-Medina, a political consultant and longtime Jeffries ally, contended that for some of Jeffries’ critics, no matter what he does, “it’s not enough.”
She questioned when he would even have the time to make calls to district leaders on this: “He’s got a lot going on,” she said. “You’re talking about a hyperlocal position.”
The fight is playing out in court. After the reformers unsuccessfully sought legal action in state Supreme Court to stop the rule-change vote, they sued again. That suit argues outgoing county committee members should not have been allowed to participate, and that if they were excluded, the amendments would have failed.
A ruling is still pending after a hearing Tuesday.
Bichotte Hermelyn has argued it was fair game to amend the county party’s internal rules and leadership structure — and she’s taking the drama in stride on social media. In a video posted last week, she questioned the outrage over “more people” being involved in the committee, insisted they “didn’t undo any election” and mocked her opponents, saying they had “been out-organized again.”
In between cuts of her eating a Haitian beef patty, Bichotte Hermelyn, the first Haitian-American woman elected to the state Assembly from New York City, said, “Melting down over a harmless rule change, but Haitians are being fired. That didn’t deserve a statement?”
The reference was to how, after the Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitians, Mamdani fired municipal employees who had the status. Bichotte Hermelyn wrote an op-ed questioning the move. The mayor said the city kept people on the payroll as long as legally possible.
A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party did not respond to questions directed at Bichotte Hermelyn regarding communications with Schumer and Jeffries, or the court fight.
Amid all the division, some have floated the idea of a consensus candidate. But Peña said he doesn’t think the 22 district leaders supporting him will flip. (Twenty-two votes would constitute a majority under the original structure of the committee, but not after Bichotte Hermelyn’s changes.)
While Jeffries and Schumer spoke out against the changes, neither have explicitly put their weight behind either candidate.
A Brooklyn Democratic insider, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said it’s a “big mistake” to assume that Jeffries has a “magical allegiance to anyone.”
“It is not his responsibility to manage anyone’s campaign,” that person said. “It’s lazy for anyone to expect him to clean up messes.”
Frank Seddio, a former Brooklyn party head who’s now a district leader and helped orchestrate the latest rule changes, said he hasn’t heard from Jeffries or his team and that he doesn’t believe any other party members have either.
“I guess he’s staying out of it,” Seddio said. “It’s not his business … although he’s certainly someone I admire and respect and one of the most important people in the United States.”
The Brooklyn Democratic Party hasn’t been an integral organization to campaigning. In fact, some Democrats have accused Bichotte Hermelyn of actively helping Republican opponents and waging a legal battle to remove district leader candidates aligned with Brooklyn Can’t Wait from the ballot. But the party does have power in nominating judicial candidates, a process Peña and his allies say they want to make more transparent.
Bichotte Hermelyn has served as chair since 2020. The leadership vote that will decide her fate has yet to be scheduled, but party rules dictate that vote must take place by Oct. 6.
If she remains in her role, Lupo warned, it could become fodder for Republican attacks about the “evil specter of corrupt New York Democrats in Brooklyn.”
“It’s not like Hakeem Jeffries did this or Chuck Schumer did this,” he said. “It’s very different from Trump’s active interference in democracy, but it can be weaponized by Republicans if it goes through.”
Much of the concern is likely to quiet down if Democrats do retake Congress — and Schumer and Jeffries claim the highest leadership positions. But if they don’t, critics, especially from the left flank of the party, are likely to get even louder.
The latter scenario would make having a cohesive county party even more critical, said Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York Democratic Party.
“It does create vulnerability depending on what happens to Democrats nationally at the end of the cycle,” Smikle said. “There’ll be questions about Hakeem’s leadership and Chuck’s leadership. … If you don’t have a strong county organization pushing those voices back, those detractors back, that creates real vulnerability.”
Chris Sommerfeldt contributed to this report.
Republicans are hoping President Donald Trump won’t make this week’s GOP midterm convention all about himself.
The president — with his approval rating at record lows for his time in office amid the conflict in Iran, trade wars and inflation — is slated to be at the center of the two-day spectacle in Dallas beginning Wednesday.
GOP lawmakers, candidates, donors and party officials said in interviews they are counting on Trump to draw a contrast with Democrats rather than prosecute his personal grievances.
Rep. Riley Moore said in an interview the event is a “scene-setter” that should stay laser-focused on “what’s on the line” for voters in the election:
— GOP WINS: Republicans are eager for fresh promotion of the tax cuts in last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”, even if some don’t think Trump is the right spokesperson.
Though the first national TV ads funded by the president’s cash-rich political operation place him at the center, one touting provisions in the megabill was more up congressional Republicans’ alley. Several are hoping for that kind of focus at the convention.
“It’s incredibly important that we highlight what we’ve accomplished,” said Rep. Derrick Van Orden. “That’s the perfect venue for that.”
— DINGING DEMS: One consensus message Republicans want the convention oriented around is the choice between their legislative record and a Democratic Party they argue has moved way too far left.
“You’ve got Republicans that are campaigning on commonsense ideas. You’ve got Democrats that are being drawn to the absolute most extreme left of their party,” said Rep. Brian Jack, a deputy chair of the House GOP campaign arm. “So I expect each night to see that on full display.”
“The Democratic Party has taken a turn for the worse recently,” added Rep. Nick LaLota. “America needs to be quite aware of that as they make their decision here in November.”
LaLota is just one of scores of Republican members who are choosing not to travel to the convention — which has a price tag of $25,000 and up for lawmakers attending. Some of those Republicans said they have scheduling conflicts or simply want to campaign back home.
But they still have an interest in how the event goes off and what impression it gives voters.
“I’m going to look forward to listening to it on the radio as I’m driving down the road, going from one spot in my district to another,” Rep. Morgan Griffith said.
What else we’re watching:
— TRAHAN BYPASSES LEADERSHIP BID FOR AI —- Rep. Lori Trahan’s decision last week to forgo a leadership bid and instead focus on developing artificial intelligence policy surprised some of her colleagues. But in an interview Friday, Trahan brushed off the idea that efforts to broker a bipartisan AI deal thwarted her run to serve as Democrats’ vice chair. Instead, she said her work in the complex policy space had drummed up support from many House Democrats, but she ultimately wants to prioritize regulating the issue next year.
— ROUNDS AIDE’S SIDE GIG RAISES EYEBROWS — A senior staffer for Sen. Mike Rounds has quietly worked as a lobbyist for Meta and other high-profile clients. The unusual agreement for Robert Skjonsberg, who has worked for Rounds for over a decade, has raised questions from watchdog groups about ethics and possible conflicts of interest. Rounds spokesperson Dezmond Ward told Blue Light News his office’s general counsel consulted with the Senate’s ethics panel, “which provided guidance to make certain there was and is no conflict of interest.”
Mia McCarthy, Riley Rogerson, Kelsey Brugger and Jacob Wendler contributed to this report.
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- Capitol agenda: Will Schumer go long for college sports?
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- Louisiana’s abortion pill case could wipe out access in blue states
- Schumer and Jeffries opposed a Brooklyn power play. It happened anyway.
- Stefany Shaheen, daughter of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, wins New Hampshire House primary
- Supreme Court rejects bid to revive Missouri’s pro-GOP redistricting before midterms
- Capitol agenda: Republicans hope Trump won’t dominate Dallas
- The House Democrat who’s making AI regulation her No. 1 priority
- Republicans are hoping ‘Trump-a-palooza’ isn’t only about Trump
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