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    ‘You did it!’: Biden basks in midterms afterglow after beating expectations

    ‘You did it!’: Biden basks in midterms afterglow after beating expectations Biden spent the last several months weathering the blame for an anticipated rebuke from voters – but instead found vindicationToday, Joe Biden will quietly ring in his 80th birthday over brunch with his family in Washington. It’s a milestone none of his predecessors reached while serving in the White House and one that looms large as he considers his political future.Yet the president enters his ninth decade at a moment of unexpected strength. Democrats defied history in the midterm elections, keeping control of the Senate and shattering Republican hopes of a “red wave” in the House.The verdict – a beat-the-odds performance by his party and the defeat of several election-denying candidates backed by Donald Trump – offered validation to a president who saw the elections as a test of American democracy.In the afterglow of the election, Democrats have piled on praise – a major reversal for Biden, who spent much of of the second year of his presidency weathering the blame for what many anticipated would be a crushing rebuke from voters. But instead of a repudiation, he found vindication.“You did it, Joe!” Vice-President Kamala Harris exclaimed at a post-election event with supporters. “This victory belongs to Joe Biden,” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, his one-time rival for the Democratic nomination, said last week. And when asked how Democrats overcame tremendous headwinds and the weight of history, Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, credited the president: “I have to thank Joe Biden.”With the midterms behind him, and a possible reelection campaign before him, Biden’s allies are hopeful voters will come to see the first half of his term as they do: a hard-won success story.Biden entered the White House at a period of profound tumult for the nation: in the shadow of the 6 January insurrection and the depths of the coronavirus pandemic. While vowing to confront the nation’s most urgent crises and shore up America’s standing abroad, Biden set out in pursuit of an ambitious agenda.“He’s a president who understands the moment,” said Donna Brazile, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee. “And when we look back at this period, we’re going to see him as ‘steady Joe’, someone who was able to stabilize the country and move us forward.”In less than two years, Biden has achieved a slew of consequential policy goals, some with the bipartisan support he promised. Taken together, the legislation he signed during the first half of his term has transformed the American social safety net and provided the largest investment to fight climate change in US history.With narrow Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill, he helped push through a Covid relief package so large in scale that it halved the rate of child poverty in America. The new administration meanwhile expanded and accelerated a mass vaccination campaign that has inoculated nearly 7 in 10 American adults, though a post-pandemic return-to-normal has proved elusive.Moving beyond Covid, he has amassed even more legislative wins: a $1tn investment in the nation’s infrastructure, the first gun control measure in decades, funding to boost the domestic manufacturing of semiconductor chips, an expansion of benefits for veterans and, finally, after months of uncertainty, the centerpiece of his economic agenda, a landmark climate and healthcare law. Soon he may also sign into law a bill protecting same-sex and interracial marriages.With his nominations, Biden has rapidly reshaped the federal courts, including the supreme court, where Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson now sits as the first Black female justice in American history.“It is as transformative a list as we’ve seen in at least a generation, if not more,” said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. “The number and the scope and the importance of things that Biden has gotten through is remarkable, period, but with a slim majority, especially.”But his successes are not confined to Capitol Hill, says Biden’s team, which recently compiled a list on Twitter using small type to emphasize the sweep of the president’s achievements.With his executive authority, Biden met progressive demands by pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of marijuana possession and forgiving federal student-loan debt for millions of borrowers, which is tied up in legal challenges. He also signed two executive orders attempting to protect access to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June.He ended the war in Afghanistan, though the chaotic withdrawal of US troops rattled Americans and allies alike. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden rallied Nato and led the global response – a role he promised to restore after Trump’s isolationist retreat.And many Democrats now say Biden and Harris deserve credit for foregrounding the threats to democracy and reproductive choice during the midterms. Despite warnings from party strategists that those were not front-of-mind issues, Democrats now believe they helped counter Republican attacks centered on inflation and crime and delivered crucial victories in battleground states.“It was critical in framing this election,” said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster. “If you take out ‘democracy’ and you take ‘choice’ out of that election word cloud, it would have been a goddamn bloodbath.”In his last major pre-election speech, Biden warned that electing candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election and wouldn’t commit to accepting the results in 2022 ​​was a “path to chaos”. The most high-profile of such candidates lost, while abortion helped propel Democrats in states where the right was under threat.“That we fought this midterm election to a standstill and actually picked up a Senate seat, it is historic,” Belcher said.Not everyone agrees that the election was a resounding victory for the president. Some have argued that the elections were a rejection of Republican extremism, not a reflection of Biden’s political strength.To win, Democrats had to outperform Biden, whose approval ratings hovered in the low 40s, dragged down by pessimism over the state of the economy. According to 538’s tracking aggregator of public opinion polls, Biden’s numbers are lower at this point in his term than any president since Harry Truman.“Ironically, he probably would have gotten more credit if he had done fewer things,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who has worked for Biden.Before Democrats could sell an initiative to the public, Lake said, they were already embroiled in their next legislative fight. ​But she said the White House would have a fresh opportunity to make their pitch for his agenda as the implementation of many of his plans got underway in the months ahead.At an event with business and labor leaders on Friday, Biden assured Americans that they would soon feel the impact of the legislation he signed earlier this year limiting the cost of health care and energy prices.“We passed them this year, but now they’re really going to kick into effect,” he said. “It’s going to accelerate in the months ahead.”Republicans have found ​much attack in Biden’s rich record, blaming his spending policies for ​exacerbating inflation. They have also threatened to use their new House majority to investigate the Afghanistan withdrawal, aspects of his Covid response and his administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border.Neither are Democrats uniformly satisfied. Progressives are still dismayed by Biden’s preference for bipartisanship and argue that he has much left to do to fulfill the bold promises he made as a candidate. While Biden’s student-debt forgiveness plan and some of his immigration policies have divided his party.Democrats’ run of legislating will almost certainly give way to a new era of gridlock in a divided Washington next year. But with a Democratic majority in the Senate he can continue to fill judicial vacancies – and he will face renewed pressure to exercise his executive authority to act on issues like climate and immigration.Biden has said his decision to run for president in 2020 was rooted in his alarm of the Trump presidency, specifically his predecessor’s refusal to condemn the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville. He saw his mission as not only to defeat Trump but to defeat the forces of Trumpism.After the midterms, Biden declared those anti-democratic forces in retreat.Days later, Trump, 76, announced that he would run again for president. Already the oldest president in American history, Biden, who would be 82 years old at his inauguration in 2025, now must decide whether he is up for a rigorous campaign, potentially against an old foe, and, should he win, four more years in the White House.Two-thirds of midterm voters, including many Democrats, said they did not want Biden to run for re-election, according to exit polls. In surveys, voters rank the president’s age as a top concern. Biden has said it is a “legitimate thing” for voters to consider while insisting that he has the mental and physical stamina for the job.Top advisers are already laying the groundwork for a 2024 campaign. Biden has said it is his “intention” to run again but would discuss it with his family over the holidays before announcing a decision, probably early next year.History provides several examples of presidents who “perceived a mission and chose to only serve one term”, Engel said.But, he continued, “there is no historical precedent for a president having the question of age be as prevalent as it is and simultaneously feeling that the country’s survival may hinge upon his running again.”In an “unstable world”, with Russia issuing nuclear threats, Trump attempting a comeback and American democracy still under assault, Lake said voters would likely turn again to the candidate offering steady, tested leadership.In 2020, Americans “chose stability over instability and democracy over authoritarianism and violence,” she said, “and that contrast still exists today, probably even stronger.”TopicsJoe BidenUS politicsDemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More

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    US attorney general appoints special counsel in Trump DoJ investigations – live

    Merrick Garland said his appointment of a special prosecutor was necessary because of Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail, as well as Joe Biden’s plans to seek a second term in the White House. “The department of justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in the just-concluded press conference.“Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.”Gabrielle Canon here, taking over from the west coast to bring you the latest this afternoon. Trump-supporting Republicans have been quick to criticize the newly announced special counsel, with figures like Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene sounding off against the ongoing investigation in an attempt to paint the move as a politically motivated.IMPEACH MERRICK GARLAND!— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) November 18, 2022
    “Joe Biden has completely weaponized the Department of Justice to attack his political opponents,” Cruz said on Twitter, trying to make a connection between the timing of Trump’s presidential campaign launch and Garland’s announcement. But Trump’s renewed attempt to regain the presidency could add complications to hold him to account. As Chris McGreal highlights:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}But then there is the politics of a prosecution against a presidential candidate who has already dismissed the investigations of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the hoarding of top secret documents, and allegedly fraudulent business practices, as “politically motivated” and a Democratic “witch-hunt”.Could Trump’s 2024 campaign keep his legal troubles at bay?Read moreRepublican party chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has offered her thoughts on the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel handling the investigations into Donald Trump:We’ve seen this time and again: Biden weaponizes his administration to target his political opponents. Whether it’s the former president, pro-life organizations, tagging parents as domestic terrorists, or creating the “ministry of truth,” Biden is out of line and out of control.— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) November 18, 2022
    CBS News reports that the White House said it had no advance warning of attorney general Merrick Garland’s announcement today of Smith’s appointment. Joe Biden has previously said the justice department has not consulted with him during its investigation into government secrets found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort:WATCH from our Special Report: White House officials tell @cbsnews they had no heads up from the Justice Department about the attorney general’s decision to appoint a special counsel to handle investigations regarding Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/lNykYAaodY— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) November 18, 2022
    In an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump slammed the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith to weigh charging him over the government secrets found at Mar-a-Lago and the January 6 insurrection.“I have been going through this for six years – for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore,” Trump told the network. “And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this.”“I have been proven innocent for six years on everything – from fake impeachments to Mueller who found no collusion, and now I have to do it more?” he continued, adding, “It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political.”The former president tied attorney general Merrick Garland’s appointment of a special prosecutor to his own announcement this week of another run for the White House.“I announce and then they appoint a special prosecutor,” Trump said. “They found nothing, and now they take some guy who hates Trump. This is a disgrace and only happening because I am leading in every poll in both parties … I am not going to partake in this.”Garland acknowledged that Trump’s run along with Joe Biden’s plans to seek a second term were both factors in his appointment of a special prosecutor, arguing it was the appropriate way to handle the question of whether to seek charges against the former leader after he returned to the campaign trail.“The department of justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in his press conference earlier today.“Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.”Texas’s Republican senator John Cornyn has reacted to the appointment of a special counsel to handle the Trump investigations by asking the justice department to do the same for Hunter Biden:This is an admission of a conflict of interest by DOJ; now acknowledge the obvious conflict of interest in Hunter Biden investigation and appoint a special counsel. #nodoublestandard https://t.co/bmypUxWcTk— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) November 18, 2022
    The US attorney in Delaware is said to be weighing whether to bring federal charges against the president’s son, whose business dealings have been a target of scrutiny from GOP politicians and federal investigators for years.Andrew Weissmann was a seasoned justice department prosecutor whose last job was as a manager on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.Here’s what he had to say about Jack Smith:Jack Smith, the new Special Counsel, is a very aggressive prosecutor who represents the best of the Department, who will bring cases if warranted be fact sand the law.— Andrew Weissmann 🌻 (@AWeissmann_) November 18, 2022
    Special counsel Jack Smith has released a statement after being appointed to the role in which he will determine whether to charge Donald Trump and his allies over the January 6 insurrection and government secrets found at Mar-a-Lago.“I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the department of justice. The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch,” Smith wrote. “I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”So who’s Jack Smith? As described by Merrick Garland, Smith is a veteran justice department prosecutor who from 2010 to 2015 was head of its public integrity section, responsible for handling corruption cases. He then served as a US attorney in Tennessee during the final years of Democrat Barack Obama’s administration.Lately, he’s been working in international law. He’s currently in The Hague as the specialist prosecutor at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, which is handling trials of war crimes suspects from the eastern European country. He also worked as an investigator for the international criminal court from 2008 to 2010.“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. And I also believe that appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do,” Garland said. “The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it. Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an even handed and urgent manner.”Merrick Garland said his appointment of a special prosecutor was necessary because of Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail, as well as Joe Biden’s plans to seek a second term in the White House. “The department of justice has long recognized that in certain extraordinary cases, it is in the public interest to appoint a special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution,” Garland said in the just-concluded press conference.“Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel.”Attorney general Merrick Garland has named veteran prosector Jack Smith as the special counsel to decide whether to bring charges against Donald Trump. Attorney general Merrick Garland has started his press conference by announcing a special prosecutor will be appointed to handle two inquiries.The first is “the investigation into whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6 2021.”The second is “the ongoing investigation involving classified documents and other presidential records, as well as the possible obstruction of that investigation, referenced and described in court filings… in the Southern District of Florida.” That is likely the inquiry into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.As we wait for what is looking to be a consequential announcement from attorney general Merrick Garland, a winner appears to have emerged from one of the last uncalled House races.The Pueblo Chieftain reports that Democrat Adam Frisch has conceded to Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert after a surprisingly close race:Adam Frisch just said that he’s called Lauren Boebert to concede the race in CO-03. He said an automatic recount will likely happen under state law but encouraged supporters to save fundraising $$ for gas, groceries and other causes.— Anna Lynn Winfrey (@annalynnfrey) November 18, 2022
    Boebert is among a group of conservative lawmakers known for their extreme rhetoric, but nearly lost to Frisch even though her district normally votes for Republicans. The House representative has in the past made Islamophobic comments and condemned the separation of church and state.Attorney general Merrick Garland plans to hold a press conference at 2.15pm eastern time, following reports that he will name a special prosecutor to decide whether to bring charges against Donald Trump and his allies.Beyond just the investigation into government secrets Trump allegedly retained at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Politico reports that the special counsel will also look into Trump’s attempts to undermine the 2020 election. The justice department has not yet announced who they will be appointed to job.This blog will cover Garland’s address as it happens.The plan for a special counsel appears to be linked to allegations of the unlawful retention of national defense information at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in Florida, according to the Reuters news agency, which cites an unnamed senior Department of Justice official.The agency says a senior DoJ official has named a special prosecutor to investigate the entirety of the department’s criminal investigation into that potential offense.Meanwhile, CNN reports that the special counsel will also review the parallel DoJ investigation into Trump’s involvement around the insurrection on January 6, 2021, when extremist supporters of the-then president invaded the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election by congress.We will bring you more developments as they happen.US attorney general Merrick Garland plans to name a special counsel to examine whether former president Donald Trump should be prosecuted as a result of investigations carried out by the Department if Justice (DoJ), the Wall Street Journal reports, citing an unnamed source “familiar with the matter”.The Journal reports:“A formal announcement, which is expected by Friday afternoon, would come three days after Mr. Trump announced another bid for the presidency and would mark the naming of the third independent prosecutor in five years to examine issues involving Mr. Trump. The exact scope of the special counsel’s remit and who it would be couldn’t be determined.”More details to come…A judge refused today to quash a subpoena issued to former White House press secretary Jen Psaki that seeks her deposition in a lawsuit filed by Missouri and Louisiana, alleging that the Biden administration conspired to silence conservative voices on social media, the Associated Press reports.Psaki filed a motion in federal court in Alexandria seeking to quash the subpoena, saying that she had no relevant information to provide and that a deposition would place an undue burden on her. The Justice Department supported her efforts to quash.US magistrate Ivan Davis said during a hearing today that he was unimpressed with Psaki’s arguments. But he did not reject her request outright. Instead, he transferred the case back to Louisiana, where the lawsuit was filed.Psaki was allowed to file a separate opposition in Virginia because she lives in the state and would be deposed there.Davis, though, said it makes no sense for him to wade into the questions of whether Psaki’s testimony is relevant when the judge in Louisiana is more familiar with the case.He also said Psaki failed to show how sitting for a deposition in her home state would be an undue burden. In fact, he said that if Psaki has little information to contribute, as she alleges, it shouldn’t be much of a burden at all.Justice Department lawyer Indraneel Sur indicated he would appeal Davis’ ruling to a district judge in Alexandria and asked the judge to stay his ruling to provide time to do so, but Davis declined.The lawsuit filed by the attorney general in Missouri and Alexandria accuses Joe Biden, former federal health official Anthony Fauci and others of conspiring with social media companies to restrict free speech by censoring conservative opinions about the Covid-19 response and other issues.Readers will have noticed that politicians, and indeed journalists and people, are still tweeting. But for how much longer?What should Twitter do next?— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
    Here’s the Guardian’s Kari Paul:Amid ongoing fallout from Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, speculation of the platform’s imminent collapse is swirling – leaving users wondering what parts of their online selves they’ll get to keep.After Musk laid off thousands of workers, many users have reported signs the platform is falling apart in real time – from glitching home pages to log-in failures – and researchers are desperately urging users to download their tweets in case Twitter implodes completely.“If there’s something you care about on Twitter, now’s the time to become like a temporary expert in digital archiving measures,” said Caroline Sinders, an artificial intelligence researcher and founder of human rights lab Convocation Research and Design.Digital archiving – the process of preserving online content for future use – has expanded steadily since the launch of the internet, but still exists in a patchwork, decentralized framework.There’s more to read, here. But the last bit is killer:If you want to save tweets – whether jokes from a favorite celebrity or the last thoughts of a loved one who has passed – an expert suggests a relatively analog solution.“Print out their tweets, and put them in a box,” the expert said. “They will last longer in every way.”He may still be the most popular man in the Republican party, but Donald Trump’s announcement of a new run for the White House this week has been fodder for his opponents, most recently his former top diplomat Mike Pompeo. Meanwhile, conservatives have continued their quest to stop Kevin McCarthy from becoming speaker in the Republican-run House next year, while Democrats’ transition away from Nancy Pelosi’s leadership appears to be running much more smoothly.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
    The January 6 committee could, as soon as today, file its response to Trump’s attempt to quash its subpoena for his testimony as the end-of-the-year expiration of its mandate draws nearer.
    Joe Biden’s administration has asked the supreme court to allow its student debt relief plan to proceed.
    Republicans on the House judiciary committee want homeland security chief Alejandro Mayorkas and a host of top officials to testify. Expect the situation at the southern border to be a major topic of questioning for the GOP.
    Donald Trump’s former top diplomat Mike Pompeo has again attacked his one-time boss:We were told we’d get tired of winning. But I’m tired of losing.And so are most Republicans.— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) November 18, 2022
    Pompeo’s wording echoes Trump’s promise on the campaign trail 2016 that if he was elected, supporters would “get tired of winning.” Pompeo, who served as secretary of state from 2018 till the end of Trump’s term in 2021, is thought to be considering a run for the presidency in 2024.Perhaps he’ll elaborate on his thoughts about the former president in his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition later today:Today, I’m going to speak at @RJC on how we can regain Americans’ trust and win again.— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) November 18, 2022
    The Biden administration has petitioned the supreme court to allow its plan to relieve some student debt relief to proceed, Bloomberg News reports:NEW: Biden asks Supreme Court to let his student-debt relief plan take effect. Case will be docketed as 22A444.— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) November 18, 2022
    Biden in August announced the plan to forgive as much as $20,000 in federal student debt for people earning less than $125,000 a year, or households earning below $250,000.Conservative activists and states immediately sued to stop the program, and last month, an effort by six Republican-led states succeeded in getting it temporarily halted. More

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    Hakeem Jeffries on course to become first Black party leader in Congress

    Hakeem Jeffries on course to become first Black party leader in CongressNew York Democrat, 52, is favorite to succeed Nancy Pelosi after declaring candidacy for House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York was on course on Friday to be the first Black party leader in Congress, declaring his candidacy for House minority leader after securing key endorsements to succeed Nancy Pelosi, the current speaker who announced her withdrawal from leadership on Thursday.Pelosi to depart as top House Democrat to make way for ‘new generation’Read moreDemocrats will cede control of the House in January, after midterm elections in which Republicans performed less well than expected but still took the lower chamber.Jeffries announced his candidacy after Democrats moved swiftly to head off internal battles and let a new, younger generation take the controls.Pelosi, from California, was the first woman to be speaker and filled the role from 2007 to 2011 and since 2019. But she is now 82.Steny Hoyer of Maryland, 83 and the current majority leader, will also step aside. On Thursday, he said: “Now is the time for a new generation of leaders, and I am proud to offer my strong endorsement to Hakeem Jeffries for Democratic leader.”James Clyburn of South Carolina, the House whip, is also 82. He was reported to be seeking to become assistant leader but for the top spot he endorsed Jeffries, 30 years his junior.Clyburn’s endorsements carry notable clout. As the senior Black Democrat in Congress, his approval of Joe Biden’s presidential bid was widely held to have propelled the former vice-president to victory in the presidential primary in 2020.Jeffries was reportedly set to be joined in House Democratic leadership by Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, as minority whip, and Pete Aguilar of California, a member of the January 6 committee who will run for caucus chair.Joe Neguse of Colorado, another rising Black Democrat who was a House manager in the second Trump impeachment, was also seeking a leadership slot but faced being blocked by Clyburn.Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, was reported to be backing off a bid for a leadership role, in the aftermath of an embarrassing strategic error over a letter from progressives to Biden about US aid to Ukraine.Clark, 59 and currently assistant speaker, told the Washington Post: “I have the track record of bringing people and solutions together, and I have built trust across the caucus in different ideological corners, geographic parts of our caucus by listening and really knowing the issues that members care about, where they need to be able to deliver for their districts.”Jeffries is widely held to be an effective communicator, unafraid of confronting opponents. On his official Twitter account, the pinned tweet shows a stern rebuke of the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, from a House judiciary committee session earlier this year, shortly after leak of the decision overturning the right to abortion.Jeffries said: “Let me ask this question of Brother Thomas. Why are you such a hater?“Hate on civil rights, hate on women’s rights, hate on reproductive rights, hate on voting rights, hate on marital rights, hate on equal protection under the law, hate on liberty and justice for all, hate on free and fair elections? Why are you such a hater and you think you can get away with it? Escape public scrutiny because you think that shamelessness is your superpower?”Jeffries rose to national notice when he was elected a decade ago, in part thanks to being called, by sources including the Washington Post, “Brooklyn’s Barack Obama”.Theodore Wells, Jeffries’ former mentor at the Manhattan law firm Paul Weiss, told the Post, Jeffries was “someone who works easily within both the Black and white communities” and represents “a natural evolution in the background of African American politicians.“The prior generation of African American politicians had their roots in the civil rights movements of the 1960s, but Hakeem’s generation grew up in a more multicultural America, and in that sense their backgrounds and perspectives are different.”On Thursday, one House Democrat, Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania, told Bloomberg News Jeffries had been “a phenomenal caucus chair. I can’t think of a single misstep that he’s made. So I think he’s up to” being minority leader.TopicsDemocratsHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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    Nancy Pelosi: key moments from the Democrat's time as House speaker – video

    THe US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold that influential post, has announced she will be stepping down as the Democratic leader in the chamber after Republicans secured a narrow majority after the midterm elections. It marks the end of a historic leadership career highlighted by her ability to hold a fractious caucus together and challenge the world’s most powerful men – including the former president Donald Trump. Here is a look back at her long and defiant career More

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    Why the Democrats’ biggest wins of the midterms weren’t in Washington DC

    Why the Democrats’ biggest wins of the midterms weren’t in Washington DC Breaking Republican strangleholds over state capitols gives Democrats an advantage in the fight for voting, abortion and LGBTQ+ rightsWhile Democrats staved off a red wave in Washington during the midterm elections, the party’s most significant victories came far away from the US Capitol. They were in state legislatures across the country with consequences that will be felt for years to come.Over the last decade, Republicans have quietly amassed power in state capitols, investing in races for state legislatures that can be decided by just a few hundred votes. It’s an investment that has paid off wildly. Since state legislatures draw electoral districts in many places, Republicans have used that advantage to entrench their power, drawing district lines that further guaranteed their majorities. They have also used those majorities to pass measures that make it harder to vote, strip LGBTQ+ protections, loosen gun laws and restrict access to abortion.‘This movement was rejected’: Republican election deniers lose key state racesRead moreIn the midterms, however, Democrats flipped at least three state legislative chambers and held on to their majorities in several states where they were in jeopardy. The victories ended years of Democratic defeat and disappointment and caught even some Democrats off guard. It marked the first midterm election since at least 1934 in which the president’s party didn’t lose control of a single legislative chamber, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which focuses on state legislative races.“We went into this cycle very clear-eyed. Knowing it was a presidential midterm and frankly expecting to lose seats,” said Jessica Post, president of the DLCC. “Republicans had everything in their favor. By all accounts, this election should have been a landslide for the Republicans. Instead, their so-called red wave looks more like a puddle.”In Michigan, Democrats took control of both chambers of the legislature for the first time in nearly 40 years. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, was also re-elected to a second term, giving the party complete control of state government in one of America’s most politically competitive states.“I felt pretty confident we were gonna get one chamber and be looking at potentially picking up the chamber in two years. But it was surprising for me that we flipped both houses,” said Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic Michigan state senator who worked on flipping state legislative seats.Democrats also flipped control of the Minnesota senate, giving them complete control of state government there. In Pennsylvania, ballots are still being counted in two razor-thin state house races that will determine control of the state house.They also prevented Republicans from gaining supermajorities in the Wisconsin and North Carolina legislature, an extremely significant development that will prevent GOP-controlled bodies from overriding vetoes from Democratic governors there. Democrats held their majorities in state legislative chambers in Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico.Cartogram of state legislatures by party control“We felt those goals were certainly long shots. Many thought they were unattainable,” said Daniel Squadron, a former New York State senator who co-founded the States Project, which spent $60m towards electing Democrats in state legislative races. “In every chamber, we’ve either met or exceeded our electoral goals.”Those victories could play an important role in ensuring a free and fair election in two years. In 2020, Donald Trump tried to lean on GOP state legislative majorities in key battlegrounds like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona to try to overturn the results. The Democratic wins could also offer a critical safeguard against the US supreme court, which could soon endorse a fringe legal theory, backed by Republicans, that says state legislatures have virtually unchecked power to set rules over federal elections.Democrats and allies pointed to a combination of factors behind the wins.There were more competitive maps in place in Michigan and Pennsylvania this cycle, replacing districts Republicans drew a decade ago. Concerns about abortion access and competitive statewide races also drove voters to the polls. Strong candidate recruitment allowed Democrats to connect with voters. And deep investments allowed Democratic candidates to get out on the campaign trail early and launch an offense against Republican opponents.In 2020, Democrats failed to flip any of the chambers targeted to try to get a seat at the table in the redistricting process. In 2010, amid a juggernaut GOP effort, Democrats lost control of 20 chambers in a single night. In the 2014 midterms, 11 chambers flipped to Republican control.“Democrats can, in fact, win at the state legislative level. When we invest our dollars appropriately. When we utilize evidence-based tactics, and when we have candidates who can meet voters where they are, we proved that this year,” said Adam Pritzker, another co-founder of the States Project. “State legislative politics is not the minor leagues.”‘We’re at risk’: the little-known races that could expand Republican powerRead moreRepublicans were massively outspent in state legislative races, Dee Duncan, the president of the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), wrote in a memo to donors last week. Four outside left-leaning groups alone spent $125m on the races, dwarfing the $30m the RSLC invested. Duncan noted that the groups, including the DLCC, the States Project and Forward Majority, spent more in three states – Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania – than the RSLC spent across the country.“This influx in funding drove significant spending disparities in each state that were hard to overcome,” he wrote. “In every state where we lost a chamber or have potential to lose a chamber (Pennsylvania), Republicans did not win a single statewide election.”Christina Polizzi, a DLCC spokesperson, disputed that the RSLC was outspent. “The RSLC has absolutely no credibility on this. They have a long history of selective memory and flat out lying about their spending numbers,” she said in a statement. “Although they have nothing to show for it, the reality is they outraised and outspent the DLCC this cycle while still being only a fraction of the overall GOP spending in the states. They can’t blame their losses on the money – they lost because Republicans have bad policies and flawed candidates that the American people didn’t support.”Republicans did earn a few key wins in state races. In North Carolina, they flipped partisan control of the state supreme court. And in Ohio, they won a seat being vacated by a retiring GOP member who had been a swing vote. Those majorities could allow Republicans in those states to pass more aggressively gerrymandered maps, as well as anti-abortion laws.Beyond local politicsIn Michigan, Kristen McDonald Rivet won one of the key state senate races that helped Democrats flip control of the chamber. From the moment she launched her campaign until just a few days before the election, she said, there were pundits who said she couldn’t win the seat, which borders the Saginaw Bay. Joe Biden narrowly carried the district by three points in 2020; McDonald Rivet wound up winning by six points.When she spoke with voters, McDonald Rivet would mention democracy and voting rights “all of these things that Democrats hold dear”, she said in an interview. But she also recognized the sense of economic unease in her district; families used to be able to work in a plant, raise their families and live “the Michigan dream to go to Disney World in the winter”. She and her husband have raised their six children in the district and her husband’s family has lived there for five generations.“It’s not about local politics. It was about people’s day-to-day. Local is not quite the right word,” she said. “I started a lot of my stump speeches with ‘you know politics doesn’t have to be this way.’ And it resonated, probably because I actually believe it.”Her campaign was also boosted by a strong party infrastructure, millions spent on media, and a massive grassroots effort. Her campaign knocked on 72,000 doors and had 7,500 individual donations, including hundreds of people in her district who had set up recurring donations, some for as little as $3.Democracy, poisoned: America’s elections are being attacked at every levelRead moreShe was aided by Michigan Democrats like McMorrow, a state senator who gained national attention after a viral speech earlier this year and raised more than $2m to her Pac to help Democrats running for state legislative seats. In 2018, when she was a first-time candidate, McMorrow remembered being brushed off by donors who were more interested in statewide and federal races. That money, now, she said, allowed Democrats to hire paid field organizers and start campaigning earlier than Republican counterparts.“I think people really get it. And I think we were able to really make the case to people to say in a year when the Dobbs decision came down, really highlighted how important state legislatures are in a very tangible way. Because this is an issue that’s coming back to the states,” she said.Brian Munroe, a Democrat, knocked on 10,000 doors on his way to flipping a state house seat in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a competitive area outside Philadelphia. “I heard from a lot of people, Republican, Democrat, independent, pro-Trump, not pro-Trump,” he said, recalling many conversations about abortion. “Everybody was tired of the divisiveness. I’m even talking about people with the Let’s Go Brandon flag out front.”Munroe initially was met with some skepticism from big donors, but won them over by pointing out that the district had been redrawn to include a township where he served on the board of supervisors. “Taking a risk can pay off. Not taking a risk will never pay off,” he added. “If all you do is focus on keeping the seats that you have and you’re not in the majority, then you’re always going to be relegated in the minority. That changed to a degree this cycle.”In Wisconsin, Lori Palmeri, the mayor of Oshkosh, won a competitive race for the state assembly that blocked Republicans from gaining a supermajority in the legislature that would have allowed them to override any vetoes from Tony Evers, a Democrat who was elected to a second term.“One of the things I heard the most at the doors was folks were fed up with the political polarization,” she said. “They wanted to see their legislators showing up and doing that work … The message is really from the voters. They really are not going to tolerate one-party rule.”Inspiring long shotsDemocrats and allies hope that the success they saw in 2022 will lead more Democrats to take state legislative races seriously.“My great hope is that our party will really start to understand that everything that affects people’s daily lives, including voting rights and the certification of US presidential elections, happens in states with Democratic trifecta control,” said Post of the DLCC.In the 48 hours after election day, more than 500 people expressed interest in running for office, said Amanda Litman, the executive director of Run for Something, which focuses on recruiting people to run for office.“Inspiring wins in long shot races inspire more people to take on long-shot races. It’s especially true when the candidates in those are young people, women, people of color. It compounds on itself,” she said.TopicsUS politicsThe fight for democracyUS midterm elections 2022DemocratsMichiganMinnesotaPennsylvaniafeaturesReuse this content More

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    How a five-term New York Democrat lost a House seat to a Republican

    How a five-term New York Democrat lost a House seat to a Republican Sean Maloney, head of the influential Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, lost by less than 1% – and redistricting may have been part of itJack Dunnigan stood behind the counter of Pickwick Bookshop, a venerable store he owns, with its homey smell of nobly ageing paper, in the picturesque, liberal riverside town of Nyack about 30 miles north of downtown New York City, and sighed.“I had a feeling he was going to,” Dunnigan said of the local Democratic congressman and national party stalwart Sean Maloney’s loss to his Republican challenger, Mike Lawler, in the midterm elections.Who were the big winners and losers of the US midterm elections?Read moreIt was a mild afternoon in the Hudson Valley, four days after Democrats did much better than expected nationally but took damaging tumbles in the elections in solidly blue New York, which helped Republicans win a slim majority in the House of Representatives. It seemed Dunnigan, 77, had known something Maloney didn’t. Maloney was a five-term congressman and headed the influential Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which describes itself as “the only political committee dedicated to electing Democrats to the House of Representatives”.Maloney had spent the election cycle using funds and Washington knowhow to shore up vulnerable Democrats across the country and then late on had to rush back to his own district for frantic campaigning when it emerged that he, too, was suddenly vulnerable. But to no avail – he lost, by less than 1%.Some blamed his strategy and ground game, others said he was unlucky, especially in the congressional redistricting this year that started off favoring Democrats in New York but wound up weighing in Republicans’ favor.When the maps were redrawn this spring, Maloney decided to run in New York’s 17th congressional district rather than his longtime, more urban, 18th district, even though that meant booting out the newer Mondaire Jones, his fellow Democrat and the incumbent congressman in the 17th district.Redistricting placed almost three-quarters of the constituents Maloney had represented for a decade outside his new, heavily suburban district.At his store, Dunnigan added: “I said, Well, this guy’s got a lot of clout but, you know, he built up a lot of clout in his area. I don’t think he had time to really build up that clout [in the 17th district], and he was trying to.”Bill Clinton stumped for Maloney last month in Nyack, but as a blue enclave the Democratic vote there was hardly imperiled. “I said: that’s impressive but you know, when you’re here, you’re preaching to the choir,” Dunnigan said.But the 17th encompasses all of Rockland county, home to several right-leaning constituencies: cops and firefighters who commute to New York City and Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities who often vote as a conservative bloc.“Sean Patrick Maloney really did not come to our community. In terms of campaigning, I feel like until early voting, I didn’t really hear him here,” said Rivkie Feiner, a Rockland county resident who practices Orthodox Judaism and owns a grant-writing company. “I did see in the newspaper once that he was locally within Rockland or within the district on a Saturday, but tens of thousands of us are Sabbath observant,” Feiner said in a phone interview. “So, you know, it wasn’t like any of us were at any of those events.” Maloney told the New York Times that he invited leaders of several majority-Hasidic villages to meet with him.Feiner, who advocated for Lawler on the ground, described herself as a lifelong Republican but who has “absolutely” crossed party lines for the right candidate. She said that Lawler had been providing excellent constituent services long before the election – including at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.Some felt that Maloney didn’t focus enough on bread-and-butter issues such as inflation and he didn’t take seriously enough Republicans’ discourse on crime – which was emphasized by the New York Republican candidate for governor, Lee Zeldin, who ran the incumbent governor, Democrat Kathy Hochul, uncomfortably close.Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political strategist based in New York City, said that in the 17th and other suburban districts where seats were flipped by Republicans, voters “cared about things that the National Democratic party didn’t seem to care about.” Or, at least, that they talked about a lot less.He said: “They included crime, because the [national] discussion was about abortion, but the subject in that district was crime – in the sense that New York City with all its ills might be encroaching on the people who live there, right? And economics.”Sheinkopf replied “probably not” when asked if Maloney or his party could have done anything to win his seat.“They couldn’t get past the Washington negatives and New York City, and the idea that New York City was creeping into their lives, and New York City would become the norm, which [to them] meant crime,” he said.Maloney’s office didn’t respond to a request for an interview. But he told the New York Times: “Suburban voters are always concerned about the state of New York City. In this case, they were told very negative things, even though in suburban areas north of the city we are blessed to have some of the safest cities anywhere and crime rates that are lower than just a few years ago.”However, Hochul only won by about six points in a state that went for Joe Biden over Donald Trump by 23 points in 2020, Shawn Donahue, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo’s department of political science, noted.“Lee Zeldin may have lost, but he may have delivered the house to Kevin McCarthy,” Donahue said. “Democratic turnout was not good in a lot of parts of New York, Republican turnout was, which is a lot different than it was around the country, where both parties’ turnout was pretty good – and it seems like Zeldin’s relentless push on the crime issue really had a big effect in the suburbs.”Some of Maloney’s supporters in the district, like Dunnigan, weren’t shocked by his defeat.Amy Roth, a television producer who voted for Maloney, pointed out that “a lot of New York [District] 17 has turned red recently”.“Mondaire Jones used to be our guy and he wasn’t even allowed to run, so I think it was upsetting more than shocking. I think it was just like, you know, they’ve kind of screwed up,” Roth said. She also noticed more Lawler signs in the district and the campaign “seemed to knock on more doors”, she said.Lawler himself told the Guardian he felt that redistricting dealt a heavy blow to Maloney but added that voters were dissatisfied with Democratic heavyweights’ handling of inflation, crime and immigration issues.Still, Lawler thinks there’s a universe in which a Democrat could have bested him. “I think, obviously, given the close margin, Democrats certainly could have won. There’s 70,000 more Democrats than Republicans [in the district], but I think there’s a confluence of incidents that contributed to this,” he told the Guardian in a phone interview.“I represent a 2-1 Democratic district in the [state] assembly and I have a proven record of being able to reach across the aisle and get Democrats and independents to support me,” Lawler said. Maloney, on the other hand, was “primarily speaking” to his base, Lawler claimed. “It certainly would have been possible for him to win, and it would have been possible for another Democrat to win,” Lawler said. “But I think in this election, in this climate, we ran a very disciplined campaign and had a message that appealed to a broad coalition of voters.”TopicsNew YorkUS midterm elections 2022US politicsDemocratsRepublicansfeaturesReuse this content More

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    January 6 subcommittee to examine criminal referrals it might make to DoJ

    January 6 subcommittee to examine criminal referrals it might make to DoJFour-member panel focused on whether they have uncovered sufficient evidence that Trump violated civil and criminal statutes The House January 6 select committee has created a subcommittee to examine the scope of potential criminal referrals it might make to the justice department over the Capitol attack as well as what materials to share with federal prosecutors, its chairman and other members said on Thursday.The special subcommittee – led by Congressman Jamie Raskin, overseeing a four-person group that also involves Liz Cheney, Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren – has been chiefly focused on whether they have uncovered sufficient evidence that former US president Donald Trump violated civil and criminal statutes.The subcommittee has also been tasked with resolving several other outstanding issues, the panel’s chairman Bennie Thompson said. They include what materials to share with the justice department before the end of December, and its response to Trump and Republican lawmakers who have not complied with subpoenas.The question of whether and what referrals to make to the justice department has hovered over the investigation for months since the select committee’s lawyers came to believe that Trump was involved in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct Congress over January 6.In March, the panel laid out its theory of a potential case against Trump, saying in a court filing that it had accumulated enough evidence to suggest that Trump and conservative attorney John Eastman could be charged with criminal and civil violations.The select committee then won a substantial victory when the US district court judge David Carter ruled that Trump “likely” committed multiple felonies in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and stop the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election win.But some members on the panel in recent months have questioned the need for referrals to the justice department, which has ramped up its investigation into the Capitol attack and issued subpoenas to Trump’s allies demanding appearances before at least two grand juries in Washington.The debate, according to sources familiar with the matter, centered on whether making referrals might backfire if they are perceived to politically taint the criminal investigations hearing evidence about the fake electors scheme or the far-right groups that stormed the Capitol.In an effort to make final determinations on the referral question, Thompson said he asked the four members – all of whom have legal backgrounds and in the case of Schiff, have federal prosecutorial experience – to form the special subcommittee.The subcommittee is expected to make recommendations to Thompson around the start of December over what the referrals might look like, and advise on how to proceed with potential legal action against Trump and Republican lawmakers who defied the panel’s subpoenas, said a source familiar with the matter.Meanwhile Thompson said the committee will release its report on the Capitol attack next month.“Our goal is to get it completed soon so we can get it to the printer,” Thompson told reporters. “We plan to have our product out sometime in December.”TopicsJanuary 6 hearingsUS Capitol attackUS politicsDonald TrumpDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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    Pelosi to depart as top House Democrat to make way for ‘new generation’

    Pelosi to depart as top House Democrat to make way for ‘new generation’Outgoing speaker, 82, who has led House Democrats for two decades, makes announcement after Republicans win control Nancy Pelosi, a giant of American politics and the first woman to lead the House of Representatives, is stepping down from leadership to make way for a new generation, she said on Thursday.The 82-year-old, an ally of Joe Biden who led congressional Democrats for two decades, made the announcement after Republicans regained a majority in the chamber.Election denier Kari Lake refuses to concede Arizona governor race she lostRead more“With great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said in a speech on the House floor. “For me, the hour’s come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect, and I’m grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.”The outgoing speaker, wearing a Mace of the Republic brooch and a white suit that nodded to the suffragist movement, was greeted with a standing ovation. In an emotional scene House Democrats gathered around her, some tearful and many embracing her or planting kisses on her cheek.Biden led tributes to Pelosi’s career. In a statement released by the White House, the president described her as “the most consequential speaker of the House of Representatives in our history.“There are countless examples of how she embodies the obligation of elected officials to uphold their oath to God and country to ensure our democracy delivers and remains a beacon to the world. In everything she does, she reflects a dignity in her actions and a dignity she sees in the lives of the people of this nation.”Pelosi, a congresswoman from California, was the highest-ranking and most powerful elected woman in American history until Kamala Harris became vice-president in January last year.A devout Catholic, she grew up in Baltimore, the daughter of Thomas D’Alesandro Jr, a Democratic mayor and former congressman. By the age of 30, she was the mother of five children. “When I first came to the floor at six years old, never would I have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker,” she reflected on Thursday.Pelosi was first elected to the House in a special election and steadily moved up the ranks. She broke a glass ceiling in 2007 when she was elected the first woman to serve as speaker – a position second in line to the presidency – and steered then president Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law through the House.Regaining the position in 2019, she earned plaudits for her no-nonsense approach to then president Donald Trump. She memorably ripped up a copy of his speech just as he finished his third State of the Union address. She was the first speaker in history to oversee two House votes to impeach a president.In her remarks, Pelosi, who will remain in Congress, said she had enjoyed working with three presidents (George Bush, Obama and Biden), making no mention of Trump. She welcomed last week’s midterm elections, in which numerous election deniers loyal to Trump were defeated.“With these elections, the people stood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy. They resoundingly rejected violence and insurrection and, in doing so, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” – a reference to the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.In recent days Pelosi had said the 28 October assault on her husband, Paul, by a hammer-wielding intruder in their San Francisco home, and other factors, would affect her decision on whether to continue.00:50David Axelrod, a former chief strategist for Obama, tweeted: “People will honor Speaker Pelosi as the first woman to hold that post. But history will remember her as one of the most skillful, durable and accomplished legislative leaders in American history. A truly towering figure. One of a kind.”Along with Biden, who turns 80 on Sunday, Democrats’ ageing leadership has raised questions about the party’s next generation.Her retirement sets up a leadership battle among contenders including the caucus chair, Hakeem Jeffries, 52, from New York. House Democrats are set to vote on their leaders on 30 November.On Wednesday, House Republicans offered initial support for Kevin McCarthy to serve as speaker when the next Congress convenes. McCarthy, also from California, currently serves as House Republican leader and will face election by the entire House at the start of the new year. It is not yet clear if he will gain enough backing from fellow Republicans to win the speakership.Republicans’ majority in the House will be much smaller than polls had predicted, a headache for whoever wins the speakership. Each member will have huge sway over what happens in the chamber, paving the way for potentially chaotic battles over government funding and other measures. Many are aligned with Trump.But control of House committees will give Republicans the ability to blunt Biden’s legislative agenda, as well as to launch potentially politically damaging investigations of his administration and family.On Thursday, Jim Jordan of Ohio and James Comer of Kentucky, the top Republicans on the House judiciary and oversight committees, signalled their intent by announcing an investigation to determine the extent of Biden’s involvement in his son Hunter’s business dealings.“We want to know what the Biden administration is trying to hide from the American people,” Comer said at a press conference, alleging that the Bidens “flourished and became millionaires by simply offering access to the family”.Joe Biden has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. In 2020 the Politifact website concluded that there is no evidence that Hunter Biden came close to breaking the law, much less any evidence that his father has done so.Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project watchdog, said: “Instead of addressing the issues that affect the American people the most, they are acting like Donald Trump and pushing their radical Maga [Make America Great Again] Republican agenda. They haven’t learned their lesson.”The Democratic National Committee said in a statement: “The new Republican House majority features election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and Maga extremists. Whatever Republican wins the speaker race will be completely beholden to extreme Maga Republicans and you can count on House Republicans to remind Americans every day just how extreme their party is.”Any legislation that emerges from the House could face steep odds in the Senate, where Democrats won a slim majority on Saturday. Both parties are looking to a 6 December Senate runoff in Georgia to strengthen their hand.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022US politicsDemocratsHouse of RepresentativesUS SenatenewsReuse this content More