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    Chris Sununu Skips a New Hampshire Senate Bid, Dashing Trump’s Hopes

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    The former New Hampshire governor had been seen as a top Republican recruit in the liberal-leaning yet competitive state. President Trump had said on Sunday, “I hope he runs.”Chris Sununu, the Republican former governor of New Hampshire, announced on Tuesday that he would not run for Senate in 2026, dashing the hopes of President Trump and others in their party that he would help flip a seat in the state after a Democratic senator’s retirement.Mr. Sununu, who served for four two-year terms as governor, was once a vocal critic of Mr. Trump’s — he endorsed Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary race — but the president had warmed to the possibility of luring the popular former governor into the Senate race.“I hope he runs,” Mr. Trump said on Air Force One on Sunday, noting that he had met recently with Mr. Sununu in the Oval Office. “He’s been very nice to me over the last year or so.”Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, announced her retirement last month. Representative Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, a Democrat, recently began a bid to succeed her. The other House member from the state, Representative Maggie Goodlander, has said she is also considering a run.Mr. Sununu, who has flirted with Senate campaigns for years but never actually declared a candidacy, officially pulled himself out of contention on Tuesday.”No, I’m not going to run,” he said in a radio interview on The Pulse of NH, saying it was not right for his family.He said that Republicans could still win, and that he had on Tuesday informed Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, of his decision. “It doesn’t have to be me,” Mr. Sununu said.A spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Maeve Coyle, called it “ an embarrassing recruitment failure.”Another potential Republican candidate is Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts, whom Ms. Shaheen needled after she announced her exit, telling Semafor: “He’s making noises. He’s not from New Hampshire.”The New Hampshire seat is one of three vacancies that Democrats must defend in 2026, along with Michigan and Minnesota. No Republican senators in competitive states have yet to announce retirements. More

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      Republicans Plan to Skirt Senate Rules to Push Through More Tax Cuts

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      G.O.P. leaders are planning to use the “nuclear option” to steer around the Senate’s in-house referee and allow the use of a gimmick that makes trillions of dollars in tax cuts appear to be free.For decades, senators looking to push major budget and tax legislation through Congress on a simple majority vote have had to win the blessing of a single unelected figure on Capitol Hill.The Senate parliamentarian, a civil servant who acts as the arbiter and enforcer of the chamber’s byzantine rules, has traditionally been in a position to make or break entire presidential agendas. That includes determining whether budget and tax legislation can be fast-tracked through Congress and shielded from a filibuster, allowing it to pass along party lines through a process known as reconciliation.Now, in their zeal to deliver President Trump’s domestic policy agenda in “one big beautiful bill” of spending and tax cuts, Senate Republicans are trying to steer around the parliamentarian, busting a substantial congressional norm in the process.The strategy would allow them to avoid getting a formal thumbs up or thumbs down on their claim that extending the tax cuts that Mr. Trump signed into law in 2017 would cost nothing — a gimmick that would make it easier for them cram as many tax reductions as possible into their bill without appearing to balloon the deficit.In recent days, all eyes have been on Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian, to see whether she would bless the trick, smoothing the path for the G.O.P. bill. But on Wednesday, Republicans signaled that they planned to take extraordinary action to go around her altogether.Rather than have Ms. MacDonough weigh in, they asserted that Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, as chairman of the Budget Committee, could unilaterally decide the cost of the legislation, citing a 1974 budget law. Senate Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a new budget resolution they planned to put to a vote as early as this week. And Mr. Graham declared in a statement that he considered an extension of the 2017 tax cuts to be cost-free.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mallory McMorrow Enters Michigan Senate Race

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      The 38-year-old Democratic state lawmaker says that her party needs a generational shift.State Senator Mallory McMorrow of Michigan, a Democrat from the Detroit suburbs, jumped into her state’s U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, becoming the first prominent candidate to enter the contest, which will help decide control of the chamber next fall.The seat opened after Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, announced his retirement, and the race — in a state that has often favored Democratic senators but twice voted for President Trump — will be among the most closely watched in the country next year.“We need new leaders,” Ms. McMorrow, 38, said in her announcement video. “The same people in D.C. who got us into this mess are not going to be the ones to get us out of it.”Ms. McMorrow won Democrats’ acclaim several years ago for defending liberal values while identifying herself as a “straight, white, Christian, married suburban mom,” and her announcement video featured national pundits remarking on the speech. She flipped a Republican-held district in 2018 and is the first woman to become State Senate majority whip, her campaign has noted, in Michigan’s history.She is unlikely to have the Democratic lane to herself for long.Democrats who have signaled that they are eyeing the Senate race include Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate from suburban Detroit; Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, a Democrat who won a challenging House district in Michigan last year; and Abdul El-Sayed, an outgoing health director in Wayne County and a progressive who ran unsuccessfully against now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, in the 2018 primary.Ms. Whitmer, who is term-limited, has said she is uninterested in running for Senate. Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has also taken himself out of contention.Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary, the race is expected to be competitive in the general election.Republicans who could or are expected to run include former Representative Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost to Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, in November, and Representative Bill Huizenga. Tudor Dixon, who lost the governor’s race to Ms. Whitmer in 2022, and Kevin Rinke, who lost that Republican primary, could look at runs for Senate or governor. More

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      Senator Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat, Won’t Run Again in 2026

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      Ms. Shaheen’s retirement will set off a high-stakes fight for an open seat in a state where she has been a leading political figure for decades.Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire will not run for re-election in 2026, bringing an end to a long and singular political career and further complicating Democrats’ efforts to regain a majority in the Senate.Her decision not to seek a fourth term will immediately set off a high-stakes race in a state whose voters are famously fickle. Last fall, New Hampshire voters supported former Vice President Kamala Harris for president and elected Democrats to Congress, but they also voted for a Republican governor and expanded Republican majorities in the state legislature.“It was a difficult decision, made more difficult by the current environment in the country — by President Trump and what he’s doing right now,” Ms. Shaheen, 78, said in an interview with The New York Times. She specifically criticized the president’s focus on political retribution, his drastic cuts to the federal budget and his antagonism toward Ukraine as it defends itself from Russia’s invasion.She announced her decision in a video released on Wednesday morning.Ms. Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was the first woman to be elected governor of New Hampshire and the first woman in the country to serve as both a governor and a U.S. senator. She noted in the interview that she will have served for 30 years in elected office and spent 50 years in politics.“It’s important for New Hampshire and the country to have a new generation of leadership,” she said.Ms. Shaheen, speaking in January with Senators Chris Murphy, left, and James Risch, second from right, is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.Eric Lee/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sen. Laphonza Butler Discusses the Election During Her Last Days in Office

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      An interview with Senator Laphonza Butler, Democrat of California, during her final week in the Senate.Laphonza Butler will have served as a senator from California for only about 15 months. But she has been a close ally of Vice President Kamala Harris for 15 years.This week, I spoke with Butler, whose long partnership with Harris — they first met when Butler was a Los Angeles-based union leader — gives her an intriguing perspective on why her party lost the presidential election and how it might rebuild.Harris hasn’t said much publicly about why she lost. In Butler’s view, some of the fault starts with President Biden, who she believes broke what was a clear campaign promise by running for re-election. But just blaming Biden isn’t enough: Democrats, she says, must stop talking and start listening. Really listening.Butler was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the U.S. Senate seat left open by the death of Senator Dianne Feinstein in September 2023. Because she decided not to run for re-election, this week is her last in the body: On Monday, Representative Adam Schiff will be sworn in as the state’s newest senator.This interview was edited for length and clarity.LL: Why do you think Harris lost?LB: The American people wanted a change. They wanted a candidate who they thought represented change. And I think that might simply be it.Should Biden not have run?President Biden said initially that he was going to be a transitional leader. I think that is the expectation that people had. So in that sense, I think that he probably would have been better to remain in that posture. We can’t deny the success of his presidency. When history looks back, his presidency will be one of the most impactful in my lifetime, for sure. But I think once you sort of create an expectation with people, there is the need to hold to that.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      On the Ballot, Abortion Rights Proved More Popular Than Kamala Harris

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      In states like Arizona and Nevada, some voters split their tickets, supporting abortion rights measures while also backing Donald Trump.Democrats headed into the election hoping that abortion rights initiatives would drive support for Kamala Harris in states where the measures appeared on the ballot, including two presidential swing states, Arizona and Nevada.But while the ballot measures, broadly put, performed well on Tuesday, succeeding in seven out of 10 states, Ms. Harris and other Democrats underperformed them across the map.In both Arizona and Nevada, more than 60 percent of voters approved measures to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, though more votes remained to be counted on Thursday. But Donald J. Trump appeared on track to win both states, according to New York Times estimates. Abortion rights initiatives also passed in Missouri and Montana, two states Mr. Trump won easily.Even as a growing share of women said abortion access was central to their vote, pre-election polling suggested that it wasn’t voters’ top concern overall. Fifteen percent of likely voters in an October national New York Times/Siena College poll said abortion was the most important issue in their vote for president, but roughly twice as many listed the economy, or inflation.The voters who cited abortion as their top concern favored Ms. Harris, 88 percent to 11 percent, and the voters who prioritized economic issues favored Mr. Trump, 72 percent to 24 percent.In states where the ballot measures passed but Mr. Trump won or was leading, voters had, in effect, split their tickets, supporting abortion rights in their states while also backing a candidate who took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, which had established a nationwide right to abortion. Ms. Harris had made protecting abortion rights a central theme of her campaign.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Alsobrooks Defeats Hogan in Maryland, Keeping a Blue-State Senate Seat

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      Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic Prince George’s County executive, has easily defeated former Gov. Larry Hogan to become Maryland’s first Black senator, according to The Associated Press, holding a crucial seat for her party as it grasps to keep the Senate majority.The victory was an important win for Democrats in the first competitive Senate race in deep-blue Maryland in decades.Ms. Alsobrooks, 53, the top official in a majority-Black Maryland county in the D.C. suburbs, will become only the second woman to represent the state in the Senate.Maryland’s congressional delegation is currently all male. Ms. Alsobrooks will succeed Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, who is retiring after three terms at the age of 81.Along with Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, who has also won her Senate bid, Ms. Alsobrooks will be part of the first pair of Black female senators to serve in the chamber at the same time. They will be the fourth and fifth Black women to serve there in history, after Carol Moseley Braun, Kamala Harris and Laphonza Butler.Ms. Alsobrooks said her top priority in office would be working to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, and pursuing legislation to try to create economic opportunity for Marylanders.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Republicans Make Early Gain in Push for Control of the Senate

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      Senate Republicans picked up a Senate seat in West Virginia on Tuesday night, winning an expected victory that put them just one seat away from seizing control of the chamber from Democrats after four years.Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia easily won the slot opened up by the retirement of Senator Joe Manchin III, who served most of his career in the Senate as a Democrat before becoming an independent earlier this year. The gain cut into the thin 51-to-49 majority held by Democrats and left Republicans within clear striking distance, though multiple races were yet to be decided.In Indiana, Representative Jim Banks, a Republican and former leader of a House conservative faction, was easily elected to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Senator Mike Braun, a Republican who ran for governor and won. Mr. Banks was considered a rising star in the House but decided to try to join the Senate after he lost an internal G.O.P. election for a leadership post.Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who is seeking to become the Republican Senate leader, was also re-elected, overcoming a Democratic challenge.In Vermont, Senator Bernie Sanders, the 83-year-old independent and former presidential candidate aligned with Democrats, was elected to a fourth term.Democrats were always going to be hard-pressed to hold on to their majority, since they were defending many seats in red and swing states. But they continued to hold out hope that they could prevail if they could run the table and defend their embattled incumbents in states beyond West Virginia or score an upset and knock off a Republican incumbent.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Judge Allows Unusual G.O.P. Strategy to Pump Money Into Senate Races

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      Democrats had claimed that the advertising strategy may have violated federal election laws establishing strict limits on spending by national party committees to aid individual candidates.A federal judge ruled on Friday that Senate Republicans may continue to pump tens of millions of dollars into key swing state races in the final days of the 2024 campaign by employing an unusual advertising strategy that Democrats had claimed was potentially illegal.By reclassifying campaign ads as fund-raising appeals, Republicans have been able to avoid strict limits Congress has placed on spending by national party committees to aid individual candidates, helping to offset a significant fund-raising deficit they face in states with critical Senate races, such as Arizona and Pennsylvania.House Democrats’ campaign arm sued the Federal Election Commission for failing to stop the Republicans and sought to either ban the practice or clear the way to use it themselves.But Judge Randolph D. Moss, of the U.S. District Court in Washington, wrote Friday that he was “unpersuaded” to outlaw a practice that the commission had not. He said Democratic and Republican campaign committees — those that support Senate and House candidates — are “all on an even playing field” and the lack of action taken by the Federal Election Commission had not tilted it.His ruling could give Republicans a last-minute boost in the fierce contest for the Senate, where they are favored to pick up the one or two seats they need to regain control of the chamber, but where polls show that several races are close.Sean Cooksey, the Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission, also welcomed the ruling. “This is a huge win for the rule of law and political speech!” he wrote on social media.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More