Today’s notice: The gentleman from Maryland rises for a point of order. Chaos at the USDA. Unexpected takes on the new working relationships in Congress. How redistricting did precisely the thing it was not supposed to do in the South. The human meme that is Richard Ojeda. And: What our reporter learned when he interviewed the D.C. shooter months ago.
THE LATEST
Senate: Chris Van Hollen makes his move. The Democrat from Maryland officially launched a bid to be caucus leader, challenging New York’s Chuck Schumer. That angry party base demanding new faces in leadership before the wins last week? The ones people thought would go away because of the scale of those wins? They’re b-a-a-ck.
One side of the argument sounds like this: “I called on Sen. @ChrisVanHollen to lead our caucus as a candidate back in April because he leads with courage and experience. We need both right now,” Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan posted on X last night.
Trending
The other sounds like this: “Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?” Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said in a statement.
Other Democratic caucus members publicly backing Schumer: Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
On Team Van Hollen: Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont.
Being coy about it: Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
What to make of this: “No surprises” in terms of the lists so far, Igor Bobic — one of The Sun’s Senate guys — told us. That probably means Schumer gets the gig in the end, but it definitely means weeks of drama before we know for sure.
USDA: New chaos. The Agriculture Department’s all-important Natural Resources Conservation Service is in tumult under the strain of Donald Trump’s tariffs and other pressures on farmers, The Sun’s Eric Katz reports. Eric details an expletive-filled meeting hosted by Conservation Service Chief Colton Buckley, a political appointee, that preceded six of the agency’s state conservationists being reassigned or detailed elsewhere. Employees say they’re in an impossible spot. “Trump’s tariffs hurt the farmers. [His workforce-reduction efforts] hurt the farmers, and career employees are being punished after being placed in a compromised position,” one told Eric.
2028: James Talarico’s standing ovation. The senator-elect from Texas is just one of the many Democratic stars appearing in Denver this week at the centrist Majority Democrats’ “What’s Next” candidate cattle call. The Sun’s Elena Schneider is there; she reports that no one is officially running for anything but Talarico sounds like a guy who could. He called for making Trump’s “final two years of his presidency the most productive of any presidency in American history, because this moment is so much bigger and so much more important than the red team or the blue team.”
Congress: New realities. The Sun’s Kadia Goba reports that while some think Stephen Miller’s ascendance to White House chief of staff does not bode well for dealmaking with a Democratic Congress, others see an opportunity to do something big. On immigration reform? Conservative Republicans have refused to even discuss it for years. But in a world where Democrats control the floor and this chief of staff is pushing a deal, “Miller could have a large hand on bringing those sorts of Republicans on board with some sort of compromise effort,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-New York) told Kadia.
And then there’s Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the incoming House Republican leader. The Sun’s Stephen Neukam reports that while many among the soon-to-be majority peg Jordan as little more than an ideologue, retiring Democratic legend Jerry Nadler (D-New York) said, “He’s very bright, and he’s a worthy opponent.”
NEW ON THE SUN
Democrats: Ready for a national wealth tax. Midterm results were mixed when it came to new taxes, with voters rejecting a wealth tax in California, capping income tax in North Carolina and declining to repeal a millionaires tax in Washington state. Some see this as a message that Americans are not as excited about new taxes as Democrats are. But Democrats see it as a sign that voters want national action on high-income taxes, The Sun’s Jade Lozada reports. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-California), a moderate, argued that Californians “are supportive” of wealth taxes broadly. “We just don’t want to chase people out of our state,” he said.
Midterms lessons: Redistricting blowback. In a true irony for Deep South Republican trifectas that rushed to redraw district lines ahead of the midterm vote, The Sun’s Jenna Monnin reports that organizers of Black voters in those states found redistricting was one of the best GOTV motivators they’ve had in years. The results are as obvious as a Black Democratic senator-elect from Mississippi. “We know that there’s an attack on our right to vote, and so people came out to protect their right to vote,” said Angela Grayson of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable.
New faces: You’re going to be hearing a lot about this guy. Rep.-elect Richard Ojeda has already gone viral several times with his quips and his haircut. Now he’s proposing to force lobbyists to don body-worn cameras to improve transparency. “Does it pass? I don’t know,” Ojeda, a Democrat from North Carolina, told The Sun’s Paige Huffman. “But it will make a lot of people realize, ‘You know what? That guy’s right.’ If we want to end corruption in this country, that’s how we do it. We stop allowing people to do things in the dark.”
D.C. shooting: A harrowing story. The man who authorities say shot and killed 46-year-old James Stuart and injured four others in the Logan Circle area yesterday had spoken to The Sun’s Michael Brice-Saddler several times last year. Michael went back to his notes and recordings to detail the story of the shooter’s version of a long-running feud with Stuart, who was the property manager of his condo building.
New guidance: DOJ Tells Agencies to Move to English-Only
Yikes: ‘Harm to the Public Trust’: Senate Admonishes Sen. Jim Justice
For those of you somehow wondering: ‘No Way in Hell’: Stephen A. Smith Won’t Be the White House Press Secretary
Administration goals: Trump Wants to ‘Get Cuba Done’ Before Leaving the White House
NOT US
- What Democrats’ Big State Gains Make Possible, by Ed Kilgore for New York magazine
- A Warrior Secretary and a Lesson at the Tomb of the Unknowns, by Greg Jaffe for The New York Times
- At least 23 states considered laws governing ICE and schools this year, by Natalie Pate for NPR
- A $5.7 Trillion Face-Plant: The spectacular rise and fall of Jensen Huang, by Matteo Wong for The Atlantic
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton.
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