Today’s notice: Democrats hate redistricting — and the shutdown — but they’re doing both anyway. Five Republicans take a stand on tariffs. Fetterman still fits in the “big tent.” And: Trump eliminates another speed bump between himself and a new ballroom.
THE LATEST
No distractions. That’s the image Democrats are projecting as the hardest days of the shutdown approach.
“I don’t believe that’s a current consideration.” Sen. Dick Durbin told NOTUS’ Hill team when asked whether the White House promise not to keep funding SNAP through the shutdown would move Democratic votes.
Trending
The furlough-caused airport delays, AFGE impatience, Republican intransigence… it has not fundamentally altered the Democratic coalition. “Maximum pain” has been a difficult promise to deliver for the White House, it’s true, but the political risks for Democrats are piling up anyway — and they’re very publicly not budging.
“There’s no good situation here. The shutdown hurts people, and an immoral, corrupt budget hurts people,” Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters yesterday.
Amped is how progressive groups feel watching their electeds handle the heat. The base was convinced this fight was the right one to have in March, but was rebuffed by a cautious Senate. Though plenty of Democrats agree privately that they’re entering scary political ground, we report on a coalition currently dominated by voices who say things like this: “Staying on message and continuing to push is the best thing that can be done,” David Kass of Americans for Tax Fairness told us.
Which is not to say the coalition has forgotten it is a coalition of Democrats.
“We also know a tweet could change anything,” Rep. Becca Balint told us of her “solid partners on the Senate side.”
Open tabs: Trump Officials in Charge of Food Aid Leave Their Posts (NYT); White-Collar Jobs Are Disappearing as AI Starts to Bite (WSJ); Judge Forces Border Patrol Chief to Appear in Court Daily (NOTUS); Historic Hurricane Melissa Heads Toward Cuba (The Weather Channel)
From the Hill
And then there were five. We’re talking Senate Republicans that broke ranks and joined Democrats to pass a resolution rejecting the national-emergency declaration Trump used to impose 50% tariffs on Brazil. That came even after JD Vance urged Republicans to stay in line.
Sen. Thom Tillis was the latest Republican to rebuke Trump’s trade agenda, saying the Brazil levies lacked “rational basis.”
There’s a but… Tillis is not going to vote with Democrats on the coming two similar resolutions on Canadian tariffs and Trump’s global tariff policy, NOTUS’ Christa Dutton and Jade Lozada report.
From the redistricting wars
Nobody wants this, except for everybody? “I want to see every Democratic governor in this country getting out of bed and eating glass and basically saying, if you’re not willing to come to the table for federal, nonpartisan redistricting committees, we are going to redistrict you into oblivion,” said the Texas Democratic Party’s chair, Kendall Scudder.
“And the reason that I want them to do that is not because I think redistricting is good or this gerrymandering is good; I think it is very, very bad. But it’s because if Democrats continue to operate by a separate set of rules than Republicans, then we’re going to continue to get shellacked across the board,” Scudder said.
That’s one way to describe the weird spot Democrats are in right now. They’re saying they don’t like the partisan redistricting push. But they’re locked into pushing it, NOTUS’ Manuela Silva reports.
NEW ON NOTUS
Nvidia CEO praises Trump: The technology giant moved its semiannual conference from California to Washington this year, and promptly put on a show for the new administration, NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal reports. “No one works as hard as him (Trump),” CEO Jensen Huang said yesterday. “100% of his phone calls to me are at 10:30 at night — his time, not my time.”
The ‘big tent’ still has room: Democrats in Congress told NOTUS’ Avani Kalra that they still see Sen. John Fetterman’s voice as valuable, even if his popularity among registered Democrats seems to be plummeting. “There’s a lot of viewpoints in the Democratic Party, and that’s a good thing,” Sen. Mark Kelly said.
Ballroom oversight update: The White House fired the entire Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal panel established by Congress that is responsible for advising the federal government and the city of Washington, D.C., on construction projects.
That includes expected reviews of Trump’s ballroom and the massive arch he has planned for Washington’s Memorial Bridge. “We are preparing to appoint a new slate of members to the commission that are more aligned with President Trump’s America First Policies,” a White House official told NOTUS’ Amelia Benavides-Colón.
More: Johnson Says He Talked to Trump About Why He Can’t Run for a Third Term, by Amelia Benavides-Colón
Pentagon Moves to Fire Civilian Workers With ‘Speed and Conviction,’ by Amelia Benavides-Colón
NOT US
- Graham Platner Soldiers On, by Alex Seitz-Wald for Midcoast Villager
- MAGA singles are looking for love in Washington. It’s a challenge. By Jesús Rodríguez for The Washington Post
- US sought to lure Nicolás Maduro’s pilot into betraying the Venezuelan leader, by Joshua Goodman for The Associated Press
BE SOCIAL
Making the best of the shutdown this Halloween.
dressing up as the House for Halloween this year (I'm staying home)
— Stef Kight (@StefWKight) October 28, 2025
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