The Stakeout: We Are So Back

Congress is BACK, baby! We’ve got leader drama (as dramatic as Chris Van Hollen gets anyway), an exclusive with Abdul El-Sayed, and more on the stages of grief among House Republicans. Also, Senate bean soup.

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LEADERSHIP HICCUPS

Chuck Schumer’s detractors are still holding out hope someone else in the extremely nonconfrontational Senate Democratic Caucus challenges him for the top job. That could be Chris Van Hollen, the progressive heartthrob who is also looking at a 2028 presidential run.

A person familiar with the senator’s thinking told us that after an outpouring of calls, “including conversations with his colleagues,” Van Hollen is “in active listening mode” on a leadership bid.

“The door is not shut,” they added.

Nobody seriously expects Schumer to lose after Democrats’ huge gains last week, but a leadership challenge could give Van Hollen more lefty cred in the crowded Democratic presidential primary.

Said one Senate Dem aide to The Sun’s Stephen Neukam: “Schumer is going to be leader. Need to move on from this.”

Over in the House, multiple new House Democrats — Melat Kiros, LaKesha Womack, Katy Padilla Stout, Darializa Avila Chevalier and more — won’t commit to backing Hakeem Jeffries as speaker. Jeffries launched his speakership campaign with a promise Democrats would “try to find bipartisan common ground” to address affordability — and people already hate that approach.

“We won a massive majority and to already be talking about the need for bipartisanship when Republicans never do that, I think is incredibly out of touch with what the American people are expecting from us right now,” Kiros told us.

Does that mean that Jeffries won’t win? Probably not, particularly because no one else wants the job. Jeffries has gotten all Democrats to vote for him when he’s been nominated on the floor before (granted, in Republican majorities), so it says a lot that there might be people who abstain or potentially vote for someone else.

Meanwhile, a group of Senate Republicans is hoping to make John Thune sweat a little before he is reelected leader, pushing to delay Tuesday’s election until they can discuss what the hell just happened.

“A week ago, we had the worst election results in decades,” Dave McCormick wrote on X. “We need a discussion about what went wrong, how we fix it, what we stand for, and how our agenda must focus on the concerns of the American people.”

The only real nail-biter? The Steve Scalise vs. Jim Jordan wrestling match for who leads the teeny tiny Republican House minority. Even President Donald Trump isn’t touching that one.

And Scalise be whippin’: The Louisiana Republican held one-on-one meetings with incoming freshmen in his office on Sunday, sources told The Sun’s Reese Gorman.

LIBBIN’ OUT

How many things do Democrats want Trump to veto next year? It’s a hot debate on the left right now.

In an exclusive interview with The Stakeout, Abdul El-Sayed told us Democrats should be as aggressive as possible and force Trump vetoes, including on a Medicare for All bill.

“There’s really not a limit to the things that we can do if we’re willing to work hard and we’re willing to drive our goals. We have, you know, God willing, a 56-seat majority, and I think we need to use it,” said the Michigan senator-elect.

Even though he won’t be sworn in until January, El-Sayed wants Democrats to use the Dec. 11 government funding deadline to avert Medicaid cuts kicking in at the end of year. “It would allay a tremendous amount of damage, and I don’t think we should miss any bites at the apple,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mark Kelly floated another hardball tactic at this weekend’s libbed-out Crooked Media party: cutting off funding for White House operations to pressure Trump to end the Iran war.

“That’s always the big hammer you can use against the president,” Kelly told us on the sidelines of the conference, which doubled as the first post-midterm 2028 kickoff event.

HOUSING CZAR

We hear that Lois Frankel, the 78-year-old Floridian, is making calls to new members — not to talk politics but to talk about real estate.

“Frankel is everyone in Congress’ Jewish mother, and she is the mayor of the building that we affectionately call ‘the Dorms,’ and she does help connect people to housing there who want it,” Sara Jacobs told The Sun’s Kadia Goba.

Incoming freshman Dan Koh said Frankel has sent him listings for apartments he’s considering.

“She’s just like, ‘Hey, I’m here. You let me know what you need.’ It’s just really helpful to have people like her reach out and offer help on any question all the way down to where you want to live.”

Frankel did not return our request for comment.

STAGES OF GRIEF

Republican members are working through the grieving stages as they head back to Washington. The group chats have yet to regain their usual banter, and no one is cracking jokes as the reality of their new political circumstances is starting to sink in. For now, as one member told Kadia, the sentiment is “mostly relief” that the elections are over.

“The freshmen members are less excited than normal freshman classes,” a senior Republican told Kadia. “They aren’t as giddy.” That member said they were personally feeling “blah for five days. I’m over it now.”

There are 78 new House Democrats coming in and, well, 31 new Republicans so far. The Dem mood is, uh, slightly more upbeat.

LOOMING DRAMA

It’ll be a historic week: The House may finally vote to declare war. No, not against Iran. Against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Thomas Massie told The Sun’s Joe Gould that a vote could come as early as tonight, but possibly in the next few days.

House and Senate Republicans are scheduled to hold leadership elections on Tuesday.

But first, the Senate has more regular business: It will hold a vote to advance permitting reform at 5:30 p.m. Advocates made changes to the bill over the weekend to win support.

WHY?

SOUP OF THE DAY

Senate bean soup.

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