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WASHINGTON — House Democrats will elect their new leadership team Wednesday morning, ushering in a younger generation of leaders after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer decided to step aside after Democrats narrowly lost the majority this month. In recent years, younger, equally ambitious and talented Democrats looking to climb the leadership ladder discovered they had nowhere to go but out. Democratic Caucus Chair Xavier Becerra took an appointment as California's attorney general and then was named by President Joe Biden as health and human services secretary. Others, including Steve Israel of New York, who led both House Democrats' campaign arm and communications shop, opted for retirement. “The House Democratic Caucus is at its best when everyone has an opportunity to be on the playing field, playing the right position," he said.

☆ House Democrats elect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as leader, the first Black person to lead congressional caucus
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Scott Wong | Ali Vitali | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) departs a leadership election meeting with the Democratic caucus in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill November 30, 2022 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON — House Democrats elected their new leadership team Wednesday, ushering in a younger generation of leaders after Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer decided to step aside after Democrats narrowly lost the majority this month. Jeffries' top deputy will be Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., 59, a progressive who served under Jeffries as vice chair of the Democratic Caucus and rose to assistant speaker this Congress. Rounding out the trio of new leaders is Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., 43, a Congressional Hispanic Caucus member and former mayor who was elected Democratic Caucus chairman — the role Jeffries has held for the past four years. Of the current "Big Three" Democrats, only Clyburn, the current majority whip, has opted to stay in leadership in the new Congress.

That’s all I have to say about that,” said Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a member of Senate Republican leadership. I don’t think he should be the nominee of our party in 2024,” he said. And I don’t think it’ll matter in terms of his political future, but I do believe we need to watch who we meet with. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the outgoing NRSC chair, said, “There’s no room in the Republican Party for white supremacist antisemitism — so it’s wrong.”Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said: “Antisemitism is wrong, and white supremacy is wrong, and that’s all there is to it. Writing on Truth Social, Trump called Ye a “seriously troubled man” and said he had no idea who Fuentes was.

Shortly before Pelosi’s announcement Thursday that she was stepping down, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff signaled he would not run for House leadership and would focus his efforts on a future Senate bid instead. 2 leadership post, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal of Washington decided to run for another term leading her caucus of roughly 100 House liberals. Aguilar originally had his eyes set on the assistant leader position, but Clyburn’s move forced him to run for caucus chair. 4 and Democratic Caucus chair will move up to No. That left Rep. Joe Neguse, 38, who had been campaigning behind the scenes for months for caucus chair, as the odd man out.

☆ Kevin McCarthy could face a floor fight for speaker. That hasn’t happened in a century.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Kyle-Stewart-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Kyle Stewart | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is struggling to secure the 218 votes he needs to be elected speaker of the House in January. In this game of chicken, if the conservatives don’t blink and McCarthy refuses to back down, it could result in a chaotic floor fight with House members taking multiple votes for speaker — something that has not happened in a century. The House was called to order at noon and the chamber moved to the first order of business: electing the speaker. The House held three more unsuccessful votes for speaker that day before adjourning just after 2 p.m. The date was Feb. 2, 1856, two months after the first speaker vote.

Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola has won a full two-year term representing Alaska in the House, NBC News projected Wednesday, defeating former governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Shortly after news broke that she had won a full term on Wednesday night, Peltola tweeted "WE DID IT!!!" The outcome of the Nov. 8 election for the state's at-large House seat — as well as other contests, including for Senate — had been delayed for weeks because of Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system where voters rank the candidates in order of preference. After the first round of voting, Peltola led Palin by more than 20 percentage points, with Republican Nick Begich, a scion of one of Alaska’s most well-known political families, in third. It means that a Democrat will hold the at-large House seat for the next two years, after Young and the GOP had controlled it for nearly five decades.

Appearing with Republicans in El Paso, Texas, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday called on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign for failing to secure the southern border. If Mayorkas does not resign, McCarthy warned, House Republicans will investigate him and his department to determine whether to launch impeachment proceedings. Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas’s dereliction of duty,” said McCarthy, flanked by fellow House Republicans. Many conservatives who are withholding support are insisting that House Republicans impeach Mayorkas when they take power next year. In April," White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a tweet.

"For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic Caucus that I so deeply respect," Pelosi, 82, said in her floor speech. “Pelosi and Hoyer showed a lot of grace in stepping aside,” one younger Democratic lawmaker told NBC News. Meg Kinnard / AP fileAguilar said Friday he is now running for Democratic Caucus chairman. Under that scenario, Aguilar's caucus chair role would move up to No. But with Clyburn going for the assistant job and Aguilar entering the race for caucus chair, Neguse could find himself the odd man out.

WASHINGTON — New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the fourth-ranking House Democrat, said Friday that he will run to replace House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the party's leader after Republicans took back control of the chamber in last week’s midterm elections. The ascension of the 52-year-old Jeffries to minority leader would also represent generational change. Clark, 59, announced a bid for Democratic Whip, while Aguilar, 43, is running for Democratic Caucus Chair. Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, said Thursday she was confident that the powerful bloc of more than 50 Black lawmakers would line up behind Jeffries. “I’m very comfortable saying I believe that every member of the Congressional Black Caucus would vote for Hakeem Jeffries,” Beatty told reporters Thursday.

☆ Nancy Pelosi to announce her future plans Thursday after Democrats lose House
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Jonathan Allen | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, will announce plans for her future in a speech on the House floor Thursday, a spokesman said. The speaker’s plans are still unclear, but a source told NBC News that she took home two different versions of the speech she plans to deliver. "We’re all waiting for white smoke from the Vatican," one senior Democratic lawmaker told NBC News. Clyburn said Thursday he plans to stay in Democratic leadership no matter what Pelosi does. Asked about Pelosi's role leading the caucus over the last two decades, Clyburn told NBC News, “She has done absolutely great.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans' majority will be smaller than expected, but they're eager to use their new oversight powers and pass a spate of bills to draw contrasts with Democrats and give the Biden administration heartburn. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joined by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in Washington on July 21, 2021. A growing number of Republicans say they have their sights set on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, bashing his handling of the border surge. LegislationDemocrats still occupy the White House, so any legislation Republicans pass on a partisan basis won’t be signed into law by Biden. But House Republicans say they will waste no time showing the parties’ stark differences as they battle for control of the White House in 2024.

WASHINGTON — House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday easily defeated conservative Rep. Andy Biggs to win the GOP nomination for speaker of the House. The Arizona Republican and former leader of the far-right, Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus did not announce that he would challenge McCarthy until Monday night. "Minority Leader McCarthy does not have the votes needed to become the next Speaker of the House and his speakership should not be a foregone conclusion," Biggs said in a statement. Former President Donald Trump, who is expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid later Tuesday, has endorsed his longtime ally, McCarthy, for speaker. So has Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a Freedom Caucus member who is enormously popular among grassroots conservatives.

WASHINGTON — Conservative lawmakers sent a strong message to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday, telling him he doesn't have the votes to be the next speaker. Drew Angerer / Getty Images“We expect there will be a contest tomorrow, that there will be another candidate, and I don’t think anybody’s going to get 218 votes tomorrow,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who is opposing McCarthy for speaker. Good has said that a number of Republicans will be interested in jumping into the race once they realize McCarthy can’t secure 218 votes on his own. Jordan, the founding chairman of the caucus who unsuccessfully challenged McCarthy for minority leader in 2018, also is backing McCarthy. Period.”Inside the candidates forum on Monday, McCarthy was pressed by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a frequent McCarthy critic, on whether he would work with Democrats to secure 218 votes for speaker.

More than 60 prominent conservatives, including former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and activist Ginni Thomas, are calling on House and Senate GOP leadership elections to be delayed until after the Dec. 6 Georgia Senate runoff. The open letter to GOP lawmakers released Monday comes just a day before House Republicans are set to hold their closed-door election to pick their leaders for the new Congress. Senate Republicans plan to hold their own internal elections on Wednesday. There should be no rushed leadership elections,” the conservative group wrote in their letter. “Conservative Members of the House and Senate have called for the leadership elections to be delayed.

WASHINGTON — Americans were still waiting Friday to learn which party will control the House and Senate next year. Three days after final ballots were cast in the 2022 midterm elections, more than two dozen House races have not yet been called, with a number of them in California and other areas in the western half of the country. Republicans have a better chance of winning a majority in the House, though the Democrats still have a chance to retain control. As of Friday morning, Republicans have won 211 seats, Democrats have won 197 and 27 races remain uncalled. The Senate also hangs in the balance, as results in key races in Arizona and Nevada have not been decided.

WASHINGTON — In 2015, bomb-throwers in the House Freedom Caucus derailed Kevin McCarthy’s quest to become speaker. Even though no major news network has made the call, House Republicans have begun jockeying for leadership roles under the assumption that they will be able to seize power. McCarthy has spent years trying to position himself to be the next Republican House speaker. Some House Freedom Caucus members are outright opposed to McCarthy, while others are demanding concessions from him that would greatly water down his power as speaker. Some Freedom Caucus lawmakers huddled Thursday at the headquarters of the Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit aligned with Trump.

New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of House Democrats’ campaign arm responsible for protecting vulnerable incumbents in his party, has conceded his race in a phone call to Republican Mike Lawler, a spokesperson for Maloney's campaign said Wednesday morning. Maloney’s ouster will have larger implications for the House Democratic Caucus: It closes the door on a possible bid by Maloney for a second term as DCCC chairman. And it will reignite a fierce debate among House Democrats about whether one of their vulnerable members should be put in charge of the campaign operation. She survived her race for re-election but opted to retire just months later, ceding her seat in the Quad Cities to Republicans. Two California Democrats, Reps. Tony Cardenas and Ami Bera, have previously expressed interest in running for DCCC chairman in the 2024 cycle.

He said the spouses of some high-profile lawmakers may need security details in the future, in addition to using home security systems. Court documents allege the suspect had been in search of the House speaker and was on a "suicide mission" with additional targets. However, "there are not enough resources available to me to do that," she said on MSNBC following the attack on Paul Pelosi. “Bloodshed is coming," Swalwell tweeted at the time, foreshadowing the Pelosi attack. The Paul Pelosi attack was foreseeable," Schuman said.

WASHINGTON — Which party controls Congress next year could have big implications for Twitter — and its new “Chief Twit,” Elon Musk. A Jordan spokesman had no comment about Musk and Twitter, but Republicans expect the company will be more cooperative with any future GOP investigations with Musk at the helm. But upon taking control of Twitter, Musk said he would first form a “content moderation council,” and Yoel Roth, head of Safety and Integrity at Twitter, insisted that the company’s policies on hate speech have not changed. “If Elon Musk has said now that he’s going to start a content moderation board, that was one good sign, but I continue to be concerned about that,” Klobuchar said. Other Democrats are raising national security concerns about how Musk financed the $44 billion Twitter deal.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy on Monday called for an immediate investigation into the national security implications of Saudi Arabia's stake in Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company. “The purpose of these reviews is clear: to protect the national security interests of the United States and American citizens,” Murphy wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who leads CIFIUS. Late last week, Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said they would help Musk finance his Twitter deal by rolling over their ownership of shares of the company worth about $1.89 billion, according to a statement tweeted by Alwaleed. Together all the way @Twitter,” Prince Alwaleed tweeted. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, led by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, owns nearly 17 percent of Kingdom Holding, according to Reuters.

And the House Democrats’ campaign arm last week deployed hundreds of thousands of dollars to save its chairman in a Biden district north of New York City. “And I think that right there explains why this red wave is going to be so big.”The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm for House Democrats, said it isn't throwing in the towel. “Nearly a week from Election Day, House Democrats are well positioned to retain the majority despite a Republican gerrymandered map and MAGA Republicans’ dark money-fueled campaigns. Connecticut’s 5th District: Democrats have already spent $4.5 million to re-elect Hayes in a district that backed Biden 54.6% to Trump's 43.9% in the last election. Between now and Election Day, Democrats said they plan to spend an additional $1.5 million in ads to combat comparable spending by Republicans.

For the second time in as many election cycles, Democrats are launching an 11th-hour rescue mission to save the very House campaigns chief responsible for protecting vulnerable incumbents and preserving their fragile House majority. The DCCC also informed front-line members before announcing the ad buy in Maloney's district, a Democratic aide said. He’s built a campaign and we’ve built an operation at the DCCC that can support that reality,” Taylor said. In an interview with NBC News earlier this year, Maloney laid out that very playbook for protecting vulnerable incumbent Democrats. “While Lawler was voting against common sense gun safety reforms like not allowing teenagers to buy semi-automatic weapons, Rep. Maloney was helping pass bipartisan gun safety reforms,” Ehrenberg said in a statement.

House Democrats have unified as they fight to retain their fragile majority in next month’s midterms. But given Biden’s unpopularity and the GOP lead on the generic congressional ballot (which asks only which party people would support), the more likely scenario is a bad election night for House Democrats. If Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn head for the exits, the leadership matchups become pretty clear. Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on Sept. 20. The Massachusetts Democrat has significant support from fellow female members and has stayed close to the Black, Hispanic and Asian caucuses — big voting blocs in the diverse 220-member Democratic Caucus.

☆ With GOP Ukraine skeptics poised to gain in Congress, lawmakers look to lock in billions in military aid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Dan De Luce | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julie-Tsirkin-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Congress last month approved $12 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine, but the package being contemplated would be dramatically larger, the sources said. The amount would be enough “to make sure [Ukraine] can get through the year,” a Republican senator with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. Congress has allocated a total of $65 billion in funding to Ukraine since Russia attacked the country in February. “They don’t want to deal with it next year,” said Vajdich, a former Republican congressional staffer. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a staunch supporter of military aid to Ukraine, said last month that he had discussed the issue with McCarthy and that he agreed other countries need to do more to assist Ukraine.

In the next Congress, white men will also lead the House GOP campaign arm, the National Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC), and occupy other lower-tier leadership spots. The highest leadership post that Republican women or minorities have reached is chair of the GOP Conference — the No. She's expected to remain the highest-ranking GOP woman in the whole of the next Congress as well, given that white men make up all but one member of the Senate GOP leadership team. Eighty GOP women are running for House seats in these midterms. For his part, Donalds, whom Trump once called a “rising star,” has not made diversity a central part of his campaign for conference chair.

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