With help from Garrett Ross
JUST POSTED —“Biden, Xi meet amid efforts to chill tensions between their nations,” by Jonathan Lemire: “The 2 leaders shook hands against a backdrop of flags and, of their transient opening remarks, focused on the necessity to create a foundation for a relationship. … The 2 men, together with their small team of aides and translators, then disappeared to start their hours-long meeting.“
BREAKING OVERNIGHT —WaPo: “Three people were fatally shot and two others were injured on the campus of the University of Virginia late Sunday, U-Va. officials said, in an outburst of violence that set off an intense manhunt in and around Charlottesville for a suspect police described as armed and dangerous.”
WHAT A WEEK — Monday:JOE BIDEN and XI JINPING meet in Indonesia. MIKE PENCE’s sitdown interview with ABC’s David Muir airs. The House and Senate return to session. … Tuesday: House GOP leadership elections. Latest books released by MICHELLE OBAMA and Pence. DONALD TRUMP expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign from Mar-a-Lago. … Wednesday: Senate GOP leadership elections. Long-delayed NASA Artemis I moon mission scheduled for launch. … Thursday: Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) testifies before a Georgia grand jury on Trump’s alleged post-2020 election interference. … Friday: Republican Jewish Coalition annual meeting begins in Las Vegas, featuring speeches from Pence and Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS but not Trump … Saturday: NAOMI BIDEN’s White House wedding. … Sunday: Biden turns 80.
WHITHER THE HOUSE — Control of the House stays undetermined, but Democrats’ path to keeping their majority narrowed Sunday. POLITICO projects that Republicans have won 212 seats to Democrats’ 203. Per our Steve Shepard: Only 10 remaining uncalled races are true toss-ups, with Republicans needing to win THREE to secure the bulk. GOP candidates now lead in SEVEN of those toss-up races.
Three races trended away from Democrats after Sunday’s ballot drops …
— AZ-01: Rep. DAVID SCHWEIKERT (R) pulled ahead of JEVIN HODGE (D) by 894 votes.
— AZ-06:JUAN CISCOMANI (R) expanded his lead over KIRSTEN ENGEL (D) and is now ahead by 1,773 votes.
— CA-41: Rep. KEN CALVERT (R) expanded his lead over WILL ROLLINS (D) and is now ahead by 4,066 votes.
— The upshot: “Dems’ dreams of holding the House majority probably died tonight,” Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman tweeted.
INSIDE THE GOP RECKONING — For Republicans, Festivus comes early this 12 months. The truth is, it starts today at 4:30 p.m.
That’s when House Republicans kick off their candidate forum for leadership positions next Congress — the primary formal event in what is predicted to be a weeklong, party-wide Airing of Grievances following Republicans’ abysmal Election Day performance.
Would-be speaker KEVIN McCARTHY will face a stalking-horse challenge from senior House Freedom Caucus member ANDY BIGGS (R-Ariz.), who — as CNN’s Mel Zanona scooped — is running to show that the California Republican doesn’t have the 218 votes to be speaker.
Biggs’ challenge won’t matter — not yet, anyway. McCarthy only needs a majority of the GOP conference to get the speaker nomination this week, and he’ll easily get it. It’s not until January that he has to win a majority of the complete House, giving him about 35 days to try to persuade his members. If current ballot trends hold, he’ll only have the opportunity to afford a small handful of defections.
Conservatives are still asking for a leadership election delay. They note that many races haven’t been called, meaning would-be Republicans won’t get a likelihood to vote on next Congress’ leadership teams. The Club for Growth also urged a pause over the weekend. But McCarthy, we’re told, has no intention of pumping the brakes. Read Olivia Beavers’ preview of the GOP races
Meanwhile, within the Senate …
MITCH McCONNELL, we hear, is confident of his own reelection as leader — whilst he faces mounting pushback from Trump allies within the chamber. On Sunday night, Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) became the newest Republican to back a delay of Wednesday’s scheduled leadership elections — citing the Dec. 6 Georgia runoff.
“In light of #GASen runoff, it will be appropriate to delay Senate leadership elections until we all know who’s within the Senate Republican Conference,” he tweeted. “I totally agree with Senator [TED CRUZ] that to do otherwise could be disrespectful to [HERSCHEL WALKER].”
Graham is the eighth incumbent Republican senator to implicitly rebuke McConnell by publicly backing an election delay. However the Senate GOP’s center of gravity still lies closer to Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.), who publicly dismissed the calls Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation”:
“I do not see why we’d delay the election, since all 5 or 6 of our leadership elections are uncontested,” Cotton told Margaret Brennan. “You already know, the good wrestling champion RIC FLAIR used to say, ‘To be the person, you gotta beat the person.’ And to this point, nobody’s had the nerve to step forward and challenge Sen. McConnell.”
And on the 2024 presidential front …
Trump’s scheduled Tuesday campaign announcement remains to be moving full steam ahead despite fellow Republicans begging him to carry off in light of the pending Georgia contest.
One person acquainted with his plans told Playbook that Trump would never postpone the kickoff, if only because doing so could be a tacit acknowledgement that he’s, in actual fact, a drag on GOP candidates running in close general elections.
Trump’s team is attempting to frame his announcement to feel “more like 2016, less like 2020,” in accordance with one other top adviser. There’s a hope in his camp that since he’ll be declaring against an incumbent, he can reclaim an anti-establishment, Washington-outsider mantle. Serious query: Does Mar-a-Lago have an escalator?
The announcement, we’ll remind you, comes the identical day Pence’s latest book, “So Help Me God” ($35), drops. The previous VP is working hard to capture a minimum of a few of this busy week’s highlight, sitting down with ABC’s David Muir for his first televised interview for the reason that Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
In a primary clip released Sunday, Pence gave his most unvarnished assessment yet of Trump’s conduct that day: “The president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless. The president’s words that day on the rally [before the riot] endangered me and my family and everybody on the Capitol constructing.”
The balance of the interview will air later today on “World News Tonight.” ABC teases that Pence will address Trump’s expected 2024 reelection bid, whether Pence will launch a presidential campaign himself, Trump’s effect on the midterms and “what Pence makes of authorities saying classified documents were taken from the White House.”
DEMS IN DELAY — GOP drama aside, Speaker NANCY PELOSI might actually be the pivotal character of the week. With control of the House still within the balance, House Democrats have been left twiddling their thumbs as they await a long-anticipated retirement announcement — or news that she plans to hunt one other term as leader.
While few expect the latter, Democrats’ better-than-expected midterm showing has made a Pelosi return suddenly seem rather a lot more plausible — particularly if Democrats someway manage to carry the House. That’s since the party would likely have only a one- or two-seat margin, a dynamic that will make managing the already unruly Democratic caucus an almost inconceivable task.
Unimaginable, that’s, for anyone except Pelosi, who has proven she will be able to do exactly that and will see herself being drafted into staying on for one more two years. She turned heads Sunday when she suggested on CNN’s “State of the Union” that she was entertaining requests for her to remain put: “My members are asking me to contemplate doing that.”
While we wait for the House to be called — and Pelosi to make her intentions known — the Democratic leadership derby is essentially, but not entirely, frozen in place. One hot spot is the race to chair the DCCC, which officially became a contested race this morning with the entry of Rep. AMI BERA (D-Calif.).
Our Nick Wu scooped the announcement from Bera, who chaired the DCCC’s frontliner program and is “telling his colleagues his work to guard the party’s seats this cycle … could make him an efficient campaign chief for the subsequent election.” He’ll face off against fellow California Rep. TONY CÁRDENAS, who formerly chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s campaign arm and announced a bid Friday. Read Bera’s Dear Colleague letter
Good Monday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. We hope you bought some rest this weekend, because this week goes to exhaust you! Grab that coffee, and send us your tips about the Senate and House leadership election drama: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
MORE MIDTERMS FALLOUT
HOW IT HAPPENED — “How Catherine Cortez Masto clinched the Nevada seat — and the Senate,” by NBC’s Natasha Korecki in Sparks, Nev.: “In a backyard on a sunny afternoon in late October, a smattering of former office holders, donors and distinguished Nevada families surrounded Democratic Sen. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO and offered their endorsements.
“The importance? They were all Republicans from the swing area of Washoe County, and a few supported abortion rights, similar to Cortez Masto, who lost the county in 2016. But she couldn’t lose it again if she were to defeat her GOP opponent, ADAM LAXALT, in what would develop into considered one of the closest races within the country. The campaign’s internal data moving into the autumn showed that a big variety of Nevadans still didn’t know Laxalt’s stance on abortion, said an adviser to Cortez Masto. That underscored a vulnerability on a difficulty she was certain would motivate the electorate.”
RUNOFF REPORT — “With Democratic Senate sealed, Walker and Warnock attempt to rev up voters,” by the Atlanta Journal-Structure’s Shannon McCaffrey and Greg Bluestein: “In urgent messages to left-leaning voters, [Sen. RAPHAEL] WARNOCK’s allies framed his race as a vital 51st vote to raised insulate Democrats from the whims of U.S. Sens. JOE MANCHIN of West Virginia and KYRSTEN SINEMA of Arizona, two moderate Democrats who’ve opposed key liberal laws. … [HERSCHEL] WALKER’s supporters, meanwhile, brushed aside concerns that his base could be less intense now that considered one of his core arguments — that a vote for Walker would flip the chamber — is off the table.”
— “Shorter voting window could cut turnout in Georgia runoff,” by AP’s Jeff Amy in Atlanta: “Under Georgia’s 2021 election law, there can be only 4 weeks before the runoff — with Thanksgiving in the center. Many Georgians can be offered only five weekdays of early in-person voting starting Nov. 28. And June’s primary runoffs showed time for mail ballots to be received and returned may be very tight.”
— “Saturday voting barred in U.S. Senate runoff after Ga. holidays,” by the Atlanta Journal-Structure’s Mark Niesse: “Early voting won’t be allowed on a Saturday before the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia since it’s the day after the state holiday formerly often known as ROBERT E. LEE’s Birthday and two days after Thanksgiving.”
THE KEY IN THE KEYSTONE — “Democrats See a Blueprint in Fetterman’s Victory in Pennsylvania,” by NYT’s Trip Gabriel in Kittanning, Pa.: “An alternate explanation for why [JOHN] FETTERMAN did so significantly better than Mr. Biden in red counties, besides winning some former Trump supporters, is that a special spectrum of voters turned out in 2022 than in the course of the presidential race two years ago. Mr. Fetterman, who campaigned aggressively for greater than a 12 months in the agricultural counties before his stroke under the banner ‘every county, every vote,’ could have inspired inconsistent voters who still leaned Democratic to end up for him. And Trump supporters could have skipped voting within the midterms because [MEHMET] OZ didn’t excite them.”
BY THE WAY — “Doug Mastriano concedes to Josh Shapiro, five days after Election Day,” by the Philly Inquirer’s Chris Brennan
TRUST THE PROCESS — “Election Day saw few major problems, despite latest voting laws,” by AP’s Christina Cassidy and Gary Fields: “There have been no widespread reports of voters being turned away on the polls, and turnout, while down from the last midterm cycle 4 years ago, appeared robust in Georgia, a state with hotly competitive contests for governor and U.S. Senate. The dearth of broad disenfranchisement isn’t necessarily an indication that everybody who desired to vote could; there’s no good method to tell why certain voters didn’t solid a ballot.”
— “Arizona precincts with voting problems weren’t overwhelmingly Republican,” by WaPo’s Lenny Bronner, Isaac Stanley-Becker and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez in Phoenix: “The finding undercuts claims by some Republicans — most notably KARI LAKE, the GOP nominee for governor, and former president Donald Trump — that GOP areas within the county were disproportionately affected by the issues, which involved a mishap with printers. Republicans nonetheless argue that their voters were more more likely to be affected, given their tendency to vote on Election Day relatively than mail of their ballots.”
WAY OUT WEST — “Democratic wins in Washington state buoy party hopes,” by AP’s Gene Johnson in Seattle
CONGRESS
WHAT’S COMING DOWN THE PIKE — “Fiscal winter is coming: Lawmakers’ 5 chilly hills to climb,” by Caitlin Emma: “Lawmakers will return to session on Monday barreling at full speed toward a series of high-stakes fiscal hurdles while control of the House stays unsettled. Before 12 months’s end, they’ll need to keep the federal government open after current funding expires Dec. 16, and tackle Medicare cuts on the horizon — making for a busy post-election session, given the opposite fights looming as soon as 2023 begins. And the dynamics of a latest Congress are already making legislating even harder.” The five hurdles: 1) Government funding … 2) The debt ceiling … 3) Ukraine aid … 4) Recession relief … 5) Medicare cuts.
AID ON THE WAY — “Congress seeks to arm Taiwan quickly as China threat grows,” by WaPo’s Ellen Nakashima: “Deliberations on an unprecedented package of billions of dollars in military assistance to the self-governing island democracy come as Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet in Bali on Monday, with maintaining peace and stability within the Taiwan Strait a top item of debate.
“The bipartisan effort would enable the U.S. military to dip immediately into its own stocks of weapons like Javelins and Stingers — something done at scale just for Ukraine, officials said — and supply weapons for the primary time to Taiwan through the foreign military financing program, paid for by the US.”
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
HEADS UP — “Deadly Bombing in Istanbul Is Being Investigated as a Terrorist Attack,” by NYT’s Ben Hubbard and Safak Timur
SETTING THE TABLE — “Biden says he’s going into Xi meeting ‘stronger’ after Senate victory,” by WaPo’s Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: “‘I do know I’m coming in stronger, but I don’t need that,’ Biden said Sunday of his meeting with Xi, which is scheduled to happen at some point before the start of the Group of 20 summit in Bali. ‘I do know him well. He knows me. There’s no — we’ve little or no misunderstanding. We just got to work out where the red lines are and what we — what are an important things to every of us going into the subsequent two years. And his circumstance has modified, to state the plain, at home.’”
— Related reads: “Biden’s past guarantees for US to defend Taiwan under microscope in meeting with China’s Xi,” by CNN’s Kevin Liptak … “Xi Jinping Steps Back Onto Global Stage After Three-Yr Absence,” by WSJ’s James Areddy … “Dozens of Americans Are Barred From Leaving China, Adding to Tensions,” by WSJ’s James Areddy and Brian Spegele
AT THE G-20 SUMMIT — “Divided over Ukraine war, G-20 summit struggles on economic agenda,” by WaPo’s David Lynch and Emily Rauhala in Bali: “Twenty of the world’s strongest men and ladies will meet here this week with the worldwide economy weakening by the day, developing countries facing a looming debt crisis and war raging in Europe. The Group of 20 leaders summit is predicted to do precious little about any of it.”
SPY GAMES — “Iran and China Use Private Detectives to Spy on Dissidents in America,” by NYT’s Benjamin Weiser and William Rashbaum: “Across America, investigators are increasingly being hired by a latest type of client — authoritarian governments like Iran and China attempting to surveil, harass, threaten and even repatriate dissidents living lawfully in the US, law enforcement officials said. Federal indictments and complaints previously two years detail cases by which private investigators were drawn into such schemes in Latest York, California and Indiana, and F.B.I. officials say they imagine others have been as well.”
2024 WATCH
LOOKING AHEAD — “Republican rivals start thinking about a post-Trump future,” by WaPo’s Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer: “In private conversations amongst donors, operatives and other 2024 presidential hopefuls, a growing variety of Republicans try to seize what they imagine could also be their best opportunity to sideline Trump and usher in a latest generation of party leaders. Most of the party’s top donors are actively attempting to back other candidates and are uninterested in Trump, in accordance with Republican officials and operatives in contact with them.”
TRUMP CARDS
PULLING THE LEVERS — “Trump Wanted I.R.S. Investigations of Foes, Top Aide Says,” by NYT’s Michael Schmidt: “While in office, President Donald J. Trump repeatedly told JOHN F. KELLY, his second White House chief of staff, that he wanted numerous his perceived political enemies to be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Kelly said.
“Mr. Kelly, who was chief of staff from July 2017 through the tip of 2018, said in response to questions from The Latest York Times that Mr. Trump’s demands were a part of a broader pattern of him attempting to use the Justice Department and his authority as president against individuals who had been critical of him, including looking for to revoke the safety clearances of former top intelligence officials. Mr. Kelly said that amongst those Mr. Trump said ‘we ought to analyze’ and ‘get the I.R.S. on’ were the previous F.B.I. director JAMES B. COMEY and his deputy, ANDREW G. McCABE.”
WAR IN UKRAINE
THE VIEW FROM KHERSON — “Russia Tried to Absorb a Ukrainian City. It Didn’t Work,” by NYT’s Andrew Kramer
BEYOND THE BELTWAY
FOR YOUR RADAR — “Investigation underway over midair crash at Dallas air show,” by AP’s Juan Lozano, Josh Funk and LM Otero in Dallas
DATELINE NEWTOWN — “Sandy Hook memorial opens nearly 10 years after 26 killed,” by AP’s Dave Collins
MEDIAWATCH
TURNING THE PAGE — “The Latest York Post goals national,” by Semafor’s Max Tani: “[KEITH] POOLE is a latest model leader for a newspaper that has turned from a money-losing local hobby for RUPERT MURDOCH right into a national political force. The Post said it nearly doubled its profits in 2022 in comparison with 2021, and brought in 198 million unique users in June 2022 in comparison with 123 million within the previous 12 months. The paper has also develop into an influential voice in national Republican politics.”
MUSK READS
DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS — Platformer’s @CaseyNewton: “Company sources tell me that yesterday Twitter eliminated ~4,400 of its ~5,500 contract employees, with cuts expected to have significant impact to content moderation and the core infrastructure services that keep the location up and running. People inside are stunned.” More from AP
PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION
BUILD BACK BETTER — “Union Station has fallen on hard times. Can it’s saved?” by WaPo’s Luz Lazo: “Travelers, commuters and employees say they’re anxious in regards to the fate of the 115-year-old landmark, a once-vibrant gateway into the nation’s capital that was a destination by itself. They cite rising concerns about safety, encounters with those affected by mental health episodes and declines within the constructing’s upkeep — deterioration that became evident years ago but was hastened by the pandemic.”
Donald Trumpplaced on a tux for Israel.
Tuesday’s results didn’t do much for the Ruben Gallego–Kyrsten Sinema relationship.
Ivanka Trump cropped Kimberly Guilfoyle out of a Tiffany Trump wedding photo, then later posted the complete picture.
OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at David and Danielle Pasch’s Arlington house on Sunday for a celebration celebrating NPR’s Tim Mak‘s move from Washington to LA: Jonathan Swan and Betsy Woodruff Swan, Jamie Weinstein and Michelle Fields, Byron Tau, Alicia Rose, Sahil Kapur, Adam Klasfeld and Will Dugan.
MEDIA MOVE — Steven Ginsberg is leaving WaPo to run The Athletic, Semafor’s Max Tani reports.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Sarah Peck is joining GoFundMe as senior director of public affairs. She most recently was comms director and a deputy assistant secretary at DHS and is a Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign alum.
TRANSITIONS — Angela Chiappetta is now senior VP for business development at Direct Impact/BCW Global. She previously was managing director for business development at Rational 360. … Haley Scott, John Blasco, Tevin Williams and Simone Kanter can be chief of staff, district director, director of community and external affairs, and press secretary for Rep.-elect Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.). Scott was most recently a VP at BerlinRosen. Blasco was most recently chief of staff for Latest York Assemblymember Harvey Epstein. Williams was previously a legislative aide in Latest York state Sen. Brad Hoylman’s office. Kanter was previously comms director for Goldman’s campaign.
WEEKEND WEDDING — Ainsley Holyfield, director of public affairs for the Distilled Spirits Council and a Mike Johnson and Scott DesJarlais alum, and Vincent Giglierano, senior manager at Faegre Drinker Biddle and a Glen Grothman alum, got married on Saturday on the Hermann-Grima House and Broussard’s in Latest Orleans. The couple first met on the Georgia State Society’s Pig Jig in 2016. Pic … One other pic … One other pic
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Amanda Gonzalez Thompson, comms director for Senate Banking Committee Republicans and rating member Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), and Will Thompson, associate at Sidley Austin, welcomed William Henry Thompson IV on Thursday. He got here in at 5 lbs, 9 oz. Pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Greg Pence (R-Ind.) and Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) … Condoleezza Rice … Valerie Jarrett … Ben Rhodes … Tony Powell … Jacob Freedman of Albright Stonebridge … Peter Lattman … Sarah Binder … John Jameson … POLITICO’s Lauren Lanza … WaPo’s Paige Cunningham … Rachel Noerdlinger … Liz Morrison of No Labels … Randolph Court of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation … Ed Reno … Ashley Yehl Flanagan … Brianna Manzelli … Madeleine Weast … Jonathan Landman … Jeff Danziger … King Charles … Bella Grabowski … Courtney Alexander
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