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4 months ago

Georgia win offers Democrats new opportunity -- plus a reality check: The Note

Tuesday's Georgia Senate runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herchel Walker wound up looking a lot like the first round of voting in November
4 months ago
U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock speaks during an election night party in Atlanta, Dec. 6, 2022.
4 months ago

Truths and consequences await Kansas abortion-rights vote: The Note

Voters in Kansas on Tuesday will decide whether to eliminate a state constitutional right to abortion
4 months ago
Both sides in the nation's abortion debate say a Kansas vote on whether to amend the state constitution over abortion will be a bellwether for the right to choose in post-Roe America.
4 months ago

Joe Biden faces fresh headwinds from his base: The Note

Inside the context of what looks like a brutal midterm year, there are plenty of reasons to think Democrats might be rallying behind President Joe Biden at the moment.
4 months ago
President Joe Biden speaks during an event commemorating the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 11, 2022.
4 months ago

Slight thaw in gun politics opens window for Senate: The Note

Getting a Senate gun control bill after the Texas school shooting will require actual compromise among lawmakers with reputations and records on the line.
4 months ago
Sen. Chris Murphy addresses a rally with fellow Senate Democrats and gun control advocacy groups outside the U.S. Capitol on May 26, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
2 years ago

Democrats close legislative year with final swipes at Trump: The Note

Consider the ways in which Trump was rebuked and rebuffed:. His taxes were exposed; his actions around Jan. 6 were called out
2 years ago
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2022 (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, Feb. 26, 2022.
2 years ago

Zelenskyy helps Biden lay down markers for Ukraine support: The Note

With Zelenskyy by his side at the White House, Joe Biden guaranteed the Ukrainian people directly: "You will never stand alone"
2 years ago
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the US Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 21, 2022.
2 years ago

Election denials go to court as Jan. 6 fallout brings action: The Note

Defeated gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake will get the hearing she has demanded.
2 years ago
Kari Lake, Arizona Republican candidate for governor, speaks to supporters at the Republican watch party in Scottsdale, Ariz., Nov. 8, 2022.
2 years ago

Jan. 6 fallout set to spill into 2023 and 2024: The Note

The final words from the House Jan. 6 committee were stark and without precedent -- up to and including recommendations that Trump face prosecution
2 years ago
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol approves its final report with a criminal referral of former President Donald J. Trump is displayed during the end of their final hearing on Capitol Hill, Dec. 19, 2022.
2 years ago

Unfinished Trump business dominates end-of-year sprint: The Note

Virtually every day of the final week before Christmas brings decision points for Democrats on how to handle circumstances put into motion by Trump
2 years ago
A video of President Donald Trump is shown on a screen, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, July 21, 2022.
2 years ago

Early Trump 'reset' highlights distance from 2016 to 2024: The Note

The first month of the third Trump campaign might be remembered for how former President Donald Trump himself was nowhere to be seen but everywhere to be found.
2 years ago
Former President Donald Trump announces he is running for president for the third time as he pauses while speaking at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022.
2 years ago

Fauci's exit comes amid surge in COVID politics: The Note

COVID-19 has been an awkward part of year-ending debates over government funding, immigration policy and even the annual defense authorization bill
2 years ago
NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci joins White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for the daily press briefing at the White House, Nov. 22, 2022.
2 years ago

Post-election Democratic wins carry asterisks: The Note

Democrats and Biden are squeezing what they can out of what remains of their united control of Washington
2 years ago
President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Washington, October 17, 2022.
2 years ago

Sinema rains on Democrats' post-election parade: The Note

Sen. Kysten Sinema's announcement Friday morning that she is leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent changes the post-election narrative.
2 years ago
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing to examine social media's impact on homeland security, Sept. 14, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. In 2024 Sinema will be up for reelection.
2 years ago

End to midterms belies turmoil in both parties: The Note

Losing the House is inarguably more significant than gaining a Senate seat
2 years ago
Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker delivers his concession speech during an election night event, Dec. 6, 2022, in Atlanta.
2 years ago

GOP faces further Trump reckoning in Georgia and beyond: The Note

If the 2022 midterms posed a test of Trumpism that the GOP failed, it might not be done quite yet
2 years ago
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally, Nov.7, 2022, in Dayton, Ohio.
2 years ago

Biden seeks seismic shift in primary system, putting South Carolina first: The Note

Biden's late suggestions to the Democratic National Committee would kill off the Iowa caucuses and knock out New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status
2 years ago
President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 9, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP's white supremacist problems extend beyond Trump: The Note

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was incorrect in asserting that Trump condemned Nick Fuentes after having dinner with him
2 years ago
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attends a roundtable discussion with members of the House Freedom Caucus on the COVID-19 pandemic at The Heritage Foundation, Nov. 10, 2022.
2 years ago

Biden faces fresh tests of influence before 2023: The Note

And what happens before 2023 begins could have significant implications for 2024 -- all while the question hangs of President Joe Biden's own reelection candidacy
2 years ago
President Joe Biden speaks about administration plans to forgive federal student loan debt during remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Aug. 24, 2022.
2 years ago

Trump exposes weaknesses in his candidacy and inside GOP: The Note

Less than two weeks after Trump became the first major presidential candidate for 2024, GOP leaders are back to trying to explain away his actions
2 years ago
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally to support Republican candidates ahead of midterm elections, Nov. 7, 2022, in Dayton, Ohio.
2 years ago

Ukraine revealing GOP’s drift from Trump: The Note

GOP officeholders and office-seekers won't admit it, but for many, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has them publicly agreeing more with President Joe Biden than with Trump.
2 years ago
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd during a rally at the Florence Regional Airport, March 12, 2022, in Florence, S.C.
2 years ago

Tough questions ahead for Ketanji Brown Jackson at SCOTUS hearings: The Note

Monday will mark the beginning of hearings for the historic Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
2 years ago
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson poses for photographs while visiting Sen. Deb  Fischer in her office in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 17, 2022.
2 years ago

Confirmation hearings test vanishing middle: The Note

Credibility aside, Sen. Josh Hawley and other ambitious Republicans on the committee have access to a valuable megaphone in questioning Jackson over the coming days.
2 years ago
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson meets with Sen. Jon Ossoff, on Capitol Hill, March 10, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP focuses on crime as questions for Jackson begin: The Note

GOP senators focus squarely on issues of crime at Jackson confirmation hearings.
2 years ago
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is seated during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 21, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP uses Jackson hearing to inflame tensions over race, crime: The Note

Attacks from GOP senators have spanned from her sentencing of child porn offenders to her defense of terrorist suspects and her familiarity with critical race theory.
2 years ago
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson adjusts her glasses during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, March 22, 2022.
2 years ago

McConnell takes wins on party unity, despite Trump: The Note

McConnell's view of how the GOP should be shaping itself is winning out a bit more than Trump’s, at least for now.
2 years ago
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters following a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol, March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC.
2 years ago

'Big lie' takes new twists for GOP: The Note

Trump heads to Georgia this weekend and he'll almost certainly attack incumbent Republicans who rightly say he lost the election.
2 years ago
In this Jan. 4, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally for Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Atlanta.
2 years ago

Biden’s words spark war within war: The Note

After President Joe Biden said Putin "cannot remain in power," the White House leapt to explain that the president was not endorsing regime change as a policy matter.
2 years ago
President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, March 26, 2022.
2 years ago

Politicized decisions still loom around Jan. 6: The Note

President Joe Biden declined to comment on the latest revelations about Ginni Thomas’ efforts to urge officials to try to overturn the election.
2 years ago
In this Sept. 4, 2020, file photo, Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, listens during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C.
2 years ago

GOP primaries take nasty turn, even without Trump: The Note

The leading GOP Senate candidates in Pennsylvania will all share a stage for the first time Wednesday.
2 years ago
In this Feb. 27, 2022, file photo Dr. Oz speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Fla.
2 years ago

Landscape in flux ahead of primary voting: The Note

As April of the midterm election year begins, four states still haven’t finished drawing congressional districts that will be filled in mere months.
2 years ago
In this Nov. 16, 2021, file photo, members of the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee hear testimony on a new map of state congressional districts, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
2 years ago

'New generation' represents challenge and opportunity for Democrats: The Note

It was not just Pelosi but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip James Clyburn all saying on Thursday that they would vacate the top leadership spots
2 years ago
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi delivers remarks from the House Chambers of the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 17, 2022.
2 years ago

Trump forces Republicans into more awkward choices: The Note

The first time around, Republicans in the 2016 campaign were able to act largely as if Donald Trump was someone else's problem -- until, suddenly, he wasn't
2 years ago
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announces that he will once again run for U.S. president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP faces leadership chaos on Trump's big day: The Note

The seven days since the midterms have put intense focus on the leaders Republicans have -- like Trump, McCarthy and McConnell -- and those they wish they didn't
2 years ago
U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attends the House Republicans candidates forum at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Nov. 14, 2022.
2 years ago

Pence deepens rift with Trump as GOP's MAGA fallout continues: The Note

Republicans are looking for answers and people to blame after their midterm bust, and Mike Pence is speaking out about Trump and Jan. 6
2 years ago
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks during an event in Washington, Oct. 19, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP's MAGA reckoning faces major speed bumps: The Note

For six years now, most Republican loyalties to Donald Trump have rested on a simple assumption: Trump helps them win
2 years ago
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a rally to support Republican candidates ahead of midterm elections, in Dayton, Ohio, U.S. November 7, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP gets Trumped in midterm setbacks: The Note

Tuesday's midterm election might be best defined in the immediate aftermath by what it wasn't -- a wave or a tsunami, or a repudiation of President Joe Biden.
2 years ago
Former President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-lago on Election Day in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 8, 2022.
2 years ago

Local factors keep races close in unexpected places: The Note

The election was always going to come down to battleground states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada. But other, unexpected states feature close races this year.
2 years ago
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, right, reacts as President Joe Biden speaks to an overflow crowd before a campaign rally Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Albuquerque, N.M.
2 years ago

Democrats acting more worried than they're sounding about midterms: The Note

You can look at where Democrats are spending and what they're doing in the final stretch of voting -- and, in some cases, even what they're saying about how things look.
2 years ago
President Joe Biden speaks about Social Security, Medicare, and prescription drug costs, Nov. 1, 2022, in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
2 years ago

Contenders past and present loom over 2022: The Note

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump may have more on the line in the coming days than anyone else, with one week to go before the midterm elections.
2 years ago
Former President Barack Obama campaigns for Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer during a "Get Out the Vote Rally" ahead of the midterm elections,at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Michigan, Oct. 29, 2022.
2 years ago

Paul Pelosi attack highlights jitters and stakes around midterms: The Note

A fair reading of the moment puts the attack on Paul Pelosi on a bipartisan list that includes threats, plots and actual violence committed across the political spectrum.
2 years ago
Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, arrives for the Artist's Dinner honoring the recipients of the 44th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, Dec. 4, 2021, in Washington.
2 years ago

Upset hopes keep Senate map in flux: The Note

The data-overloaded pre-election midterm period practically invites head fakes and the indulging of fantasies inside both parties
2 years ago
Joe O'Dea, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat, speaks during a primary election night watch party in Denver, June 28, 2022.
2 years ago

As swing-state candidates face new scrutiny, both parties bank on backlash: The Note

There's no comparing what Herschel Walker stands accused of having done (which he denies) and what John Fetterman stands accused of not being capable of doing
2 years ago
Herschel walker delivers remarks at a campaign event in Dillard, Ga., Oct. 26, 2022.
2 years ago

GOP homes in on crime as debate messaging overlaps: The Note

The biggest debate of the midterm cycle was Pennsylvania's Senate race, and it was Democrat John Fetterman who was the first to mention his stroke and speech issues
2 years ago
A handout photo made available by abc27 shows Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (L) and Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz (R) during the Nexstar Pennsylvania Senate Debate at WHTM abc27 in Harrisburg, Penn., Oct. 25, 2022.
2 years ago

Big moment for Dr. Oz on Pennsylvania debate day vs. Fetterman: The Note

A plausible case can be made that Tuesday night's Pennsylvania Senate debate brings the bigger moment for the Republican candidate, Mehmet Oz, over John Fetterman
2 years ago
Candidates Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman are seen in composited file images.
2 years ago

On debate day in Florida, DeSantis looms large for both parties: The Note

It would actually be surprising at this stage if Ron DeSantis chose not to run for president in 2024
2 years ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign event in Tampa, Fla., Oct. 21, 2022.
2 years ago

Midterm story lines converge on Arizona: The Note

Arizona midterm voters are choosing leaders for the future and also choosing between competing versions of the past
2 years ago
Blake Masters, candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks during a Take Back America rally  in Queen Creek, Ariz., Oct. 5, 2022.
2 years ago

Biden seeks streamlined messaging for Democrats amid midterm countdown: The Note

Biden on Thursday makes a rare-for-this-cycle trip to battleground Pennsylvania on Thursday to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman
2 years ago
President Joe Biden speaks about infrastructure in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Oct. 19, 2022.
2 years ago

Midterm surrogate season brings celebrities and 2024 buzz: The Note

In the final weeks of the midterm race, big-name Democratic and Republican lawmakers are out on the campaign trail as are celebrities like Oprah and Dave Matthews
2 years ago
Pete Buttigieg, secretary of transportation, speaks during a press conference in Detroit, Sept. 15, 2022.
2 years ago

Anti-Trump Republicans are down but not out this midterm season: The Note

Lisa Murkowski, Brad Raffensperger and more hope to provide proof that there's life in public office for Republicans who speak out against Trump
2 years ago
Sen. Lisa Murkowski attends a hearing in Washington, July 19, 2022.
2 years ago

Voting and vote-counting concerns grow ahead of midterms: The Note

Some 2 million people have already voted in the midterms, a level of participation reached earlier than ever in a midterm cycle, according to the U.S. Elections Project
2 years ago
A sign marks the entrance to a voting precinct on the first day of early voting in the general election in Phoenix, Oct. 12, 2022.