White House

White House officials and allies call retaining the upper chamber’s power to confirm judges and Cabinet nominees a ‘huge victory.’

President Donald Trump would have loved to see Republicans keep their grip on the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections. But the GOP’s successful defense of its Senate majority was a huge consolation prize.

A friendly House majority without Senate control is of little use to a president. But the Senate alone has great value: It approves or rejects judicial nominations, which have played a crucial role in sustaining Trump’s popularity with establishment conservatives and evangelical Christians. And it is where where a flurry of expected Trump’s Cabinet nominations will be considered in the coming months.

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After Tuesday night’s electoral setback, the president and his team plan to stress his ability to install judges as he rallies support for the 2020 election, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Trump officials.

Speaking at the White House Tuesday night, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the Democratic failure to win the Senate — which had generally been considered a long shot — a “huge victory” for Trump.

“If anything there will be more of an appetite for judges and more of a focus on it without the House anymore,” a White House official told POLITICO. “It will be one of the few affirmative things that could still be pushed.”

“If the Democrats had acquired a majority in the Senate, they could have blocked every person President Trump nominated for federal judgeships,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a steadfast ally of the president, wrote in a Fox News op-ed last week, adding of judicial nominations: “This was the biggest achievement of Trump’s first two years, and now it is likely guaranteed to continue.”

A Republican Senate will also be critical for Trump if, as expected, he fires or accepts the resignation of up to a half dozen Cabinet officials in the next few months. Their proposed replacements will all require Senate confirmation.

“You now have the ability to push through many more of your nominees without some of the consternation on the Republican side,” said Marc Short, former White House director of legislative affairs, pointing to moderate members like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted against advancing Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court last month.

Trump won’t automatically get his way on new Cabinet or judicial picks, however. Senate Democrats will deploy every delay tactic to draw out nominations and force Trump to pull candidates who meet the stiffest resistance. And in the House, newly empowered Democratic chairmen will bombard the White House with subpoenas and document requests, tying up a thinly staffed White House counsel’s office that has been central to ushering judicial picks through Congress to this point.

Some Trump officials conceded that keeping the Senate is cold comfort in the wake of the Democrats’ House takeover.

“If you lose a chamber, you lose a chamber,” said one current White House official. “I don’t think there’s a lot of sugar coating of it.”

Still, a Republican Senate also offers a useful talking point for Trump, who stuck his neck out for several prominent GOP Senate candidates, and who has often been more critical of House leaders than Senate ones.

“Rhetorically [Trump is] going to claim that adding seats in the Senate is a great moral victory and the American people saw that [House Speaker] Paul Ryan and the rest of the Republicans couldn’t get something done and punished them for it,” said one former White House official.

Keeping the Senate and losing the House still allows Trump to keep “adding to the judicial legacy that he is going to have,” while simultaneously creating “a foil” in the form of House Democrats, added former White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

Meanwhile, many Republicans expect the House to be consumed by partisan warfare, while the Senate will remain relatively effective.

“You’ll see [Trump] talk about the difference of getting things done in the Senate, and further obstruction in the House,” said a former White House official.

To capitalize on such differences, however, Trump will need to continue his record-setting appointment of judges who are ideologically aligned with his administration, and pre-approved by the Federalist Society. The conservative judicial group, under the leadership of Leonard Leo, has worked hand-in-hand with the White House to identify originalist judges and elevate them to lifetime appointments.

The group has already found remarkable success: the 15 judges confirmed by the Senate in mid-October brought Trump’s overall tally of judicial appointments to 84 so far in his presidency. Former President Barack Obama had confirmed 11 appellate court nominees and 30 circuit court judges by the same point in his second year in office. One caveat to Trump’s success is that a number of his appeals court nominees have added to courts that are already mostly conservative instead of shifting liberal courts to the right, a trend that the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out.

“Up until now, the White House has been concentrating very heavily on the appellate courts,” Arthur Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and expert on the federal judiciary, said in an interview.

With the Senate remaining under Republican control, Hellman said Trump is likely to “give more emphasis than they have been to filling district court seats,” particularly if his use of executive action becomes more prolific and he wants resulting legal challenges “to be heard by judges whom he appointed and would likely be sympathetic.”

It’s a strategy that could have a long-lasting effect.

“Executive orders don’t outlast the president, legislation can change, but these judgeships last a long time,” said Carrie Severino, the chief counsel and policy director of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, adding that Trump’s higher-court appointments have placated “a lot of Never-Trumpers and conservatives who have had to admit, sometimes begrudgingly, that ‘Wow, this has been a home run.’”

“[Trump] intuitively understands that evangelicals and some other conservative groups that might not necessarily be attracted to his populist message have been extremely attracted [to], and understand what nominating conservative judges has meant, or will mean, to the country going forward, well past his presidency,” said another former White House official.

But even with an expanded Senate GOP majority, Trump is still bound to encounter obstacles as he works to embed conservatism in the judicial branch.

Senate Democrats can make it tough for Trump to pack the courts by continuing to reject GOP unanimous consent requests that allow nominees to move forward to the floor. Brian Fallon, the former protégé of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who served as his communications director, recently criticized the New York Democrat for forging a deal with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to confirm more than a dozen district and appellate judges in exchange for the Senate recessing so that members could return home with more time to campaign for re-election, or to help Democratic candidates in other races.

But in the new Congress, Democrats expect Schumer, a student of Senate history and rules, to continue using McConnell’s playbook from when he was minority leader to make life hell for the majority, using every delay tactic available to minimize the number of judges sailing through. Schumer’s hope, according to those familiar with his thinking, is that McConnell and other Republican senators might become so frustrated that they’ll agree to his demands, including pulling certain judicial nominees whom Democrats find particularly objectionable due to their inexperience or far-right views.

“Chuck’s a skilled tactician, and he knows how politically salient judicial [nominations] have become,” said Alex Halpern Levy, former chief speechwriter to Schumer.

“He’s got one hand tied behind his back thanks to the foolhardy 2013 rules changes,” he added, referring to a decision to allow judges to pass through via majority vote. “But he’s not going to let McConnell steamroll him on confirmations.”

House Democrats are expected to cause trouble as well, especially for the White House counsel’s office, which has spearheaded judicial selections and vetting. Former White House counsel Don McGahn left his job in mid-October, with White House lawyer Emmet Flood taking over in the interim until Pat Cipollone likely comes on board full-time later this month. The remaining bare-bones staff is bracing for a barrage of document requests and congressional subpoenas.

“Time is finite and the amount of time that the White House counsel is going to have to spend answering subpoenas directly cut[s] into the amount of time that they can spend on nominations,” said a former White House official.

Elections

Democratic female candidates won victories in swing districts where suburban women helped pave the way to unseating the GOP majority.

Female candidates for Congress made history on Tuesday night, with more than 100 women sweeping into office on the strength of a Democratic House takeover powered in large part by college-educated female voters.

The women winning House seats also marked several milestones for diverse representation beyond the gender divide, including the first Native American women in Congress and the first Muslim women in Congress. Their victories mark an undeniable leap forward toward representation on Capitol Hill that more closely resembles the divide among the U.S. population, although women still have a long way to go before reaching parity in both the House and Senate.

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Wins for female candidates on Tuesday night weren’t limited to Congress, with Maine and South Dakota electing their first female governors. Nor were they confined to Democrats, even though they far outpaced the GOP in terms of fielding female candidates. Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn handily won her race to become Tennessee’s first female senator, while Arizona is also ensured to elect its first woman to the Senate despite the battle between Republican Rep. Martha McSally and Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema remaining too close to call as of early Wednesday morning.

Still, the night’s brightest spotlight belonged to the crop of newly elected House Democratic women who snagged their victories in swing districts where suburban women helped pave the way to unseating the GOP majority. Democrat Abigail Spanberger prevailed over Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) in a district that includes some Richmond suburbs and broke for President Donald Trump in 2016, for one, while Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher toppled Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) in their suburban Houston contest.

“We saw an unprecedented number of women raise their voices, run for office,” Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told a cheering crowd Tuesday night after his party made its House takeover official. “Women candidates ran in over half of the most contested races in America — and if you don’t know them yet, don’t worry, you will!”

Those rising female stars weren’t only minted in battleground races. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ihan Omar of Minnesota were expected to win their respective races, but they’ll come to the House next year as its first-ever Muslim women. Liberal luminary Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York made history as the youngest woman elected to Congress at age 29, but she wasn’t alone after 29-year-old Iowa Democrat Abby Finkenauer defeated Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa).

Kansas Democrat Sharice Davids, a former mixed martial arts fighter, also broke a barrier in toppling GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder in his suburban swing district. And Davids will have company as the first Native American woman in Congress after New Mexico Democrat Deb Haaland won her own race Tuesday night.

Liberal advocacy groups who helped marshal support for many of the night’s winning House Democratic women cheered their strong showing. Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America, issued a statement hailing wins that included “breaking critical glass ceilings” in several states.

The strong performance by women candidates comes after a midterm cycle widely billed as a redux of 1992’s “year of the woman,” when a new crop of female hopefuls powered into office. As the rise of the #MeToo movement raised nationwide awareness of the prevalence of sexual harassment, and amid Trump’s own polarizing handling of gender issues, women set a new benchmark for campaign donations since 2000, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

And a few women candidates this cycle even received a majority of their contributions from women, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

Elsewhere in the Senate, two well-known Democratic women lost their races to GOP challengers: Missouri’s Claire McCaskill and North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp. But their departures may well be exceeded by three new female senators, given Arizona’s two-women contest, Blackburn winning in Tennessee and Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) performing well in early returns from her challenge to Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.).

Blackburn, known during her terms in the House for preferring the gender-neutral title “congressman,” riffed on the nature of her achievement during her post-victory remarks. “Now, you don’t have to worry if you’re going to call me ‘congressman’ or ‘congresswoman’ or ‘congress lady’,” she said. “Now, ‘senator’ will do.”

Rachael Bade contributed to this report.

Congress

Pelosi is poised to return to the speaker’s chair and will lead an emboldened majority eager to take on the president.

House Democrats were romping to victory in Tuesday’s midterm elections, in a stark repudiation of President Donald Trump that breaks the GOP stranglehold on power in Washington and immediately brings the question of impeachment into play next year.

The Democratic triumph could also propel Nancy Pelosi back to the speaker’s chair after eight years in the minority, a historic comeback that would add to the California Democrat’s already legendary career. It would make her the most important Democrat in the country — and favorite foil for Trump — until Democrats pick their 2020 presidential nominee.

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Pelosi has not formally announced that she will run for speaker but is expected to do so on Wednesday. Pelosi will have to win over 218 Democrats to win the speaker’s gavel, which may not be easy, although her allies and aides are confident she will be able to do so.

The Republican wipeout ends eight years of House GOP control, which itself came as a backlash to former President Barack Obama. It sets a more aggressive and progressive Democratic majority on a collision course with Trump and a Republican-controlled Senate.

The change in power could create two years of intense legislative gridlock on Capitol Hill, particularly as both parties jockey ahead of the 2020 presidential campaign.

Trump and senior administration officials are also sure to be subject to a wave of Democratic-run investigations. Incoming Democratic chairmen already have a list of subpoenas and document requests they want to issue, while more strident progressives in the Democratic Caucus may push for Trump’s impeachment, especially depending on what special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe concludes.

Democratic leaders are likely to struggle to contain the party base’s demand to impeach Trump, which they see as politically counter-productive, especially because Democrats would probably be unable to muster the two-thirds Senate vote needed to remove him from office.

Yet the House takeover gives Democrats a platform to highlight their vision for the nation, as well as a jumping off point for the party’s attempt to take down Trump in 2020.

Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) have already discussed passing legislation expanding background checks on gun purchases, cracking down on money in politics and lobbying, as well as protecting the environment, repealing GOP tax cuts for the wealthy and expanding Obamacare. While none of these bills will become law, they’ll create a sharp contrast to Trump’s policies and give voters a clear picture of what the party would do should Democrats take the White House and the Senate next election cycle.

First, however, House Democrats will have to figure out who their own leaders are.

Pelosi has long faced calls to step down to make way for a new generation of leaders, which she has consistently rebuffed. In addition to the drama over Pelosi, two other septuagenarians — Hoyer and Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) — are poised to run for House majority leader and majority whip respectively, yet are waiting for Pelosi to make her announcement before they declare their leadership candidacies. And a battle has broken out for the Democratic Caucus chair post between Reps. Linda Sanchez (Calif.) and Barbara Lee (Calif.), although more Democrats may jump into that race.

Pelosi’s path to reclaiming the speaker’s gavel won’t be an easy one.

A swath of Democrats who won Tuesday night have already come out against her and vowed to oppose her on the House floor, the roll call that will determine the speaker. They include Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and Jason Crow of Colorado. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey has spoken directly to camera and vowed to oppose Pelosi in TV ads, locking her into a position with little wiggle room.

Still, a number of the Democratic victors have left the door open to backing Pelosi. Pelosi has privately helped many candidates who have more vaguely called for “new leadership,” appearing at unpublicized fundraisers and shepherding donors in their direction. Many Pelosi allies expect these candidates to fall in line and back her eventually.

Pelosi will also have to do some arm-twisting with current members of her caucus. On election night, a small group of her most vocal critics was already readying plans to organize anti-Pelosi forces to maximize their numbers against the California Democrat, although they all know such efforts have failed in the past.

Among Republicans, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) has again been denied the chance to become speaker. McCarthy is poised to announce his bid for minority leader on Wednesday. He will be challenged by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a hardline conservative, but McCarthy is expected to easily win that contest where he needs to win the support of only a majority of GOP lawmakers.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who has his own ambitions to be GOP leader someday, will run for minority whip, said Republican insiders.

The House Democrats’ victory was propelled by Trump’s unpopularity, especially with suburban voters and women. Focusing their message on health care and the unpopular GOP tax-cut package, Democrats made big gains on Election Day across the country.

If Pelosi can become speaker, she will have to pick her fights with Trump and Senate Republicans carefully.

Even before the polls closed Tuesday, Pelosi and senior Democrats opened the door to working with Trump on infrastructure investments and reducing the cost of prescription drugs — two rare Democratic priorities that align with Trump rhetoric.

In 2016, Trump ran on rebuilding the nation’s roads and bridges — much to the chagrin of spending-resistant Republicans — and has railed against the pharmaceutical industry for the cost of medicine. Pelosi and DCCC Chair Ben Ray Luján told reporters Tuesday morning that Democrats would work with Trump on both issues, if he’s willing.

Pelosi also downplayed the prospects of impeaching the president, telling Judy Woodruff in a PBS interview that “that’s not what our caucus is about.”

“That is not unifying and I get criticized in my own party for not being more in support of that — but I’m not,” Pelosi said. “If that would happen it would have to be bipartisan and the evidence would have to be so conclusive.

Still, progressive Democrats are unlikely to shelve the matter entirely. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings are already mapping out what Trump controversies they plan to prioritize for scrutiny, which documents they plan to request, and which administration officials they’ll question.

Democrats are expected not only pick up wherever Mueller leaves off in the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, but also look at Cabinet officials’ alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, Trump’s family separation policy, the handling of the hurricane crisis in Puerto Rice, Trump’s tax returns, and any conflicts of interest between his presidency and his personal business.

Pelosi mentioned none of these Tuesday, however.

“We are not going after the Republicans the way they went after us,” Pelosi told reporters Tuesday morning, referring to Rep. Darrell Issa’s aggressive probes of the Obama administration, which sometimes backfired on the GOP. “We are not them. We are Democrats… that will strive for bipartisanship and that will… strive for unity.”