Tag: Senate

Hegseth’s defense: Deny, blame and shrug

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Sex assault allegations? Blame “left-wing” media.
Issues with drinking? Those are anonymous smears.

No women in combat? That’s not what I said.

Pete Hegseth used a pattern of denials, memory holes and attacking the “left-wing” media at his Tuesday confirmation hearing for Pentagon chief as he sought to counter controversial issues in his past. And that strategy may work for him — along with Donald Trump’s other troubled nominees.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/14/hegseth-defense-secretary-hearing-00198214

Cato, the Filibuster, and the Death of the Republic

Posted on by Lone Candle

Cato helped end the Roman Republic by abusing the norms of the Roman Senate to make it impossible to pass legislation. Senators today do something similar, which, rather than stopping the use of power, just incentivizes other branches to execute it with their own wills, further bending the norms of U.S. democracy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgD3_eBBn5o

Why Republicans start out as favorites in the 2026 Senate elections

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Heading into 2026, Republicans have about as favorable of a Senate map as they could hope for under the circumstances. This is true despite the fact that the incoming presidential party must defend 22 of the 35 seats that will likely be up for election (including Vance’s and Rubio’s seats). Strikingly, though, only one of those 22 Republican-held seats — held by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — is in a state that outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 presidential election. The other 21 seats are all in states that Trump won. In contrast, Democrats will be defending just 13 seats overall, but two of them are in states that Trump won this year.”

https://abcnews.go.com/538/republicans-start-favorites-2026-senate-elections/story?id=116243572

One striking pattern hidden in the election results

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Kamala Harris lost the presidential election and Democrats lost control of the Senate.
But when you zoom in on the details of that result, there’s a striking pattern: Democratic Senate candidates are outperforming Harris. Or, put another way, Republican Senate candidates are doing worse than Trump.

In recent years, the outcome of a state’s US Senate race has increasingly matched the outcome of its simultaneous presidential race. Ticket-splitting has decreased in our era of polarization and partisanship. The vast majority of people voting for a presidential candidate also vote for their party’s Senate candidate.

But not everyone does that. And there’s still some variation in how much better or worse Senate candidates do compared to the top of the ticket. Looking at that variation can provide clues about what sorts of candidates overperform (even if they don’t actually win).”

…

“Some might argue for racism or sexism explaining Harris’s struggles, but I’d note that several of the Democratic candidates who overperformed Harris were nonwhite or female. Others might argue that she was a uniquely flawed candidate or campaigner, but President Joe Biden was on track to do much worse if he’d stayed in the race.

My suspicion is that Harris’s electoral struggles were more about Biden’s unpopularity and her association with his administration than any newfound love of the American public for the Republican Party generally.”

…

“Call them the “I don’t like Republicans much, but the economy was better under Trump” voters. Biden lost them, and Harris failed to get them back.”

https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/383197/kamala-harris-results-underperformed-democratic-senate-candidates

Republicans won big in the Senate. A warning lurks in the purple states.

Posted on by Lone Candle

“That 53-seat majority will be a boon to the GOP agenda next year. But three of Republicans’ wins were in solidly red seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana. They flipped a true swing state in Pennsylvania but suffered losses in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona. That means they’ll fall well short of the 57 seats they might have had, thanks to undervoting, smaller Trump coattails and well-funded and disciplined Democratic opponents.
This was the fourth straight cycle in the Trump era that Senate Republicans struggled to win purple states. In theory, Trump could have pulled some of their top recruits over the finish line — he outperformed Senate GOP candidates in every single battleground state.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/12/republican-senate-majority-battleground-states-00188953

Trump calls on GOP senators vying to be majority leader to agree to recess appointments

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Recess appointments were once controversial, last-ditch efforts for presidents to install their nominees after facing long confirmation odds in the Senate. President George W. Bush appointed John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations via a recess appointment, for example, as it was unlikely he would have made it through the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Democrat leading the Senate under Bush, then decided to make it so that the chamber simply never recessed long enough for such an appointment to be made. When senators left town, the Senate held a “pro forma” session to prevent any recess appointments.

This was continued under then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and then-President Barack Obama — a clash that made it to the Supreme Court. And after the court ruled in favor of the Senate’s powers, the pro forma sessions continue today.”

…

“Trump’s demand for recess appointments resurfaces a decades-old clash between presidents and Capitol Hill leaders — one in which the Supreme Court has previously weighed in favor of the Senate’s powers.

Both chambers have to pass a resolution to go into recess, which would give Senate Democrats an opportunity to filibuster the resolution and essentially block its passage. During Trump’s first term, for example, he was blocked by the Senate from using recess appointments to replace then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

But the incoming Senate GOP leader backing the idea would be a notable support for expansion of presidential power, even for a leader in the same party as the president-elect. In past decades, senators of both parties have been skeptical of the practice.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott — the long-shot candidate who is winning support of a handful of conservative senators and MAGA influencers — on Sunday quickly posted on X endorsing Trump’s post: “100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible.” Trump ally Elon Musk then praised the Florida Republican, writing on X: “Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!”

Over the weekend, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Vivek Ramaswamy announced they’d back Scott, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested he did as well, posting on X that without Scott, the Trump agenda would be “wobbly.” Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Marco Rubio of Florida have also come out for Scott.

Most senators have not made their positions known, but Scott is still a significant underdog, with GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas seen as the favorites. Both Thune and Cornyn also suggested on Sunday they’re open to Trump’s demand for recess appointments.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-calls-gop-senators-vying-222006884.html

How McConnell and Schumer beat hardline conservatives on Ukraine

Posted on by Lone Candle

How McConnell and Schumer beat hardline conservatives on Ukraine

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mcconnell-schumer-beat-hardline-conservatives-090000343.html