• New House GOP leader: House Republicans picked Rep. Jim Jordan to lead their party in the minority next year. In choosing Jordan — one of the party’s most combative figures — the GOP is giving a clear sign that it’s ready to push back against Democrats.
• Hegseth impeachment push: Republicans are working furiously behind the scenes to kill an effort by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Sources say that leadership and White House officials are encouraging members to show up and vote with the party.
• In the Senate: Meanwhile, some Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders won’t pledge to back Chuck Schumer as majority leader.
• Midterms latest: There are a handful of House races that have not yet been called, and the Mississippi Senate race remains too close to call. Alaska, too, has yet to see a Senate race result.
Updates
(57)
The White House officially opposed an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, urging lawmakers on Tuesday to effectively kill the measure by referring it to a committee for further investigation.
“This weaponized impeachment, aimed at settling political scores, undermines the will of the American people by allowing a rogue legislator to veto national security decisions made by the Commander-in-Chief,” the White House wrote in a statement of administration policy issued ahead of the vote.
Republican Hill leaders and White House officials were working throughout the day to marshal opposition to the impeachment resolution spearheaded by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, amid fears that it would pass due to a lack of attendance on the Republican side.
Both Hegseth and President Donald Trump publicly denounced the effort in recent days. And in its statement, the White House argued that Hegseth has done nothing more than follow orders and carry out military operations — neither of which constituted an impeachable offense.
The impeachment resolution “directly undermines our national security decisions made by the Commander-in-Chief, and the will of the American people,” the White House said.
House Republicans have elected Rep. Jim Jordan to lead their party in the minority come January.
House Republicans also picked Rep. Tom Emmer to serve as party whip for their conference next year. On the Senate side, GOP leader John Thune was reelected to his position for the next Congress, despite last week’s disastrous midterms.
Meanwhile, the current House is weighing a procedural vote on impeachment efforts against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which is expected to happen later today.
Catch up on more headlines:
CNN’s Decision Desk projects Republican Ryan Elijah will win Florida’s 7th Congressional District, keeping the House seat in GOP hands.
GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi said she remains “confident” that she will win her exceptionally close reelection race as she trails Democratic nominee Scott Colom by about 2,000 votes. Colom predicted that his lead will be “insurmountable” once ballots come in from a Democratic stronghold county.
House GOP leaders will try to kill the rogue effort by anti-Trump crusader Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Hegseth tonight — but it’s unclear whether they’ll have the votes to do so. Multiple GOP sources told CNN they are prepared for tonight’s vote to succeed and have begun gaming out next steps about a trial in the Senate.
At least three Republican senators have expressed support for — or would not rule out — backing a full Senate trial of Hegseth if the House impeaches him this week.
Massie outlined his strategy to CNN about how he plans to advance his impeachment proposal if it survives tonight’s vote. He said that he will ask the House to divide each of the eight articles of impeachment into eight separate votes — so members can vote their conscience on each of the charges against Hegseth.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, said he will not support reelecting Sen. Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader in the next Congress. “In my view, the time is now for change,” Sanders said. Schumer has expressed confidence he’ll be selected.
Democrat Adam Hamawy, a retired US Army combat surgeon who last week became the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey, called for diplomacy with Iran as the war approaches its ninth month. Hamawy, who has called for an end to military aid to Israel over the war in Gaza, declined to say whether he viewed Israel as an ally or Iran as an adversary to the US.
CNN’s Alison Main, Manu Raju, Ellis Kim, Sarah Ferris, Catherine Nicholls, Saher Mir, Annie Grayer, Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
It’s been a very long road for Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to take his position as the next leader of House Republicans.
Jordan has been angling – and indeed, running – for the job for the better part of a decade.
After receiving a handful for votes for speaker when then-Speaker John Boehner was winning reelection in 2013 and 2015, Jordan announced he would actually run to succeed Speaker Paul Ryan when Ryan announced his retirement in mid-2018.
That race turned out to be for House minority leader (after the GOP lost its House majority), and Jordan suffered a lopsided loss as the House Freedom Caucus firebrand alternative to Kevin McCarthy, 159-43.
When the GOP took 15 ballots to elect McCarthy as speaker in January 2023, Johnson supported McCarthy but briefly received as many as 20 voters, as McCarthy’s critics cycled through a series of alternatives.
Later that year, Jordan ran for the job after a handful of House Republicans forced McCarthy out. Jordan initially lost the GOP’s speaker nomination to Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. But when it became clear Scalise didn’t have the votes to be elected speaker in the full House, Jordan ran for the nomination again and won.
But many House Republicans balked at him, with 55 saying in a secret vote that they would not support him in the full House. He failed to win the speakership when he topped out at 200 votes – shy of the 218 required – and the conference removed him as its nominee, eventually landing on now-Speaker Mike Johnson.
Jordan began angling for the top job again in 2024, in case Republicans lost the majority or pushed out Johnson like they had McCarthy. And while he did so, he sought to mend fences with some in the party he had alienated.
Fast forward two years, and the GOP has lost the majority, Johnson has indeed stepped aside, and Jordan has now taken on a role he has long coveted.
Mississippi Democratic Senate nominee Scott Colom predicted Tuesday that his lead against GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will be “insurmountable” once ballots come in from Hinds County – a Democratic stronghold.
“Once these affidavit ballots come in from Hinds County, the lead is going to be insurmountable,” Colom said, basing his confidence on the results Hinds County yielded for him on election day.
Hinds County, which is home to the state capital Jackson, is a key source of Democratic electoral strength, with some 8,000 absentee ballots already reported. The commissioners will meet to declare their accepted and rejected provisional ballots on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
Colom also cast doubts on Hyde-Smith’s optimism at prevailing in the razor thin fight for the Senate seat.
Colom, who campaigned relentlessly to become the first Black senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction era, said he’s been met with pride by Mississippians about what his success means for progress in the state.
“They understand the power of their vote in ways that we really haven’t seen in a long period of time, because if you look at these margins, certainly everything that everybody did made a difference,” Colom said.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune was reelected to his position for the next Congress, despite a push from some GOP senators to delay their conference elections after last week’s disastrous midterms.
Republicans chose their leadership by secret ballot during a lengthy, closed-door meeting in the Old Senate Chamber on Tuesday. Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso was also reelected, as was the rest of the leadership team from this Congress. Sen. Bernie Moreno was chosen to lead the Senate Republican campaign arm for the 2028 cycle.
The Republican senators who had called for the conference to delay its elections argued members needed to dissect and discuss where they’d gone wrong after their losses in the midterm elections. So far, Democrats have flipped seven GOP Senate seats, and races in Mississippi and Alaska have not been called.
This was Senate Republicans’ first chance to meet in person since the election, as they try to come to terms with the results. Incoming senators-elect were also in attendance, voting on who they want to lead them next year.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday appeared to lean in to the idea he could challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader.
Speaking at a post-midterms conference in Washington, DC, Van Hollen said last week’s elections were a repudiation of President Donald Trump but also had “clearly an anti-Washington establishment tone.”
Schumer restated his confidence that he will lock down the job minutes after Van Hollen made his remarks at the 2026 Popular Mandate conference.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said they won’t back Schumer to stay on as Democratic leader next year.
Van Hollen told CNN on Saturday that running for majority leader was “not my focus” but has appeared to warm to the idea since then. And he offered a direct criticism of Schumer on Tuesday, knocking him for intervening in Senate Democratic primaries.
“We have two members in that room, newly elected senators, who would not be there if Schumer and the DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] had had their way,” Van Hollen said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was still “confident” he would be elected as the next majority leader, just moments after Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elissa Slotkin announced they would not back his bid.
No other Democrat has announced they plan to challenge Schumer, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday he hasn’t shut the door on the opportunity.
Asked about those comments from Van Hollen, Schumer replied, “Chris Van Hollen and I are friends. We talk frequently, and we’re united. United in lowering costs and united in ending this damn war.”
Republicans are working furiously behind the scenes to kill a rogue GOP push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with key leadership and White House officials leaning on members to show up and vote with the party, two sources familiar with the efforts told CNN.
Some in GOP leadership believe they will have the votes tonight to effectively kill the effort — by essentially burying the Hegseth resolution in committee — and added that the White House is making calls to members, a leadership aide said.
“They are definitely working this,” the aide said of the White House.
House GOP leadership does not formally whip lawmakers on privileged resolutions such an impeachment. But many members are eager to avoid another headache for their party — especially given the widespread anger at GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who is pushing the impeachment resolution, for his various anti-Trump antics this year.
Another GOP source predicted that very few Republicans besides Massie would actually vote with Democrats on the floor. Instead, multiple sources said the main obstacle was attendance.
The battered House GOP conference is struggling with attendance in the first week back from last week’s election rout. But sources described a fierce operation to prevent an embarrassing defeat on the floor tonight.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said they won’t back Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to stay on as Democratic leader next year.
“If this campaign was about anything, it was about change, and the need for the Democratic Party, in my view, to move in a new and bold direction,” Sanders said.
While no other Democrat has announced they are running, Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday that he hasn’t shut the door on the possibility.
Slotkin called for a new generation to take on the mantle of leadership.
“I’ve been very consistent for a very long time that we need a new generation of leadership. I said it before when I served in the House, I said it about Joe Biden, and I’m saying it here,” the Michigan senator said.
Slotkin insisted she is “not actively seeking this job. I am seeking change.”
She added, “At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a radical idea to ask whoever wants to lead to come forward with a concrete plan, not just in words, but in deeds, how they’re going to govern differently.”
Several incoming and returning senators, have refused to say whether they’ll back Schumer, including Sens.-elect Annie Andrews, Adam Hamilton and Abdul El-Sayed, the latter of whom has said he’d back Van Hollen if he is an option.
Sanders acknowledged that Van Hollen was interested in the job and said the Senate Democratic Caucus had a “serious discussion” today about the possibility of a different Democratic leader.
Senate Democrats have several weeks until they vote for their leadership for the next Congress.
House Republicans picked GOP Rep. Tom Emmer to serve as party whip, the No. 2 position, for their conference next year. The vote was 103 to 76.
Emmer, an ambitious Minnesotan who’s spent years building up his standing in the conference, will serve beside Minority Leader Jim Jordan.
Republicans still reeling from a midterms drubbing have made their choice: Jim Jordan, a pro-Trump, hardline conservative, will lead the GOP as House minority leader next year.
Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pitched himself to colleagues as the best-equipped to tee off an insurgent Democratic Party, which will have a robust oversight agenda targeting President Donald Trump’s White House. He’s also a high-octane former wrestling coach, with the ability to act as a political attack dog in a way that allies said his challenger, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, lacks.
The Ohio lawmaker’s ascension is a rejection of the status quo that many Republicans believe cost them the election — by choosing not to promote their current No. 2 House Republican, Scalise.
Rather than a path of moderation, the party is opting for a more hardline leader as it seeks relevance in the next two years.
More on Jordan’s background: Jordan has used his gavel and his seat on the oversight panel to probe what he has argued is the weaponization of the government against the president. He led GOP investigations into two attorneys who have prosecuted the president: former special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The Ohio Republican, who was first elected to Congress in 2007, has also long been an influential voice in the GOP conference. He helped found the House Freedom Caucus in 2015, leading the right-wing bloc that rankled former Speaker John Boehner before he resigned from Congress.
CNN’s Ellis Kim contributed reporting.
Rep. Thomas Massie laid out his strategy to CNN about how he plans to advance his impeachment proposal if it survives a procedural vote tonight in the House.
Massie said that he will ask the House to divide each of the eight articles of impeachment into eight separate votes — so members can vote their conscience on each of the charges against Hegseth.
It first has to survive an effort by House GOP leaders to kill the resolution during a Tuesday evening vote series.
At least three Republican senators have expressed support for — or would not rule out — backing a full Senate trial of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the House impeaches him this week.
That means support for a trial is close to having the votes it would need, assuming all Democrats vote for it. The chamber is divided now 53-47 in favor of Republicans.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who lost his reelection primary after President Donald Trump opposed him, said, “I’d be open to a trial.”
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also said he would support one.
Sen Joni Ernst of Iowa, who is also retiring, would not rule it out when she spoke to reporters Tuesday.
Other GOP senators who might be in play, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. John Curtis of Utah, said they wanted to see whether the impeachment effort is successful in the House before digging into the case and deciding a path forward.
If the House votes to impeach, Senate GOP leaders are expected to try to vote to dismiss the case or refer it to committee for investigation, which would likely kill the effort because the Congress will adjourn within weeks. But with these senators expressing support for a trial, such a move might not be possible.
House Republicans on Tuesday picked Rep. Jim Jordan — the famously pugnacious pro-Trump fighter — to lead their party in the minority next year, according to multiple sources familiar. The vote was 106 to 73.
Republicans have chosen one of the party’s most aggressive and combative figures as the face of their party, a clear sign that they are ready for battle — not compromise — with Democrats next year.
Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pitched himself to colleagues as the best-equipped to tee off an insurgent Democratic party, which will have a robust oversight agenda targeting Trump’s White House.
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, told reporters Tuesday that the panel is “already” looking at former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, as Democrats are poised to take control of congressional committees in January.
“We’ve already been looking at Susie Wiles and with all of this new information that’s come out, it is incredibly serious, and so it’s not just going to be oversight, but I think you’re going to see some action from some other committees, particularly as it relates to any sort of conversations that the former chief of staff was having around donors and money in exchange for policy choices,” Garcia said.
The California Democrat also warned that other former Trump administration officials need to be held accountable, including former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her former top aide Corey Lewandowski, and former US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Asked about Garcia’s comments, the White House criticized Democrats’ investigatory efforts.
“As the President has said, he’s willing to work with anyone to continue delivering victories for hardworking Americans. If Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people,” spokeswoman Beni Rae Harmony said in a statement.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this post.
Republican Ryan Elijah will win Florida’s 7th Congressional District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, keeping the seat in his party’s hands after defeating embattled GOP Rep. Cory Mills in the primary.
While Elijah, a former news anchor, was a less controversial candidate than Mills, who faces allegations of assault and possible campaign finance violations that he denies, Democrats still had hoped to flip the seat with challenger Bale Dalton.
Democrat Adam Hamawy, a retired US Army combat surgeon who last week became the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey, called for diplomacy with Iran as the war approaches its ninth month.
“We are pushing Iran into a fight when we have the leverage to kind of bring them to the table,” Hamawy told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Tuesday.
Hamawy, who has called for an end to military aid to Israel over the war in Gaza, declined to say whether he viewed Israel as an ally or Iran as an adversary to the US.
Pressed again on whether he viewed Iran as an adversary to the US, Hamawy said, “We pushed them into a fight, and so I think we both have to step back and say, ‘is this helping either one of us?’”
“They’ve been saying saying death to America for decades,” Brown said, noting a long-running slogan of the Iranian regime.
“We’ve been saying death to Iran for decades as well. And so what we need to do is use diplomacy,” Hamawy responded.
“They’ve killed a lot of Americans,” Brown said.
“And we’ve killed a lot of them as well,” he said.
Pressed a final time on his perception of Israel and Iran, Hamawy said that “the blame game doesn’t help” and said attention should be focused on getting out of the conflict.
He noted during the interview that he doesn’t agree with the Iranian government, which he described as “authoritarian” and a “dictatorship.”
“But going to war this way … it’s made it actually worse, it’s made it more radical, and it’s created a crisis here at home we don’t need,” he said.
Some background: Hamawy is outspoken in his support for Palestinians and has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which the country has denied. He was among the volunteer doctors stranded in Gaza in May 2024 after Israeli forces seized the Rafah crossing.
House GOP leaders will try to kill the rogue effort by anti-Trump crusader Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tonight — but it’s unclear whether they’ll have the votes to do so.
Sources from both parties told CNN today that the outcome will hang on attendance. If Speaker Mike Johnson cannot convince enough Republicans to show up, GOP sources acknowledge tonight’s procedural vote will fail — teeing up a full impeachment vote as soon as Wednesday — likely with the same attendance issues.
Last night, 22 Republicans did not show up to vote. While a small number of those Republicans have been spotted in the Capitol today, GOP leadership aides acknowledge they will not have full attendance. Democrats also had 14 absences Monday, but they believe many of them will vote on Tuesday.
Multiple GOP sources told CNN they are prepared for tonight’s vote to succeed and have begun gaming out next steps about a trial in the Senate — but that is not certain.
House Republicans are voting now in a closed-door meeting to select their next minority leader for the new Congress, according to sources in the room.
It remains to be seen how many Republicans vote to impeach — and possibly convict — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
But patience with him is clearly wearing thin — as evidenced by the kinds of Republicans who are publicly criticizing him and leaving open the possibility of voting against him.
On Tuesday, retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina signaled he would support an impeachment trial. And retiring Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa left open the possibility of supporting it amid reports that she privately bashed Hegseth to GOP colleagues.
Ernst’s comments are particularly remarkable given she has previously been floated as a potential defense secretary. She and Tillis were both crucial holdouts and eventual supporters of Hegseth’s nomination last year.
Hegseth is also receiving criticism from some unlikely places in the House. On Sunday, GOP Rep. French Hill of Arkansas left open the possibility of supporting Hegseth’s impeachment, while GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky said Hegseth had explaining to do.
Comer told NewsNation that “there’s a lot of questions about Hegseth. We have no idea what the strategy is moving forward in Iran. No one’s happy about Iran.”
Comer’s district supported President Donald Trump by 47 points in 2024.
But Hegseth did get some good news Tuesday when retiring moderate Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska signaled that, despite his concerns about Hegseth, he wouldn’t support impeachment.
• New House GOP leader: House Republicans picked Rep. Jim Jordan to lead their party in the minority next year. In choosing Jordan — one of the party’s most combative figures — the GOP is giving a clear sign that it’s ready to push back against Democrats.
• Hegseth impeachment push: Republicans are working furiously behind the scenes to kill an effort by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Sources say that leadership and White House officials are encouraging members to show up and vote with the party.
• In the Senate: Meanwhile, some Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders won’t pledge to back Chuck Schumer as majority leader.
• Midterms latest: There are a handful of House races that have not yet been called, and the Mississippi Senate race remains too close to call. Alaska, too, has yet to see a Senate race result.
The White House officially opposed an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, urging lawmakers on Tuesday to effectively kill the measure by referring it to a committee for further investigation.
“This weaponized impeachment, aimed at settling political scores, undermines the will of the American people by allowing a rogue legislator to veto national security decisions made by the Commander-in-Chief,” the White House wrote in a statement of administration policy issued ahead of the vote.
Republican Hill leaders and White House officials were working throughout the day to marshal opposition to the impeachment resolution spearheaded by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, amid fears that it would pass due to a lack of attendance on the Republican side.
Both Hegseth and President Donald Trump publicly denounced the effort in recent days. And in its statement, the White House argued that Hegseth has done nothing more than follow orders and carry out military operations — neither of which constituted an impeachable offense.
The impeachment resolution “directly undermines our national security decisions made by the Commander-in-Chief, and the will of the American people,” the White House said.
House Republicans have elected Rep. Jim Jordan to lead their party in the minority come January.
House Republicans also picked Rep. Tom Emmer to serve as party whip for their conference next year. On the Senate side, GOP leader John Thune was reelected to his position for the next Congress, despite last week’s disastrous midterms.
Meanwhile, the current House is weighing a procedural vote on impeachment efforts against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which is expected to happen later today.
Catch up on more headlines:
CNN’s Decision Desk projects Republican Ryan Elijah will win Florida’s 7th Congressional District, keeping the House seat in GOP hands.
GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi said she remains “confident” that she will win her exceptionally close reelection race as she trails Democratic nominee Scott Colom by about 2,000 votes. Colom predicted that his lead will be “insurmountable” once ballots come in from a Democratic stronghold county.
House GOP leaders will try to kill the rogue effort by anti-Trump crusader Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Hegseth tonight — but it’s unclear whether they’ll have the votes to do so. Multiple GOP sources told CNN they are prepared for tonight’s vote to succeed and have begun gaming out next steps about a trial in the Senate.
At least three Republican senators have expressed support for — or would not rule out — backing a full Senate trial of Hegseth if the House impeaches him this week.
Massie outlined his strategy to CNN about how he plans to advance his impeachment proposal if it survives tonight’s vote. He said that he will ask the House to divide each of the eight articles of impeachment into eight separate votes — so members can vote their conscience on each of the charges against Hegseth.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, said he will not support reelecting Sen. Chuck Schumer as Senate Democratic leader in the next Congress. “In my view, the time is now for change,” Sanders said. Schumer has expressed confidence he’ll be selected.
Democrat Adam Hamawy, a retired US Army combat surgeon who last week became the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey, called for diplomacy with Iran as the war approaches its ninth month. Hamawy, who has called for an end to military aid to Israel over the war in Gaza, declined to say whether he viewed Israel as an ally or Iran as an adversary to the US.
CNN’s Alison Main, Manu Raju, Ellis Kim, Sarah Ferris, Catherine Nicholls, Saher Mir, Annie Grayer, Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
It’s been a very long road for Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to take his position as the next leader of House Republicans.
Jordan has been angling – and indeed, running – for the job for the better part of a decade.
After receiving a handful for votes for speaker when then-Speaker John Boehner was winning reelection in 2013 and 2015, Jordan announced he would actually run to succeed Speaker Paul Ryan when Ryan announced his retirement in mid-2018.
That race turned out to be for House minority leader (after the GOP lost its House majority), and Jordan suffered a lopsided loss as the House Freedom Caucus firebrand alternative to Kevin McCarthy, 159-43.
When the GOP took 15 ballots to elect McCarthy as speaker in January 2023, Johnson supported McCarthy but briefly received as many as 20 voters, as McCarthy’s critics cycled through a series of alternatives.
Later that year, Jordan ran for the job after a handful of House Republicans forced McCarthy out. Jordan initially lost the GOP’s speaker nomination to Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. But when it became clear Scalise didn’t have the votes to be elected speaker in the full House, Jordan ran for the nomination again and won.
But many House Republicans balked at him, with 55 saying in a secret vote that they would not support him in the full House. He failed to win the speakership when he topped out at 200 votes – shy of the 218 required – and the conference removed him as its nominee, eventually landing on now-Speaker Mike Johnson.
Jordan began angling for the top job again in 2024, in case Republicans lost the majority or pushed out Johnson like they had McCarthy. And while he did so, he sought to mend fences with some in the party he had alienated.
Fast forward two years, and the GOP has lost the majority, Johnson has indeed stepped aside, and Jordan has now taken on a role he has long coveted.
Mississippi Democratic Senate nominee Scott Colom predicted Tuesday that his lead against GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will be “insurmountable” once ballots come in from Hinds County – a Democratic stronghold.
“Once these affidavit ballots come in from Hinds County, the lead is going to be insurmountable,” Colom said, basing his confidence on the results Hinds County yielded for him on election day.
Hinds County, which is home to the state capital Jackson, is a key source of Democratic electoral strength, with some 8,000 absentee ballots already reported. The commissioners will meet to declare their accepted and rejected provisional ballots on Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.
Colom also cast doubts on Hyde-Smith’s optimism at prevailing in the razor thin fight for the Senate seat.
Colom, who campaigned relentlessly to become the first Black senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction era, said he’s been met with pride by Mississippians about what his success means for progress in the state.
“They understand the power of their vote in ways that we really haven’t seen in a long period of time, because if you look at these margins, certainly everything that everybody did made a difference,” Colom said.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune was reelected to his position for the next Congress, despite a push from some GOP senators to delay their conference elections after last week’s disastrous midterms.
Republicans chose their leadership by secret ballot during a lengthy, closed-door meeting in the Old Senate Chamber on Tuesday. Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso was also reelected, as was the rest of the leadership team from this Congress. Sen. Bernie Moreno was chosen to lead the Senate Republican campaign arm for the 2028 cycle.
The Republican senators who had called for the conference to delay its elections argued members needed to dissect and discuss where they’d gone wrong after their losses in the midterm elections. So far, Democrats have flipped seven GOP Senate seats, and races in Mississippi and Alaska have not been called.
This was Senate Republicans’ first chance to meet in person since the election, as they try to come to terms with the results. Incoming senators-elect were also in attendance, voting on who they want to lead them next year.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday appeared to lean in to the idea he could challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader.
Speaking at a post-midterms conference in Washington, DC, Van Hollen said last week’s elections were a repudiation of President Donald Trump but also had “clearly an anti-Washington establishment tone.”
Schumer restated his confidence that he will lock down the job minutes after Van Hollen made his remarks at the 2026 Popular Mandate conference.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said they won’t back Schumer to stay on as Democratic leader next year.
Van Hollen told CNN on Saturday that running for majority leader was “not my focus” but has appeared to warm to the idea since then. And he offered a direct criticism of Schumer on Tuesday, knocking him for intervening in Senate Democratic primaries.
“We have two members in that room, newly elected senators, who would not be there if Schumer and the DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] had had their way,” Van Hollen said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was still “confident” he would be elected as the next majority leader, just moments after Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elissa Slotkin announced they would not back his bid.
No other Democrat has announced they plan to challenge Schumer, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday he hasn’t shut the door on the opportunity.
Asked about those comments from Van Hollen, Schumer replied, “Chris Van Hollen and I are friends. We talk frequently, and we’re united. United in lowering costs and united in ending this damn war.”
Republicans are working furiously behind the scenes to kill a rogue GOP push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with key leadership and White House officials leaning on members to show up and vote with the party, two sources familiar with the efforts told CNN.
Some in GOP leadership believe they will have the votes tonight to effectively kill the effort — by essentially burying the Hegseth resolution in committee — and added that the White House is making calls to members, a leadership aide said.
“They are definitely working this,” the aide said of the White House.
House GOP leadership does not formally whip lawmakers on privileged resolutions such an impeachment. But many members are eager to avoid another headache for their party — especially given the widespread anger at GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who is pushing the impeachment resolution, for his various anti-Trump antics this year.
Another GOP source predicted that very few Republicans besides Massie would actually vote with Democrats on the floor. Instead, multiple sources said the main obstacle was attendance.
The battered House GOP conference is struggling with attendance in the first week back from last week’s election rout. But sources described a fierce operation to prevent an embarrassing defeat on the floor tonight.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said they won’t back Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to stay on as Democratic leader next year.
“If this campaign was about anything, it was about change, and the need for the Democratic Party, in my view, to move in a new and bold direction,” Sanders said.
While no other Democrat has announced they are running, Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday that he hasn’t shut the door on the possibility.
Slotkin called for a new generation to take on the mantle of leadership.
“I’ve been very consistent for a very long time that we need a new generation of leadership. I said it before when I served in the House, I said it about Joe Biden, and I’m saying it here,” the Michigan senator said.
Slotkin insisted she is “not actively seeking this job. I am seeking change.”
She added, “At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a radical idea to ask whoever wants to lead to come forward with a concrete plan, not just in words, but in deeds, how they’re going to govern differently.”
Several incoming and returning senators, have refused to say whether they’ll back Schumer, including Sens.-elect Annie Andrews, Adam Hamilton and Abdul El-Sayed, the latter of whom has said he’d back Van Hollen if he is an option.
Sanders acknowledged that Van Hollen was interested in the job and said the Senate Democratic Caucus had a “serious discussion” today about the possibility of a different Democratic leader.
Senate Democrats have several weeks until they vote for their leadership for the next Congress.
House Republicans picked GOP Rep. Tom Emmer to serve as party whip, the No. 2 position, for their conference next year. The vote was 103 to 76.
Emmer, an ambitious Minnesotan who’s spent years building up his standing in the conference, will serve beside Minority Leader Jim Jordan.
Republicans still reeling from a midterms drubbing have made their choice: Jim Jordan, a pro-Trump, hardline conservative, will lead the GOP as House minority leader next year.
Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pitched himself to colleagues as the best-equipped to tee off an insurgent Democratic Party, which will have a robust oversight agenda targeting President Donald Trump’s White House. He’s also a high-octane former wrestling coach, with the ability to act as a political attack dog in a way that allies said his challenger, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, lacks.
The Ohio lawmaker’s ascension is a rejection of the status quo that many Republicans believe cost them the election — by choosing not to promote their current No. 2 House Republican, Scalise.
Rather than a path of moderation, the party is opting for a more hardline leader as it seeks relevance in the next two years.
More on Jordan’s background: Jordan has used his gavel and his seat on the oversight panel to probe what he has argued is the weaponization of the government against the president. He led GOP investigations into two attorneys who have prosecuted the president: former special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The Ohio Republican, who was first elected to Congress in 2007, has also long been an influential voice in the GOP conference. He helped found the House Freedom Caucus in 2015, leading the right-wing bloc that rankled former Speaker John Boehner before he resigned from Congress.
CNN’s Ellis Kim contributed reporting.
Rep. Thomas Massie laid out his strategy to CNN about how he plans to advance his impeachment proposal if it survives a procedural vote tonight in the House.
Massie said that he will ask the House to divide each of the eight articles of impeachment into eight separate votes — so members can vote their conscience on each of the charges against Hegseth.
It first has to survive an effort by House GOP leaders to kill the resolution during a Tuesday evening vote series.
At least three Republican senators have expressed support for — or would not rule out — backing a full Senate trial of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the House impeaches him this week.
That means support for a trial is close to having the votes it would need, assuming all Democrats vote for it. The chamber is divided now 53-47 in favor of Republicans.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who lost his reelection primary after President Donald Trump opposed him, said, “I’d be open to a trial.”
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also said he would support one.
Sen Joni Ernst of Iowa, who is also retiring, would not rule it out when she spoke to reporters Tuesday.
Other GOP senators who might be in play, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. John Curtis of Utah, said they wanted to see whether the impeachment effort is successful in the House before digging into the case and deciding a path forward.
If the House votes to impeach, Senate GOP leaders are expected to try to vote to dismiss the case or refer it to committee for investigation, which would likely kill the effort because the Congress will adjourn within weeks. But with these senators expressing support for a trial, such a move might not be possible.
House Republicans on Tuesday picked Rep. Jim Jordan — the famously pugnacious pro-Trump fighter — to lead their party in the minority next year, according to multiple sources familiar. The vote was 106 to 73.
Republicans have chosen one of the party’s most aggressive and combative figures as the face of their party, a clear sign that they are ready for battle — not compromise — with Democrats next year.
Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pitched himself to colleagues as the best-equipped to tee off an insurgent Democratic party, which will have a robust oversight agenda targeting Trump’s White House.
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, told reporters Tuesday that the panel is “already” looking at former White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, as Democrats are poised to take control of congressional committees in January.
“We’ve already been looking at Susie Wiles and with all of this new information that’s come out, it is incredibly serious, and so it’s not just going to be oversight, but I think you’re going to see some action from some other committees, particularly as it relates to any sort of conversations that the former chief of staff was having around donors and money in exchange for policy choices,” Garcia said.
The California Democrat also warned that other former Trump administration officials need to be held accountable, including former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her former top aide Corey Lewandowski, and former US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Asked about Garcia’s comments, the White House criticized Democrats’ investigatory efforts.
“As the President has said, he’s willing to work with anyone to continue delivering victories for hardworking Americans. If Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people,” spokeswoman Beni Rae Harmony said in a statement.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this post.
Republican Ryan Elijah will win Florida’s 7th Congressional District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, keeping the seat in his party’s hands after defeating embattled GOP Rep. Cory Mills in the primary.
While Elijah, a former news anchor, was a less controversial candidate than Mills, who faces allegations of assault and possible campaign finance violations that he denies, Democrats still had hoped to flip the seat with challenger Bale Dalton.
Democrat Adam Hamawy, a retired US Army combat surgeon who last week became the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey, called for diplomacy with Iran as the war approaches its ninth month.
“We are pushing Iran into a fight when we have the leverage to kind of bring them to the table,” Hamawy told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Tuesday.
Hamawy, who has called for an end to military aid to Israel over the war in Gaza, declined to say whether he viewed Israel as an ally or Iran as an adversary to the US.
Pressed again on whether he viewed Iran as an adversary to the US, Hamawy said, “We pushed them into a fight, and so I think we both have to step back and say, ‘is this helping either one of us?’”
“They’ve been saying saying death to America for decades,” Brown said, noting a long-running slogan of the Iranian regime.
“We’ve been saying death to Iran for decades as well. And so what we need to do is use diplomacy,” Hamawy responded.
“They’ve killed a lot of Americans,” Brown said.
“And we’ve killed a lot of them as well,” he said.
Pressed a final time on his perception of Israel and Iran, Hamawy said that “the blame game doesn’t help” and said attention should be focused on getting out of the conflict.
He noted during the interview that he doesn’t agree with the Iranian government, which he described as “authoritarian” and a “dictatorship.”
“But going to war this way … it’s made it actually worse, it’s made it more radical, and it’s created a crisis here at home we don’t need,” he said.
Some background: Hamawy is outspoken in his support for Palestinians and has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which the country has denied. He was among the volunteer doctors stranded in Gaza in May 2024 after Israeli forces seized the Rafah crossing.
House GOP leaders will try to kill the rogue effort by anti-Trump crusader Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tonight — but it’s unclear whether they’ll have the votes to do so.
Sources from both parties told CNN today that the outcome will hang on attendance. If Speaker Mike Johnson cannot convince enough Republicans to show up, GOP sources acknowledge tonight’s procedural vote will fail — teeing up a full impeachment vote as soon as Wednesday — likely with the same attendance issues.
Last night, 22 Republicans did not show up to vote. While a small number of those Republicans have been spotted in the Capitol today, GOP leadership aides acknowledge they will not have full attendance. Democrats also had 14 absences Monday, but they believe many of them will vote on Tuesday.
Multiple GOP sources told CNN they are prepared for tonight’s vote to succeed and have begun gaming out next steps about a trial in the Senate — but that is not certain.
House Republicans are voting now in a closed-door meeting to select their next minority leader for the new Congress, according to sources in the room.
It remains to be seen how many Republicans vote to impeach — and possibly convict — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
But patience with him is clearly wearing thin — as evidenced by the kinds of Republicans who are publicly criticizing him and leaving open the possibility of voting against him.
On Tuesday, retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina signaled he would support an impeachment trial. And retiring Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa left open the possibility of supporting it amid reports that she privately bashed Hegseth to GOP colleagues.
Ernst’s comments are particularly remarkable given she has previously been floated as a potential defense secretary. She and Tillis were both crucial holdouts and eventual supporters of Hegseth’s nomination last year.
Hegseth is also receiving criticism from some unlikely places in the House. On Sunday, GOP Rep. French Hill of Arkansas left open the possibility of supporting Hegseth’s impeachment, while GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky said Hegseth had explaining to do.
Comer told NewsNation that “there’s a lot of questions about Hegseth. We have no idea what the strategy is moving forward in Iran. No one’s happy about Iran.”
Comer’s district supported President Donald Trump by 47 points in 2024.
But Hegseth did get some good news Tuesday when retiring moderate Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska signaled that, despite his concerns about Hegseth, he wouldn’t support impeachment.
Responses