Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) invited Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick to freshman Senate orientation after not extending an invitation due to uncounted ballots in the race. The Associated Press called the race for McCormick last Thursday, but incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) has refused to concede the race. McCormick was spotted on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning, arriving to attend freshman orientation. In a video posted on social media on Tuesday, Casey said, "The American process was born in Pennsylvania, and that process will play out." Schumer's olive branch to McCormick came paired with an invite to Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) to attend orientation after the Associated Press called the race for the Arizona Democratic congressman late on Monday. That final race call means the new Republican majority will be 53 seats compared to Schumer's 47 seats.
President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to name Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) as his secretary of state, The New York Times reported Monday night. read more
Jamal Simmons, a former communications director for Kamala Harris, made an unlikely suggestion about how the vice president might still have a chance of becoming president in 2024: If Joe Biden steps down from office. Asked on Sunday what they thought would be the most important thing to watch for in the 71 days until President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, panelists on CNN's "State of the Union" Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison and Brad Todd pointed to the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza or Trump's actions while setting up his administration. Simmons went in a different direction. Biden, he said, "could resign the presidency in the next 30 days (and) make Kamala Harris the president of the United States."
Vice president Kamala Harris' campaign reportedly spent $1 million on TV host and producer Oprah Winfrey for hosting her rally and interview during the presidential election campaign. In September, Winfrey interviewed Harris at the "Unite for America" rally in Michigan, where Hollywood stars like Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep showed their support through virtual appearances, attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers. According to a report from Fox News, citing The Washington Examiner, Harris' campaign spent $15 million on "event production," with $1 million allocated to Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions. read more
California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36 to increase punishments for some theft and drug possession offenses. With more than half of the ballots as of Wednesday morning, over 6.3 million voters said "Yes" on Prop 36, making up 71% of the ballots. With the passage of Prop 36, California will now undo some of the key provisions from Prop 47, which voters passed in 2014 to address prison overcrowding by reclassifying some theft and drug-related offenses as misdemeanors. Turning some misdemeanors to felonies, longer sentences, etc.
I hope it's Peter Doocy.