Post Politics Now: Democrats, Republicans look for lessons in Warnock win over Walker in Ga.
Warnock #Warnock
Today, Democrats and Republicans alike are looking for lessons in the win of Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) over Republican challenger Herschel Walker in Georgia’s Senate runoff. With Warnock’s win Tuesday night, members of the Democratic Caucus will hold 51 seats in the chamber, a pickup of one seat in midterm elections in which Republicans hoped to take control of the chamber. Walker was the fourth candidate backed by former president Donald Trump to lose a Senate race that Republicans thought they could win.
In Washington, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, the spouse of Vice President Harris, is hosting a roundtable on the rise of antisemitism in the United States. President Biden has no public events on his schedule Wednesday.
7:55 AM: Analysis: The full picture of the 2022 elections
Now that the 2022 midterm elections are over, it’s worth a tale of the tape.
These were more or less a status-quo elections. That’s unusual for midterms, in which the president’s party usually loses substantial ground, The Post’s Aaron Blake writes. Here’s some of what transpired:
You can read Aaron’s full analysis, which includes other takeaways from the Georgia runoff, here.
7:29 AM: On our radar: Democrats ramp up probe of Kushner family business dealings
Democrats on a pair of congressional committees have launched an aggressive new effort to obtain information about whether Jared Kushner’s actions on U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf region as a senior White House adviser were influenced by the bailout of a property owned by his family business.
The Post’s Michael Kranish reports that citing previously undisclosed emails and other documents related to former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, the committees this week sent letters to the State and Defense departments requesting material that they say could shed new light on whether “Kushner’s financial conflict of interest may have led him to improperly influence U.S. tax, trade and national security policies for his own financial gain.” Per Michael:
The letters, obtained by The Washington Post, focus on efforts by Kushner and his father, Charles Kushner, to bail out a troubled 41-story Fifth Avenue office building in New York City. The Kushner company in 2018 made a deal with a Canadian company, Brookfield Asset Management, which invested $1.2 billion for a 99-year lease. As a result, the Kushner family company avoided defaulting on a loan that was due the following year.
Democrats have long raised questions about the deal because the Qatar Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, had a stake in one of Brookfield’s investment arms.
You can read the full story here.
7:17 AM: Noted: What leading Democrats say about Warnock’s win
President Biden and other leading Democrats were eager to congratulate Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) on his win over Republican Herschel Walker. Here’s a sampling of what they had to say:
6:49 AM: Analysis: How big a deal is a 51st Senate vote, anyway?
Tuesday was a big night for Democrats.
Writing in the Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer note that Democratic Sen. Raphael G. Warnock’s reelection in the Georgia runoff will give Democrats a critical 51st vote in the Senate. Per our colleagues:
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will take a victory lap Wednesday morning, holding a news conference to highlight Warnock’s win. One thing he’ll be certain to brag about: a 51st Democratic senator, which is likely to feel like a landslide margin after Schumer spent the past two years navigating an evenly divided Senate with Vice President Harris serving as the tiebreaking vote.
Democrats said they are ecstatic to have some breathing room.
“It’s a game changer,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said of the 51st vote.
You can read the full analysis here.
6:22 AM: Analysis: With the Georgia runoff result, things went from bad to worse for Trump
The U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia was only one race. But it reinforced everything we already knew about Donald Trump and the 2022 election, which is that the former president and Trump-y candidates cost the GOP — including the Senate majority.
The Post’s Aaron Blake writes that November had already made this evident in Georgia: Herschel Walker was the one statewide GOP candidate who didn’t win on Election Day, with the other eight winning by an average of more than seven points. (Most of the others easily turned aside Trump-backed primary challengers earlier this year.) Per Aaron:
Walker now becomes the fourth Trump-backed candidate to lose a very winnable Senate race, next to Arizona’s Blake Masters, Nevada’s Adam Laxalt and Pennsylvania’s Mehmet Oz. Masters also performed worse than any other statewide Arizona Republican, while Laxalt lost despite a Republican winning the governor’s race.
Oz did better than the GOP gubernatorial candidate but still lost a battleground state. (And that doesn’t include New Hampshire’s Don Bolduc, whom Trump did not back in the primary but who ran a very Trump-y campaign and lost, even as Gov. Chris Sununu (R) was cruising to reelection.)
In the end, candidates Trump backed in the primary lost in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, while winning in another swing state, North Carolina. They also won in Ohio, but it was a big night for Ohio Republicans generally, and Senate candidate J.D. Vance far underperformed other Republicans.
You can read Aaron’s full analysis, which includes other takeaways from the Georgia runoff results, here.
6:19 AM: The latest: Trump team searches two of his properties amid court battle with DOJ
Lawyers for former president Donald Trump conducted a search of at least two of his properties for classified materials in recent weeks, after they were instructed by a federal judge to attest they had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Post’s Jacqueline Alemany, Josh Dawsey, Spencer S. Hsu and Devlin Barrett report that Trump’s legal team hired an outside firm to carry out the search of his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and, more recently, Trump Tower in New York, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. Per our colleagues:
The team also offered the FBI the opportunity to observe the search, but the offer was declined, the people said. It would be unusual for federal agents to monitor a search of someone’s property conducted by anyone other than another law enforcement agency. Federal authorities have already searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s primary residence, and he spends almost all of his time at those three properties, advisers say.
Trump’s lawyers have told the Justice Department that the outside team did not turn up any new classified information during their search, according to people familiar with the process, and have said they utilized a firm that had expertise in searching for documents.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment.
You can read the full story here.
6:16 AM: Take a look: What Warnock, Walker had to say after the results came in
Warnock defeats Walker in Georgia runoff
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After Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) was projected to win the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, both candidates addressed supporters Tuesday night. The Post’s Blair Guild has pulled together highlights of Warnock’s victory speech and the concession speech of Republican Herschel Walker.
6:15 AM: On our radar: Mainstream Republicans back Marjorie Taylor Greene audit of Ukraine aid
Mainstream Republicans on Tuesday rallied behind a resolution sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to audit U.S. military and economic aid for Ukraine, sending their strongest signal yet that the Biden administration will face stricter scrutiny of its support for the war effort when control of the House shifts next year.
The Post’s John Hudson reports that the measure, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was defeated in a 26-to-22 vote because of the unity of Democrats, who still control the panel and said the measure risked sending a message to Ukraine that America’s support for the war was in question. Per John:
“This is not the time for us to be divided,” said Rep. Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the committee’s top Democrat. “We’ve held together with NATO and the E.U. and our allies. Let’s not fall into this trap.”
Republicans rejected that argument, however, and backed Greene’s resolution — endorsing the legislation of a politician who has quickly transformed from fringe House member to influential party power broker.
You can read the full story here.
6:12 AM: The latest: Congress moves to end military’s coronavirus vaccine mandate
Congress is poised to force the Pentagon to end the military’s coronavirus vaccine mandate under compromise legislation to authorize funding for the Defense Department, a major capitulation for Democrats who championed the policy despite sharp controversy in the ranks over its implementation.
The Post’s Karoun Demirjian reports that the abrupt termination of the requirement, which became Pentagon policy in August 2021, came after Republican lawmakers threatened to stymie action on the $858 billion bill. Per Karoun:
It was incorporated into the legislation in apparent defiance of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who “supports maintaining the vaccine mandate,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said this week, adding: “The health and readiness of our forces is critical to our warfighting capability and a top priority.”
Yet Republicans who championed the repeal were quick to label it a first step, calling on the Biden administration to reenlist service members discharged under the policy.
You can read the full story here.
6:10 AM: On our radar: Biden factory visit launches effort to show his bills actually work
President Biden on Tuesday lauded a pair of semiconductor factories taking shape in Phoenix, saying they are a direct result of his economic policies — a prelude to what is likely to be two years of crisscrossing the country in an effort to convince voters that the bills he has enacted are making a difference in their lives.
The Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Toluse Olorunnipa report that as Biden heads into the slog of divided government, when legislative wins are likely to be much rarer, he faces pressure to remind voters that he made major gains when he had a freer hand, even as some Democrats complain privately that Biden has so far struggled to convey that his agenda is helping ordinary families. Per our colleagues:
Now Biden is setting out to change that, and his reelection may depend on whether he succeeds. On Tuesday, he visited Phoenix on the day the Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC began installing equipment in its new factory there, a ceremonial milestone for a plant slated to begin producing microchips in 2024.
“People are starting to feel a sense of optimism as they see the impact of these achievements in their own lives,” Biden asserted. “It’s going to accelerate in the months ahead, and it’s part of the broad story about the economy we’re building that works for everyone.”
Read the full story here.