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On a richly colored autumn afternoon, the Capitol was all abuzz, and I went forth expecting the breaking news of the day to be on the House side, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s impeachment vote.
Pete escaped the scythe of impeachment 211-204, with the outgoing House Republican majority saving his neck. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and 10 other Democrats missed the vote.
Few in the House are happy with the war in Iran, so he may face another date with fate in 2027, when a massive Democratic majority comes to town with close to 260 members, compared to 165 Republicans. (Some races are still undecided.)
On the Senate side, Democrats looked ready to float to the top of the Capitol dome’s Italian fresco murals. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York could not stop smiling the whole day through, walking with several of the senators-elect that arrived for orientation.
Count them: Eleven new faces graced the halls by the Ohio Clock, a symbol of the Senate. Two more may join them soon, from Mississippi and Alaska. It’s a brand-new day for a sclerotic political body.
Schumer is the architect of the winning strategy, which means the Senate will likely be 56-44, Democrats to Republicans, from the current 53-47 Republicans to Democrats. That swing of party power is a resounding rebuke to President Donald Trump’s regime.
But it’s much more than that: a vote of confidence in American democracy, small “d.”
Consider: a minister from Kansas, Adam Hamilton, and a seminarian from Texas, James Talarico. A doctor from Michigan and another M.D. from South Carolina: Abdul Al-Sayed and Annie Andrews. A Paralympian from Iowa: Zach Turek. A regular guy who was once a Republican in Maine state politics: Troy Jackson. A returning senator from Ohio: Sherrod Brown. The first Native American woman and first openly gay man: Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire. A former North Carolina governor: Roy Cooper.
Miraculously, Scott Colom, a Black district attorney from Mississippi, is on the verge of victory against Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith. Reliably mediocre, she felt history on her side, since a Black man had not represented the Southern state since Reconstruction, 150 years ago.
Colom, 43, is a youngster for the Senate. Newly reelected Jon Ossoff of Georgia is 39.
Senate Democrats didn’t lose a single seat in the midterms. Not one. That means a lot of legislative work lies ahead, in a spirit of unity. Health care, child care and inflation are the most pressing issues.
Curmudgeonly Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) didn’t get the memo on unity and is carping about Schumer’s leadership. Some of us are tired of his act. A lone ranger, but then again, he has few allies in the Senate outside of New England.
The caucus leadership race will be next week, by secret ballot. That adds luster and drama, if there’s a challenger. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) may run, according to chatter. He’s respected, for sure, and a foreign policy expert, but Schumer’s shrewd street smarts reaped remarkable results.
“Results” is a word you hear a lot under the dome.
Schumer turns 76 this month, seaworthy for two more years. If you don’t believe me, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), the chair for the Senate races, gave at a Tuesday press conference the most fulsome tribute to another senator still breathing I’ve ever heard.
Gillibrand praised Schumer’s candidate recruitment, tailored to each state, not a lot of lawyers. She praised his planning, travel and fundraising of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Citing nine new Senate seats, she said, “He galvanized this caucus. This country voted for change.”