Mitch McConnell

'Ten GOP members have endorsed a candidate so far'

A growing coalition of Trump allies, including Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have endorsed Scott for Senate leader.

All three candidates for Senate GOP leader are making MAGA appeals, committing to more floor debate and amendments and better communication as they make their final pitch ahead of Wednesday's leader elections. Why it matters: A growing number of senators want a new style of leadership after nearly two decades under Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — and years of battles between him and President-elect Trump. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) is promising more amendments, more power and input from average senators, a focus on getting young, conservative judges confirmed and to spend time over the lame duck discussing how to make the chamber work better, he told colleagues in a letter on Tuesday, obtained by Axios.Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to tell senators in a Tuesday night meeting that he won't assume bills get 60 votes, and he will encourage floor debate and amendments. He also is promising weekly meetings with the House Speaker and Vice President Vance as well as a December conference on GOP priorities, a source familiar tells us.Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) launched his bid as the leader most committed to significant change. He has taken a notably more public approach to his bid for leader, blanketing the airwaves and riding a wave of support from influential voices in Trump world.The intrigue: One source close to Scott points out that many of the plans for a more open process that are being laid out by Thune and Cornyn mirror the kind of changes Scott has been pushing for the past two years.How it works: The candidates will make their final argument to be leader tomorrow morning before the vote — including nominating speeches from two colleagues, each.If none of the three candidates win 27 votes in the first round, the candidate with the lowest vote total is removed and they all vote again.Scott won 10 votes when he ran against McConnell in 2022. He'd need to nearly triple his level of support to win a majority of Senate Republicans in 2024.If Scott is eliminated in the first round, it is a big question whether Thune or Cornyn will be more likely to gain his supporters' votes.

The Florida lawmaker wants to be Senate majority leader, but guns rights advocates are lobbying against him, as they dislike his support for the state's gun control legislation enacted after the Parkland school shooting. Senators are to vote Wednesday on a new leader in a secret ballot.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago in August.

Former President Donald Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Nov. 5.

Questions swirl about whether a new Trump administration will try to block abortion care, especially in states like Maryland that have enshrined access.

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.Don Jr. gets to be the favorite kid in his dad's second White HouseNot that the competition is exactly fierce.The race to replace Mitch McConnell is on—and the worst one winsTalk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.Fox News hosts suggest 'death penalty' for Trump legal foesYikes.Cartoon: Mexico's got itBuild a wall, indeed.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) officially rolled out his bid to run the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) on Friday, a move that would put him at the helm of the party’s midterm efforts to maintain and possibly grow its majority next cycle. Scott had been mulling a run for the post since mid-October. He is [...]

Cornyn made a final pitch based on his fundraising prowess ahead of the Republican leader race to succeed McConnell next week.

Donald Trump's victory in the 2020 election was aided by Mitch McConnell's refusal to convict him in his second impeachment trial, and Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris, which backfired due to her unfavorable ratings among Republicans, led to her defeat.

Republican electoral wins in both the presidential race and the Senate are changing the game on government funding, as Congress braces for a battle over federal spending when lawmakers return next week. The increasing likelihood of a trifecta of Republican control in Washington is positioning GOP leaders squarely in the driver's seat in deciding whether [...]

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.

Donald Trump delivered a profane and conspiracy-laden speech two days before Tuesday's presidential election, talking about reporters being shot and suggesting he “shouldn't have left” the White House after his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Sen. Ted Cruz criticized Sen. Mitch McConnell as a "one-man dictator" on "Sunday Morning Futures," just a few days after slamming the Senate leadership super PAC.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., referred to an independent candidate in Nebraska's race as a pickup opportunity for Democrats to potentially keep their majority.

“That must have been a painful day in his life,” the former president said of the Senate minority leader.

Campaign finance reform advocates hope a potential win by Vice President Kamala Harris, seen here in Michigan last week with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will make changing those laws a priority.

The Republican Party is now more primed to back former President Trump if he contests the results of the 2024 election than it was four years ago, when his efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory fell flat in courts and Congress. Trump’s unwavering claims about the nation’s election system being “rigged” have steadily gained more acceptance [...]

Never before in a presidential election cycle has there been so much discussion of the child tax credit — a tool many Democrats and Republicans have endorsed as a way to lift children and young families out of poverty

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is telling colleagues that he will support Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) in the race to become next Senate Republican leader, according to sources familiar with the private conversations. Daines’s public support would be a promising development for Thune, who is locked in a tough [...]

Gregg Popovich put basketball aside after the San Antonio Spurs' first win of the NBA season to blast Donald Trump in a withering rant.

Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr testified under oath that he told Trump the stolen-election idea was inaccurate.

As he runs his third campaign as the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump has kept up a dizzying schedule of rallies, news conferences, public appearances and media interviews.

Trump has made a raft of campaign promises, on issues including the economy and immigration.

Senate Democrats are facing an increasingly tough road to keeping their majority in the upper chamber as races in crucial swing states tighten with just two weeks until Election Day. The path to 51 seats was always going to be a long shot for Democrats, who are facing a difficult Senate map featuring multiple incumbents [...]

FREEPORT, N.Y. — A top House Democrat said this week that if the party wins the majority, its first priority in the next Congress will be election integrity — an issue that’s been front-and-center throughout a campaign in which former President Trump has floated baseless claims of voter fraud and laid the groundwork to challenge the [...]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Donald Trump for president this year. But in a new book, the powerful Kentucky Republican is quoted after the 2020 election describing Trump as a “despicable human being,” “stupid” and “ill-tempered." NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard reports on Sen. McConnell R-Ky., endorsing and criticizing Trump.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has tried to mend his relationship with former President Trump, but newly reported comments reveal how deeply his personal animosity toward Trump ran after the 2020 election and signal the challenges GOP senators could have in working with Trump if he is elected again. Many Republican senators who have [...]

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — an ally of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — hit back at conservatives' demands for a new brand of leadership once McConnell steps down in a letter to colleagues Tuesday morning.Why it matters: The leader race between Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is heating up, with the general election three weeks away. Some conservative senators are hoping to leverage a tight race for big changes in how the chamber operates. Sen. Mike Lee's (R-Utah) proposals, which he outlined in a letter to colleagues last week, include assurances of more amendment votes and delaying the timeline for picking McConnell's replacement.And Lee has taken new public shots at McConnell's leadership approach.Tills responded Tuesday, saying he believes Lee's concerns are "sincere," but that delaying the leadership election is a bad idea. He said Lee's proposals would "substantially weaken the republican leader."Between the lines: The only leadership candidate to clearly embrace the changes conservatives are pushing is Scott — who Senators and Hill sources have said doesn't have much of a shot.What they're saying: Tillis then made a dig at Republican House chaos. "We are witnessing the downside of a weak-leader model in the House today," he wrote."Two Speakers during a single congress and self-imposed gridlock on legislation hardly seems like a model we want to adopt in the Senate.""I believe delaying the election and creating more hurdles for the republican leader to navigate are unwise, and they will impede our work on behalf of the American people," Tillis said.The other side: "Why would a Republican senator continue to support a system where legislation can be presented for passage without the approval of the majority of the conference? Or one that denies our ability to do our jobs as representatives of our states," Lee responded in a statement to Axios.Catch up quick: This isn't the first back-and-forth between Tillis and Lee over the leadership race. Back in June, Lee and other conservatives were pushing for a new leadership structure — including imposing term limits. Tillis blasted those ideas in a letter, which then prompted a response from Lee.McConnell has also been adamantly against term limits.E

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R) on Tuesday circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter warning that some of the reforms being pushed by Senate conservatives would only weaken the next Senate Republican leader and cause the same chaos that is plaguing the House Republican majority. Tillis released his letter in response to a list of procedural [...]

The Senate Leadership Fund is dumping another $10.5 million in Michigan to bolster former Rep. Mike Rogers in his bid for Senate, Axios has learned.Why it matters: All signs are pointing to the state becoming one of the most competitive in the battle to control both the Senate and the White House. If Michigan flips, Democrats will face a much steeper path to victory.SLF, linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, only started going into Michigan this month, with a $22.5 million investment announced Sept. 30th.They have focused their spending in Montana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.Zoom in: Recent polling on the Michigan Senate race has been split. The most bearish news has come from SLF's own internals, which has Rogers down by 8 percentage points this month, as Politico reported.Internal polling of likely voters for the Rogers campaign has him down by one, according to a memo obtained by Axios.Polling by the Republican Senate campaign arm and public polling by Quinnipiac are even more hopeful for Republicans. They show Rogers tied with Democratic nominee Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).What to watch: In addition to the top GOP issues of the economy and immigration, Republicans see the Biden administration's electric vehicle (EV) policies as particularly potent in the top car manufacturing state. "Michiganders don't like that Elissa Slotkin has consistently voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' green energy agenda. These voters are looking for a change from the Democrat status quo," SLF President and CEO Steven Law told Axios in a statement.

In the battle for the Senate majority, the top super PAC supporting Republican incumbents and candidates says it hauled in $114.5 million during the July-September third quarter of 2024 fundraising.

Democrat Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Republican challenger Dave McCormick face off Tuesday in their final debate in a showdown that may decide if the GOP wins back the majority.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) vented his frustration with the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), for not spending any money in his competitive reelection race, accusing McConnell of using the group to “punish” his critics in the Senate GOP conference. “Mitch McConnell runs the largest Republican [...]

Democrats like Sen. Tammy Baldwin could triumph even if the Democratic presidential candidate loses — an increasingly rare feat.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) sparred in their lone debate this cycle Thursday night as they look to replace retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) next year. Alsobrooks has emerged as the favorite, with polls showing her squarely in the drivers seat. According to an aggregate of [...]

Larry Hogan and Angela Alsobrooks faced off during a debate less than one month before the Senate election.

One analysis shows Trump and Republican PACs have spent more than $65 million on ads targeting trans people's access to sports and health care.

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks is highlighting former Gov. Larry Hogan's actions in office as evidence he isn't as supportive of abortion rights as he now claims to be.

Former Representative Mike Rogers is attempting to become the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Michigan in 30 years. Rep. Elissa Slotkin stands in his way on the Democratic side and holds a significant fundraising advantage. The...

Independent Dan Osborn is gaining unexpected traction in his bid to unseat Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

Senators are privately (and publicly) saying they hope Donald Trump stays out of the internal election to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader.Why it matters: None of them know — or it's a damn good secret — whether the former president will make an endorsement. But senators and advisors fear a Trump intervention could turn the secret ballot leader election into a public feud."I said, 'Sir, if I was you, I would stay out of the race, because there's no win for you in this,'" Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told us about a recent call with Trump."I hope not," said Sen. Thom Tillis, when asked if he thinks Trump will weigh in. "I think outside influence could be problematic.""He's offered some views on it to me," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told us. "It's safe to say he has a pretty consistent prediction of who he thinks it'll be." Hawley said he did not know if Trump would weigh in.Between the lines: This the first real competitive Senate GOP leadership race of the Trump-era, and his endorsement carries a lot of weight with a growing segment of the conference.McConnell has had a tumultuous relationship with the former president.The top two candidates — Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn — each have had rocky relationships with Trump. However, they have worked to make amends.After Jan. 6, Thune denounced Trump and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for president. Cornyn has said the GOP needed to move on from Trump.Senate sources do not talk about Sen. Rick Scott's (R-Fla.) bid as seriously as Thune's or Cornyn's, though he has a good relationship with Trump. "Sen. Scott is focused on dramatically changing the way the Senate operates and creating a member-driven process," according to spokesperson McKinley Lewis.Sources often describe Thune as the likely favorite, though they say not to discount how much Cornyn's long history of hard-dollar fundraising for Senate campaigns means to people.Cornyn told us it's been a few weeks since he spoke with Trump about the leadership race. But he visited Mar-a-Lago a couple months ago "to talk about planning for the future," adding they've been "visiting with some of the transition folks."Mullin said Trump "likes" Thune despite their rocky past. The Oklahoma Republican has publicly backed Thune.Some sources suspect there could be a late entry: NRSC Chair Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is the most-floated name.The bottom line: There's not a lot of incentive for senators benefiting from both Thune and Cornyn's aggressive fundraising efforts to commit too early."If one of them felt that they really had a majority, I think they would not be shy about saying that, but I don't think anybody does," Hawley said.

Residents and businesses in Southwest Virginia will be eligible for direct federal emergency relief as they recover from devastating flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz take part in the vice-presidential debate at CBS Studios in New York on Tuesday.

If Donald Trump wins in November, there are various reasons why he might not be able to complete a second four-year term. That means Americans could suddenly find themselves with a President JD Vance—a very scary prospect. The risks of a Vance ascension are at the center of “A Heartbeat Away,” the latest ad from the Harris-Walz campaign. For anyone familiar with Vance’s extremism—recently detailed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow—it’s a stark reminder. For those who might not know much about the novelist-turned-first-term Ohio senator, who stumbled to a 2022 victory over former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan thanks only to massive cash infusions from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vance’s mentor, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, it’s a warning. RELATED STORY: Harris ad mocks Trump's 'biggest failures'—including JD Vance

Democrats are fighting to hold on to their 51-49 majority in the Senate—and the latest polling shows they’re the underdogs in this election. But there is hope.Republicans lead Democrats in enough Senate races to flip the chamber, according to 538’s polling averages as of Sept. 27 at 12 PM ET. Democrats’ slim majority is under threat for two main reasons.First, Democrat-turned-independent Joe Manchin is retiring, and his West Virginia seat will undoubtedly flip. And second, Democratic incumbent Jon Tester of Montana trails his Republican opponent.But these are polls, not election results, and because of that, they can be changed by donating, mobilizing, and voting for Democratic candidates.There is just over a month until Nov. 5. Here are the races that need your help.

The White House and U.S. lawmakers praised the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.

Taken together, the lack of big-ticket accomplishments is underscoring a volatile November election season, with control of Congress a toss-up.