| | | | |  | | By Eugene Daniels and Rachael Bade | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
| | | |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | THE LATEST RACE CALLS — Republican DAVE McCORMICK defeats Democratic Sen. BOB CASEY in Pennsylvania. … Reps. DON DAVIS (D-N.C.), YOUNG KIM (R-Calif.), JULIA BROWNLEY (D-Calif.) and SUSIE LEE (D-Nev.) win reelection. STILL COUNTING — Sen. JACKY ROSEN (D-Nev.) has a 17,553-vote lead on SAM BROWN (slightly more than one percentage point). And Rep. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-Ariz.) leads KARI LAKE by 43,836 votes (about 2 points). THE NEW ELECTORAL MAP — “The 14 Places That Explain Trump’s Victory,” by Charlie Mahtesian: “Not all the votes are counted yet, but the architecture of Trump’s victory is clear.”
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor attends an opening ceremony of the Yonkers Public School District's new community school on, Sept 16, 2024, in New York. | Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP | BENCH PRESS — Two months from now, Republicans will be in control of the U.S. Senate. They’ll have at least 53 seats. And as soon as DONALD TRUMP is sworn in on Jan. 20, they’ll be revving up the old conveyor belt of conservative judicial nominees, tilting the courts further in their favor for decades. For Democrats, this is a hair-on-fire moment. And though the discourse in the media is presently dominated by recriminations about how this all happened, another arguably more urgent conversation is blowing up largely outside of public view: whether to push for 70-year-old Supreme Court Justice SONIA SOTOMAYOR to step down while Dems still have the power to approve her replacement. This isn’t simply some flight of fancy happening among progressive activists online. It’s a conversation members of the Senate are actively engaged in. One senator Playbook spoke with last night told us that the topic has come up repeatedly this week in talks with their colleagues. Inevitably, those conversations end up with a recognition of two realities: (1) It’d be a risky play with the party already trying to figure out how to handle a crowded lame-duck session, and (2) no senator seems to be offering to be the person to put his or her neck on their line publicly (or even privately) by pushing for Sotomayor to step aside. The conversations have gone far enough that a possible replacement has been bandied about: D.C. Circuit Judge J. MICHELLE CHILDS, who was on President JOE BIDEN’s SCOTUS short list. It’s obvious why: Childs has already been vetted, is seen as moderate and even received backing by conservative senators like LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) last go round. (Though you can be damn sure that Republicans would do everything imaginable to stop a lame-duck confirmation.) But inevitably, this chatter runs into major logistical concerns. If Sotomayor were to resign, “she can sort of resign conditionally on someone being appointed to replace her,” the Democratic senator told Playbook. “But she can't resign conditioned on a specific person. What happens if she resigns and the nominee to replace her isn’t confirmed and the next president fills the vacancy?” Then there’s the abbreviated timeline. Democrats would have to convince her to retire immediately, Biden would have to nominate a successor, they would have to figure out how to bring enough senators on board, dodge whatever obstructions Republicans throw in their way and get a whole floor vote before the new Congress is sworn in. There would be no room for error or delay. “We would have to have assurances from any shaky senator that they would back a nominee in the lame duck, because what do you do if she announces she's going to step down and then [independent West Virginia Sen. JOE] MANCHIN doesn't support her and then [Republican Sens.] SUSAN COLLINS and LISA MURKOWSKI back off and say they're not going to support a new nominee?” one senior Democratic source told us. “Do you just rescind that letter?” The logistics, the senator suggested to us, may be insurmountable. (The phrase they used was “Beltway speculative conversation.”) Better, perhaps then, to focus on confirming lower-court judges, filling vacancies Trump can’t later fill himself. But this isn’t the first time the proposal has been floated. Last year, Democrats — bruised by Justice RUTH BADER GINSBURG’s refusal to retire and give then-President BARACK OBAMA a chance to nominate her successor — began a quiet campaign to nudge Sotomayor out. The reasoning? Her age (70) and health (she has diabetes). That round of the conversation was met with accusations of ableism and even racism: How dare they suggest pushing the first Latina justice — a solid progressive vote — off the bench? But this time, with the reality of an impending Trump presidency, those objections have fallen by the wayside. And some of those who called for Sotomayor to step down earlier feel the conversation has changed. “I wish it were different, but I think that Democrats need to do a better job of holding on to the fear that they now feel the next time they are in a position of power, because we can't shut down those conversations,” MOLLY COLEMAN, the executive director of the People’s Parity Project, told us late last night. But barring a surprise announcement from Sotomayor, the best thing Democrats can do, she says, is to focus on those 30-odd district- and appeals-court judges still waiting to be confirmed and accept they may have missed their chance to do anything about the Supreme Court. “Democrats are not going to win elections forever,” Coleman says. “They're not going to be able to nominate Supreme Court justices indefinitely. They need to act when they have power.” Happy Friday. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels.
| | | | A message from the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association: Election Day has passed — but one thing never changes: Big Pharma wants to increase their profits at the expense of everyone else.
That’s why Big Pharma’s top priority for Congress is a self-serving agenda called “delinking,” which would hand drug companies a massive $32 billion windfall in higher profits, increase their pricing power and hike health care costs, including for America’s seniors.
Stop Big Pharma’s “delinking” agenda. | | | | SUSIE CUED — The biggest decision of Trump’s second presidential transition has Washington Republicans elated: Yesterday, Trump chose SUSIE WILES , the mastermind of his 2024 electoral romp, to serve as his White House chief of staff. She will be the first woman in history to hold that position. It is the decision that every other choice will stem from. Wiles is seen as loyal, with incredible influence in the inner circle and closeness to the Trump family. Her personal style provides a useful counterbalance to Trump’s: Where he can be brash and bombastic, she is soft-spoken and strategic. Wiles is as “loyal and honest as the day is long, [someone] who conducts herself with a large degree of humility,” CHRIS LaCIVITA, co-manager of Trump’s campaign, told our Meredith McGraw. “All characteristics that define a good leader, a great leader.” Wiles worked on both the Trump 2016 and 2020 campaigns, but has been a fixture as an operative in Florida politics for decades. She’s worked for everyone from Gov. RON DeSANTIS (with whom she’s had an infamous falling out with), to MITT ROMNEY. Despite that history with two men who’ve notoriously clashed with Trump, she has been able to project an unflagging loyalty to the president-elect, even able to play bad cop when needed. “She never hesitated about talking to him about the tough things, or assembling the right people to talk to him about the right things,” LaCivita said. “She is a rare operative who has become close to the leaders of the MAGA movement while still maintaining relationships with some members of the old-guard establishment that Mr. Trump has trounced,” NYT’s Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report. “After her appointment was announced, she was praised on social media by Republicans ranging from JEB BUSH, the former Florida governor whom Mr. Trump defeated in the 2016 primary, to CHARLIE KIRK, a MAGA influencer who leads the group Turning Point USA.” A primer: “5 things you need to know about Susie Wiles,” by Megan Messerly, Natalie Allison, Meridith McGraw and Hailey Fuchs Two deep dives: “The Most Feared and Least Known Political Operative in America,” by Michael Kruse … “The Woman Who Engineered Donald Trump’s Rise From the Ashes of 2020,” by Meridith McGraw in Vanity Fair TALK OF THIS TOWN — “‘We Will Take Over The Horribly Run Capital’: The Return of Trump Petrifies Local DC,” by Michael Schaffer: “After years of imagining themselves safely ensconced in a blue bubble, residents of the metropolis that houses the government could be looking at major economic dislocation, professional upheaval and the transformation of everything from city budgets to municipal abortion laws and even local public school curriculums — all as a result of the national election.”
| | | | A message from the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association:   Stop Big Pharma from undermining competition and increasing costs for employers, patients and taxpayers. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | On the Hill The House and the Senate are out. What we’re watching … As incoming presidents begin to staff up, it’s not unusual to look to the ranks of sitting lawmakers, who tend to be loyal, politically savvy and familiar with the workings of government. But Trump might be hard-pressed to tap any House Republicans for his administration, given that the GOP majority next year (if there is one at all) will only be a few members deep at best. Plucking out any lawmaker, even from a safe red seat, would mean further slimming that margin for at least a few months pending a special election — something Republicans might not be able to afford as they pursue their legislative agenda. But if there’s any exception, it might be Rep. ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.), the GOP conference chair, who is under review for the UN ambassador posting, our colleagues report. At the White House Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 11:45 a.m. Later, the president will depart the White House en route to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Harris will receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with White House staff.
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Former President Donald Trump speaks during his last campaign rally of his presidential campaign before Election Day at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2024. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | THE NAME GAME — With speculation swirling about who exactly might fill the 4,000 politically appointed administration roles after inauguration day, several stories hint at who and what Trump’s transition team has in store: The farm team: Florida could serve as Trump world’s “veritable staffing agency,” as many insiders say they expect the administration to pull in staff from the president-elect’s adopted home state, Kimberly Leonard and Andrew Atterbury report this morning. “The assumption in thinking through some of the potential picks is that ‘some are for loyalty, some are for merit, and some are to clear the field to avoid future confrontation,’ said one Florida GOP operative.” Counsel to consider: Trump’s transition team is considering two of his top legal allies for the role of White House counsel: DAVID WARRINGTON and STANLEY WOODWARD, Betsy Woodruff Swan, Daniel Lippman, Kyle Cheney and Meridith McGraw report. Warrington is currently general counsel for the Trump campaign, while Woodward previously represented several Trump aides. Leading the charge: “Calling all nat sec wonks: These are the transition positions you should be paying attention to,” by Robbie Gramer Into the cyberverse: “Here’s who could fill top cyber policy roles for Trump,” by John Sakellariadis and Maggie Miller More top reads …
- “Trump says there’s ‘no price tag’ for his mass deportation plan,” by NBC’s Kristen Welker and Alexandra Marquez: “As a candidate, Trump had repeatedly vowed to carry out the ‘largest deportation effort in American history.’ Asked about the cost of his plan, he said, ‘It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.’”
- The Pentagon is bracing for a major upheaval next year as fears swirl around Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric and threats to use military force against “the enemy from within,” WaPo’s Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan and Alex Horton report.
CONGRESS NEXT WEEK’S BIG STORY, HOUSE EDITION — House Democrats gathered on a “subdued, somber call” yesterday, as party leaders pressed their colleagues to not give up hope on races that have yet to be called, Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz report . Dems' remaining chances to win the House majority have nearly closed off, and lawmakers have begun airing their grievances as they try to pin down what exactly went wrong at the polls. As party leaders urge patience, the somber tone of the meeting may have been the calm before the storm for the caucus, with one Democratic lawmaker suggesting next week’s “in-person caucus meeting will be where the real fireworks will happen.” NEXT WEEK’S BIG STORY, SENATE EDITION — Senate Republican Whip JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.), former whip JOHN CORNYN (R-Texas) and RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) are bracing for a showdown once the Senate returns next week, as all three vie for Trump’s endorsement in the race to be the next majority leader. Each has privately lobbied Trump for his support, as “[m]ost Republican senators see the president-elect’s blessing as having a huge, though not necessarily decisive, effect on the secret-ballot leadership race,” Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. THE ECONOMY
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Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. | Ben Curtis/AP | FED UP — Federal Reserve Chair JEROME POWELL was resolute yesterday when asked if he’d leave his post if Trump asked him to: “No,” he told our Victoria Guida, adding that it is “not permitted under the law” for presidents to remove members of the central bank. “Trump, who says he believes the president should have a say in monetary policy, has made no secret of his preference for low interest rates and will likely resume his previous habit of tweeting barbs at the Fed chief if he thinks borrowing costs are too high,” Victoria writes. “He explored the question of whether he could fire Powell during his first term, a prospect that added to market turmoil at the time.” Powell's comments come after the Fed announced it was lowering interest rates for the second time this year, although the timing of future cuts remains uncertain under a new administration: “[W]e don’t know what the timing and substance of any policy changes will be,” Powell said. “We therefore don't know what the effects on the economy would be.” More top reads …
- Trump’s promises to boost crude oil production on the campaign trail may have come at the wrong time for the energy industry, Ben Lefebvre reports: “Oil companies are already signaling they will pull back on drilling next year as crude oil prices sag. And companies are wary that Trump’s threatened tariffs will worsen trade tensions, driving up their costs and risking closing off foreign markets for their energy exports.”
| | | | A message from the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association:   Savings secured by PBMs are the only real check on Big Pharma’s pricing power. | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD
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Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump for his victory. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP File Photo | THE WORLD RESPONDS — Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN joined the ranks of fellow world leaders in congratulating Donald Trump for his election victory yesterday. Speaking at an international forum in Sochi, Putin described Trump as a “very brave man,” per the AP: “Putin also said that what Trump has said ‘about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least.’ … As to what he expects from a second Trump administration, Putin said, ‘I don’t know what will happen now. I have no idea.’” As Russia continues to make advances in Ukraine, Trump’s promise to end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office “stirred concern in Kyiv that he will pressure Ukraine into an agreement on unfavorable terms,” NYT’s Andrew Kramer reports. Other global leaders, including Australian Ambassador to the U.S. KEVIN RUDD and U.K. Foreign Secretary DAVID LAMMY are walking back previous criticisms of Trump following his victory, NBC News’ Hannah Peart reports. Rudd has gone so far as to delete social media posts disparaging the former president, while “Lammy pivoted from scathing critic to polite well-wisher.” (Some context for the Rudd move: “With Trump’s win, Australia worries AUKUS may come under new scrutiny,” by WaPo’s Michael E. Miller) More top reads:
- “Trump to Renew ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign Against Iran,” by WSJ’s Warren Strobel, Benoit Faucon and Lara Seligman: “The people briefed on Trump’s plans and in touch with his top advisers said the new team would move rapidly to try to choke off Iran’s oil income … That would re-create the strategy that the former president adopted in his first term, with mixed results.”
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has urged employees to cut down on using their cellphones for work matters following the recent Chinese-affiliated hack of U.S. telecommunications networks, WSJ’s Anna Maria Andriotis and Dustin Volz scoop.
JUDICIARY SQUARE THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS — “Hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters are on the verge of escaping charges,” by Kyle Cheney: “On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that it has charged more than 1,560 people with crimes tied to the attack on the Capitol. … Those people will probably never be charged by a Trump-controlled Justice Department, which is unlikely to pursue any new Jan. 6 cases. So the department’s current leadership now has a short 2½-month window — before Trump’s inauguration — to charge any new defendants.” ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST — “Judge Tosses Out Biden Program for Undocumented Spouses,” by NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz: “The ruling, issued by Judge J. CAMPBELL BARKER of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, came months after 16 Republican-led states, led by Texas’ attorney general, KEN PAXTON, filed a lawsuit claiming that the administration lacked the legal authority to enact the program.” TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Tim Alberta, Susan Glasser, Asma Khalid and Helen Lewis. SUNDAY SO FAR … NBC “Meet the Press”: Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Panel: Garrett Haake, María Teresa Kumar, Ramesh Ponnuru and Amy Walter CBS “Face the Nation”: Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). FOX “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.). Panel: Marie Harf, Mollie Hemingway, Howard Kurtz and Jeff Mason. CNN “State of the Union”: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) … Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Panel: Jamal Simmons, Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison and Brad Todd. MSNBC "The Weekend": Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) … Rep.-elect Shomari Figures (D-Ala.) ... Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) … Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Penn.). MSNBC “The Sunday Show”: Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) … Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.). ABC “This Week”: Vivek Ramaswamy and Charlamagne tha God.
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | Will Lewis is ordering WaPo staffers back into the office five days a week. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — OpenSecrets, the nonpartisan money-in-politics research nonprofit, laid off 10 employees yesterday due to financial difficulties, Daniel Lippman reports. Much of the research team were among the casualties, which constituted around a third of the group’s total headcount, according to a current employee. Executive director HILARY BRASETH wrote in an email to supporters that “OpenSecrets remains committed to its mission — serving as the trusted authority on money in American politics — but our task has become more difficult as groups have opted to fund a partisan outcome rather than nonpartisan democratic infrastructure.” She said in a subsequent email to Playbook that the layoffs were “a necessary first step to make our organization sustainable,” and that she had “no doubt that our team will continue to produce the high-quality data that the public has come to rely on.” OUT AND ABOUT — Investment Company Institute CEO Eric Pan hosted a breakfast roundtable about what Trump’s election will mean for finance, trade and tech, moderated by Steve Clemons. SPOTTED: Adrienne Arsht, Tom Quaadman, Erica Richardson, Jeff Stein, Kevin Fromer, Joseph Gagnon, Declan Harty, Angela Greiling Keane, Mark Schuermann, Christine Sheehan, Phillip Thomas Wallace, Steve Yates, Shai Akabas, Kristin Sharp, Mark Weinberger, Rishi Iyengar, Jeff Carneal, Maureen Conway and Usman Ahmed. TRANSITIONS — Aquila Powell is now head of federal affairs at Airbnb. She previously was managing director at Prime Policy Group. … Shriya Annamaneni is now a comms associate at Moyer Strategies. She is a recent graduate of Georgetown University. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) (6-0) … ABC’s David Muir … Blackstone’s Wayne Berman … Holland & Knight’s Leon Fresco … Narrative’s Tory Newmyer … POLITICO’s Roger Jeannotte and Barbara Van Tine … Matt Sandgren of Innovative Policy … Amazon’s Erin Cohan … Council of State Governments’ Jay Nelson … Ira Magaziner … Johanny Adames of the Education Department … AARP’s John Hishta … Weston Loyd … Kelsey Suter of Drive Agency … Courtney Stamm … Syntracts’ Christopher Martin … Bob Jones … Charlotte Law … former FEMA Administrator Michael Brown … Laurie Moskowitz … Anshu Siripurapu … FEC Commissioner Shana Broussard … Catherine Hanaway of Husch Blackwell … DOD’s Robin Walker … Marta Richenburg of the DNC … Beau Yaccino of FTI Consulting Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association: PBMs are working every day on behalf of employers and taxpayers, helping patients and their families access high-quality, cost-effective prescription drug coverage. But Big Pharma is working to undermine PBM savings by removing the only real check on their otherwise limitless pricing power, and boost drug company profits at the expense of patients and employers.
In fact, Big Pharma-backed legislation targeting PBMs would boost drug company profits and increase health care costs for seniors — threatening Medicare Part D beneficiaries with a staggering $13 billion increase in premiums.
A world without PBMs is a world without competition in the drug marketplace — which would increase health care costs for patients, employers and taxpayers.
Stand up for savings and competition. Stop Big Pharma’s “delinking” agenda. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
