• Democrats chart course: High-profile Democrats — including some potential 2028 presidential contenders — will be speaking at a conference in Denver today following their party’s sweeping midterm wins. Pete Buttigieg, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Sens. Cory Booker and Chris Van Hollen are slated to give remarks.
• Underdog challenge: Van Hollen said yesterday he’ll challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader , launching an uphill battle to lead the chamber’s Democrats. While Schumer claimed he has the votes to win the position, Van Hollen has said he believes the race is in flux.
• More midterm results: In the latest evidence of the Democratic midterms landslide, CNN projects that Democrats will win both the Kansas and Alaska governor’s races. More than 75% of Americans living in the 50 states will have a Democratic governor once they are sworn in.
A US attorney in Texas sent a letter yesterday to Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin over her call for Democrats to investigate President Donald Trump’s orbit, asking the lawmaker to preserve records related to any planned probe.
The letter came as the Trump administration ramps up aggressive rhetoric and legal warnings against Democratic lawmakers, who have signaled they will launch aggressive investigations into Trump and his circle once they take over Congress.
Last month, Slotkin said at an event, “You need to pick those signature cases and go hard on accountability, not just Trump. … I want to look at these signature cases and not just focus on the president, but on the people who enabled him.”
He added: “In other words, your ‘oversight’ plans seem to have no legitimate legislative purpose and may therefore be unlawful.”
Earlier this week, Reitz sent a similar letter to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, accusing him of threatening “citizens for associating themselves with the President and other public officials.”
A group of potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates is in Denver to discuss the party’s future, in one of the first major gatherings following the midterms.
Attendees will include former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, as well as Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — who is poised to become speaker in January — and Rep. Ro Khanna of California are on the lineup.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who is launching a challenge to Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, is also scheduled to speak.
The group of speakers also includes Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.
The “What’s Next” summit, which began yesterday, is being hosted by Majority Democrats, an organization that launched last year to help Democrats win in more places.
In staging the event less than two weeks after the midterms, the group is looking to move quickly to outline the lessons learned from the election that could be instructive going forward, including in the next White House race.
Organizers chose Denver partly because it is one of the cities under consideration to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
CNN’s Adrienne Vogt contributed to this post.
Chris Van Hollen announced he’s taking on fellow Democrat Chuck Schumer for the role of Senate majority leader and has voiced interest in a 2028 presidential run. CNN explains where Senator Van Hollen stands on international affairs.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced Thursday he would challenge New York Sen. Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, launching an uphill battle to lead the chamber’s Democrats after their sweeping victory in the midterms .
“This is not about any one individual, but it is about answering the call of the American people,” Van Hollen said in an MS NOW interview, calling his candidacy a response to the “huge outburst of democracy” in the midterms.
“The call was really to reject the status quo and to reject business as usual,” he added. “And to do that, I think we need new leadership.”
The closed-ballot leadership election is scheduled for December 1. Several returning Senate Democrats — and most incoming freshmen — have declined to publicly back Schumer for the job , though Schumer needs just majority support from his caucus to win.
Watch more on his background in the video above.
CNN projected that former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins will win Alaska’s governor race, becoming the first Democrat elected to lead the state in two decades.
CNN also projected that Democrat Cindy Holscher will defeat Republican Ty Masterson in the Kansas governor’s race.
After a blue wave swept the midterms, roughly 75% of Americans living in the 50 states will have a Democratic governor after the winners are sworn in.
