| | |  | BY DAVID SIDERS | Presented by LiveWire Electric Motorcycles | | 
President Donald Trump embraces Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake at a campaign rally. | Mario Tama/Getty Images | DRAIN THE LAKE — As one after another of Donald Trump’s favored candidates either lost or under-performed traditionalist Republicans in last week’s election, Trump world held out hope the former president might find some redemption in the West. Had Kari Lake won in Arizona, she would have given Trump something to point to when he makes his “special announcement” tonight — widely expected to be that he is running again for president in 2024. Instead, with the Arizona governor’s race called late Monday for Katie Hobbs, Lake — the closest approximation to Trump running anywhere this cycle — became proof of the limitations of his grievance politics. Unlike GOP gubernatorial candidates Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania or Dan Cox in Maryland, Lake was not, on the surface, a weak candidate. Rather, the former TV anchor and election denier was such a phenomenally gifted politician that observers of both parties had been speculating about her as a future candidate for president or vice president. Trump had been to the state to rally for her, and she was running slightly ahead of Hobbs in pre-election polls. Fervent supporters cheered her belittling of Hobbs and frequent sparring with the press. All that in a midterm election climate favoring Republicans. And she still lost. “The question must be asked, why did that happen?” said Stan Barnes, a former state lawmaker and Republican consultant in Arizona. “At its most specific, a majority of voters are rejecting candidates that want to keep dragging around the 2020 stolen election theory, and that’s where Kari Lake lost the election.” Which, of course, was terrible news — and worse timing — for Trump. For two years, Arizona had been the white-hot center of the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. It was in that state where a farcical “audit” of the presidential election drew election truthers on pilgrimages from across the country, and where it appeared possible that not only Lake, but a whole slate of election deniers, might rise to power. More than in any other state, democracy appeared to be at risk there. Instead, it held. On top of Lake’s defeat, state Rep. Mark Finchem, a celebrity in election conspiracy circles, lost his bid for secretary of state. Abe Hamadeh, a fellow election denier, is running narrowly behind in the race for state attorney general. Republicans lost a high-profile Senate race. Earlier today, Karrin Taylor Robson, the more traditionalist Republican defeated by Lake in the GOP primary, said she had “ seen enough ,” calling for Kelli Ward, the chair of the state Republican Party, to resign. Election denialism isn’t evaporating instantly in Arizona. On Twitter, Lake — in a self-own for the ages — wrote that “Arizonans know BS when they see it.” Finchem is crying foul, as is Trump. A not-so-small part of the GOP base — the electorate that matters in a presidential primary — may still go for that. “Maybe a lot of Republicans will wise up,” said Barrett Marson, a Republican political strategist in Arizona. However, he said, Arizona Republicans “have been fed a steady, fattening diet of election denialism for more than two years … So, it doesn’t go away overnight. It didn’t start overnight, necessarily, and it will not go away overnight.” But what Lake’s loss demonstrated more clearly than any other campaign this year was that there is a cost to holding onto that denialism. For the purposes of a general-election audience, it was a losing cause. “I think what happened in Arizona is going to reverberate nationally, because everyone can see that Kari Lake is all that,” Barnes said. “She is attractive, dynamic, energetic, articulate, better at the Trump style than Trump himself, and yet she cannot win Arizona, against a candidate who barely campaigned.” He said, “So, every consultant from New York to L.A. is saying to themselves, ‘OK, the 2020 election corruption stolen rhetoric is dead as a winning issue, if it ever was a winning issue. It’s dead.’” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at dsiders@politico.com or on Twitter at @davidsiders .
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A message from LiveWire Electric Motorcycles: Support American Electric Motorcycles. Learn more. | | | | | While final vote counts are still being tallied in some states, dozens of newly elected members of Congress are descending on Washington, attending new member initiations, touring the Capitol and getting a crash course in the functions of their new jobs after months of campaigning. At Nightly, we’ll also be conducting a crash course before they are sworn in on Jan. 3 — on rising stars to watch and other congressional issues and trends to follow.
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| WILL SHE STAY OR WILL SHE GO — In the wake of House Democrats’ surprisingly strong midterm performance, some are mulling another earth-shattering scenario: Speaker Nancy Pelosi could decide to stay after all , write Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu . That outcome is far from assured, and Democrats widely acknowledge that no one other than Pelosi herself can predict what she will do. Still, lawmakers across the caucus are openly asking the question after the GOP’s muted midterms left its leader, Kevin McCarthy, with a likely even thinner margin than the one Democrats have labored under for two years. Republicans are still expected to take the majority, but just barely. And the Democratic Party’s other top leaders, President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have both now publicly encouraged Pelosi to stay. Which leaves House Democrats in a mystifying stasis: With 15 days until their own leadership elections, they’re still waiting on an official call of the chamber — and a fateful decision from their leader of nearly 20 years. Beyond the white smoke that’s yet to materialize signaling a shakeup atop the caucus, Democrats were euphoric as they huddled in the Capitol this week. They delivered thunderous standing ovations to battle-tested incumbents who prevailed over pro-Trump candidates, like Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), while welcoming dozens of new faces. Pelosi was particularly elated as she decried “D.C. bedwetters” — including some in her own party — who predicted Democrats would lose big but “know nothing about our districts,” as she put it to members in a closed-door meeting Monday night. FIGHT CLUB — Florida Sen. Rick Scott announced a challenge to Mitch McConnell in a closed-door party lunch this afternoon, the first such opposition that the Senate GOP leader is facing in 15 years at the helm, writes Burgess Everett . The challenge emerged after Republicans’ disappointing midterm performance provoked a tremendous round of finger-pointing. Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and got nudged to mount opposition to McConnell by Trump, was at odds with the GOP leader over strategy and tactics for months before Election Day. McConnell says he already has the votes locked up to win a Wednesday leadership election, and Scott is not expected to garner enough support to come close to toppling the leader. But Scott is pressing forward anyway, as a band of conservatives pushes to delay leadership elections until all the Senate races are determined. NARROW PATH — McCarthy won the nomination for speaker over Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) 188-31, while House GOP campaigns chief Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) prevailed in a fierce race with multiple candidates for the No. 3 leadership post during Republican leadership elections, despite facing opposition over this month’s narrower-than-expected victories . Emmer defeated Republican Study Chair Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on the second ballot after edging Chief Deputy Whip Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) by one vote during the first round of secret balloting in the battle to be majority whip next Congress. It caps off months of bitter jockeying for the House GOP’s highest open leadership role in years, write Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney . As far as McCarthy goes, he found opposition from some of the Freedom Caucus but got support from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who argued that dragged-out divisions could mean a Democratic candidate for speaker could pull an upset. Still, while his victory was comfortable today, he could be in a difficult position to ascend to the speakership, with little to no room to lose Republican votes in an almost evenly divided House.
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| | GO INSIDE THE MILKEN INSTITUTE FUTURE OF HEALTH SUMMIT: POLITICO is featuring a special edition of our “Future Pulse” newsletter at the 2022 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit from Dec. 6 to 8. The newsletter takes readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of health industry leaders and innovators solving the biggest global health issues to ensure a healthier, more resilient future for all. SUBSCRIBE TODAY TO RECEIVE EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE . | | | | | | | — DeSantis hits back at Trump ahead of 2024 announcement: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis today brushed off the criticism of Trump , contrasting his own landslide reelection in last week’s midterm with the relatively poor electoral showings by Trump-backed candidates across the country. Trump, who once counted DeSantis among his staunchest allies, is expected to launch a 2024 presidential campaign at an event tonight at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. DeSantis is widely considered, along with Trump, to be among the frontrunners for the 2024 Republican nomination for president. “We’ve focused on results and leadership, and at the end of the day, I would just tell people to go check out the scoreboard from last Tuesday night,” DeSantis said at a news conference in response to a reporter’s question about Trump’s recent criticism of him. — Georgia lower court blocks state’s six-week abortion ban: A Georgia judge today overturned a state law prohibiting most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, blocking it from being enforced. The decision means that abortions will — for the first time since July — in most cases be allowed in Georgia, up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The ruling is, however, likely to be appealed and make its way to the Georgia Supreme Court. — New Jersey Democrats moving toward putting abortion on the 2023 ballot: New Jersey Democrats are expected to soon begin the process of asking voters to enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution , with the goal of putting the measure on the ballot next year, when all 120 state legislative seats will be up. While legislative leaders have not made a final decision, they’ll likely vote by the end of the year to send voters the ballot question, one of the amendment’s potential Assembly sponsors confirmed.
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| ROGUE MISSILES — Poland today boosted its military readiness and said it was considering consulting its NATO allies after reports that two Russian missiles landed on the territory of the country, killing two, writes Jan Cienski . The reports came from the Associated Press, quoting a U.S. official, and Polish news portal Onet, which reported that its sources in the Polish administration said the country had been hit by two Russian rockets. Immediately after a meeting of security ministers called by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish government spokesperson Piotr Müller said that two people had been killed in an explosion and that the cause was being investigated. He said Poland is considering whether to invoke Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty — which calls for consultations if a member country feels its territorial integrity is threatened — and that Polish President Andrzej Duda has been in contact with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. The Pentagon said it could not confirm whether Russian missiles had landed in Poland, and military analysts held open the prospect that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft munition could have been involved. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, however, dismissed the idea the weapons were Ukrainian as a “conspiracy theory” promoted by Russia.
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$48 billion The amount of money the White House is requesting from Congress in emergency cash this fall for Ukraine and to battle Covid-19 and other infectious diseases . The Biden administration sent a letter to Congress today outlining nearly a $38 billion request to help Ukraine continue fending off Russian attacks. The administration is also asking for $10 billion in emergency health funding, with more than $9 billion going toward Covid vaccine access, next-generation Covid vaccines, long Covid research and more. |
| | | GOT IT IN FOUR — Did you find today’s Wordle challenging? There’s finally someone to blame for the madness . The New York Times now has a dedicated Wordle editor. What does she do all day? And what’s the secret to keeping people engaged with the phenomenon? Kyle Orland reports for online outlet Ars Technica.
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President Joe Biden poses with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment meeting at the G-20 summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. World leaders are gathered as Biden attempts to unite a strong coalition against Russian aggression in Ukraine, along with other priorities. | AP Photo/Alex Brandon | Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here .
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