WASHINGTON — If it’s Wednesday ... Donald Trump announces another presidential bid, making false claims and declaring himself a “victim.” ... Republicans are one seat away from House majority, needing to win one of 10 uncalled races, while Democrats need to win all 10. ... U.S. and European officials say a Ukrainian air defense system was involved in the deadly blast in Poland. ... Republican Alex Mooney jumps into 2024 West Virginia Senate race. ... And the Artemis rocket blasts off to the moon.
But first: Another Georgia Senate runoff contest, another round of GOP infighting and chaos.
Two years after Donald Trump’s recriminations and false claims about his 2020 election loss in Georgia helped dampen GOP turnout in those twin Georgia runoffs that gave Democrats Senate control, Republicans are once again divided ahead of next month’s Warnock vs. Walker runoff:
Sen. Rick Scott is challenging Mitch McConnell for Senate GOP leader (and hardly promising a new direction for Trump-weary Republicans).
McConnell — in a not-so subtle way — is blaming Trump and his allies for the GOP’s midterm losses (“We underperformed among independents and moderate because their impression of many of the people in our party in leadership roles is that they’re involved in chaos, negativity, excessive attacks,” he said on Tuesday).
And Trump is continuing to claim, as he did in his announcement last night, that he received more votes than any other president running for re-election (he’s just leaving out that his opponent got 7 million more votes than he did).
Here’s the thing: McConnell had the ability to prevent last night’s Trump announcement from happening.
Had he — along with a handful of other GOP senators — voted to convict to Trump in his impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the former president most likely would have been barred from running for office again.
Instead, McConnell and others voted to acquit Trump — to keep the party united ahead of the midterms, to put the former president’s fate in the hands of the criminal justice system rather than the U.S. Senate’s.
Two years later, however, the GOP remains divided; the criminal justice system continues to move slowly; and Donald Trump just announced another presidential run.
And, for the history books, here were the leads from major news outlets:
- The New York Times: “Donald J. Trump, whose historically divisive presidency shook the pillars of the country’s democratic institutions, on Tuesday night declared his intention to seek the White House again in 2024 …”
- The Washington Post: “Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president who refused to concede defeat and inspired a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election culminating in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, officially declared on Tuesday night that he is running to retake the White House in 2024.”
- The AP: “Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday launched his third campaign for the White House just one week after a disappointing midterm showing for Republicans, forcing the party to again decide whether to embrace a candidate whose refusal to accept defeat in 2020 sparked an insurrection and pushed American democracy to the brink.”
Tweet of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … 28
That’s how many of the 29 Trump-backed candidates who lost races deemed competitive by the NBC News Political Unit echoed the former president’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen. That includes several high-profile candidates who lost races for Senate and governor in battleground states.
Out of all the races projected by the NBC News Decision Desk, 42 Trump-endorsed candidates won competitive races.
During his speech Tuesday, Trump touted his overwhelming winning percentage among 2022 endorsed candidates. But that number includes a sizable amount who won in races that weren’t deemed competitive, based on the political dynamics and ad spending there, and many incumbents, who are often favored to win their races.
Read more about Trump’s endorsement record on the Meet the Press Blog.
Other numbers to know:
31: The number of Republican House members who voted against California Rep. Kevin McCarthy in leadership elections Tuesday. McCarthy won the election with 188 votes and is the party’s nominee for speaker, but he’ll need to win 218 votes on the House floor.
77: How old West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin will be on Election Day 2024. Manchin hasn’t announced whether he will run again, but Republican Rep. Alex Mooney announced Tuesday he will run against him.
50.4%: The share of the vote that the “no” side of the Arizona ballot proposition about increasing voter ID requirement received when the NBC News Decision Desk projected it would win out.
$48 billion: How much money the White House is asking Congress to appropriate for Covid and Ukraine aid.
8 billion: The mark that the world population eclipsed Tuesday.
316: The seven-day average of daily Covid deaths as of Nov. 14, down from 571 at the end of August.
27.9%: The decrease in the average number of Covid hospitalizations since Aug. 28.
Midterm roundup: GOP gets closer and closer to House majority
Since yesterday, the NBC News Decision Desk called California-45 and California-41 for Republicans, and California-21 and California-09 for the Democrats. Now, Republicans just need to win one of the 10 uncalled races to clinch the majority, which will be a far narrower one than many on the right had hoped.
Here’s an updated look at what House races are left to be called as both sides sweat it out waiting to see who wins the House majority (guided by the pre-election ratings from The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter):
Toss ups:
CA-13: An open seat race with Republican John Duarte vs. Democrat Adam Gray.
CA-22: GOP Rep. David Valadao vs. Democrat Rudy Salas.
CA-27: GOP Rep. Mike Garcia vs. Democrat Christy Smith.
CA-47: Democratic Rep. Katie Porter vs. Republican Scott Baugh.
CA-49: Democratic Rep. Mike Levin vs. Republican Bryan Maryott.
ME-2: Democratic Rep. Jared Golden vs. Republican Bruce Poliquin.
Other competitive races:
AK-AL: Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola vs. Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich and Libertarian Chris Bye.
CA-3: An open seat with Republican Kevin Kiley vs. Democrat Kermit Jones.
A surprisingly close race:
CO-3: GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert vs. Democrat Adam Frisch.
Safe seats:
CA-34: The Decision Desk hasn’t yet projected this seat President Biden won by 64 as ballots continue to be counted. But this race features two Democrats, Rep. Jimmy Gomez and David Kim, thanks to the state’s Top 2 primary system, so it will remain in Democratic hands.
Runoff watch: NRSC vs. SLF fight spills over to Georgia
GOP infighting has spilled over to the Georgia Senate runoff, with advisors for the National Republican Senatorial Committee clashing with the leaders of a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (which comes as NRSC Chairman Rick Scott is challenging McConnell for GOP leader).
NBC News’ Marc Caputo reported yesterday that a Scott adviser called out the super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, for not yet spending in the Georgia runoff. But later on Tuesday, the group announced it is investing $14.2 million in television, radio, and digital ads in the race, in addition to a $2 million field investment.
SLF’s president Steven Law responded to the criticism on Twitter, writing, “don’t worry little buddy—we’re used to covering for you.” Law also called out the NRSC for keeping most of the funds from solicitations about the runoff.
NRSC spokesman Chris Hartline accused Law of tweeting “without actually getting the facts.” Caputo reported that Walker’s campaign, which criticized such fundraising tactics, said the NRSC’s fundraising “differs from the others because the committee has pledged to be all in for Walker.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock placed an additional $2.7 ad buy, per AdImpact, including a broadcast buy that extends until Dec. 3.
Warnock’s campaign also teamed up with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia in filing a lawsuit to allow early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
ICYMI: What else is happening in the world
Polish President Andrzej Duda said a missile that killed two in Poland was likely an accident caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.
Adam Laxalt, the Republican nominee in Nevada’s Senate race who lead Trump’s effort to challenge the 2020 election results in the state, conceded to Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto on Tuesday.
Congressional Democrats are open to crafting legislation in the lame duck session to address the decade-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
A judge in Georgia overturned the state’s six-week abortion ban, calling parts of the law “unconstitutional.”
