Elana Schor
Appearances
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
It's a very, very personal issue right now for several members of Congress because they're new and recent parents, particularly Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna and Congresswoman Brittany Pedersen, the leaders of this revolt on the floor. They said, hey, we think there should be an exception for new parents and not just mothers, fathers as well.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
You know, Brittany Pedersen, for instance, has just had a baby.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
And leadership said no. We want to draw a hard line against proxy voting. So Luna, the Republican, big MAGA voice from Florida, decides I'm going to start a discharge petition. Any member, if they feel like the party in charge isn't calling up a bill they care about, if they get the signatures of, in this case, 218, a majority of the House... It gets a vote on the floor, simple as that.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
In this case, Luna, a Republican, got this discharge petition where it needed to be, and leadership decided, okay, instead of giving you this vote, we're going to write into a procedural motion on other things, language shutting you down. And that was when Luna got allies on the Republican side to stand with every Democrat and defeat that procedural motion.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
Instead of negotiating with her, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent everyone home. And the reason for that is conservatives who oppose Luna, let's call them the House Freedom Caucus, even though it's more than that group, have basically said, we, if you give in to her, are going to also oppose you bringing legislation to the floor. So it's
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
It's one of those classic situations Mike Johnson has had since becoming speaker where he's caught between two factions. Given the size of his majority, he has no choice but to try to play hardball with one of them. If he gave in to Luna, he'd lose on the other end. And one subplot to this, Luna herself left the House Freedom Caucus this week in protest of its treatment of her.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
She was a member up until a few days ago. You know, Johnson has to decide if he wants to change course or keep basically choosing war with Luna. And until he does, it's going to be very hard to see him moving any legislation that's not quote unquote subject to a rule.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
I mean, look, did this do anything in terms of getting more votes to stop the Trump administration, which is their goal? No. But Cory Booker's job is head of communications for Senate Democratic leadership. Simply put, he is asked by his fellow Democrats to grab as much attention as possible. And boy, did he do it with this tactic.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
It's not lost on a lot of Democrats that Booker successfully broke a record held by Strom Thurmond, the man who famously filibustered the Civil Rights Act and is widely viewed as a racist by his modern peers. So it was sort of a symbolic and very important moment for a lot of Democrats to see a powerful black Democrat break that record.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
It's more of what people call a vibe shift than a substance shift. What Democrats were looking for was the sound and image of a fighter, right? I mean, in practice, they're going to do things the same way they've always done it, which is namely pick their spots. Mm-hmm.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
You know, I think it's important that we look at those special elections and what they mean and don't mean. On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race went for Democrats after Elon Musk. And Frankly, Trump's entire firmament poured a lot of attention into backing the Republican candidate.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
At the same time, two seats in Florida that tilted pretty red historically over the years went to Republicans, but by far smaller margins than they have historically in the past. Now, here's the difference. These are what we call special election electorates.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
Like, the group of voters coming out to these very peculiar races are different than the group of voters that come out in presidential elections. I saw one stat that really stunned me that said, you know, if the same electorate came out in November 2024 as did in these races, Harris would have won easily.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
And, you know, it's a difference in what Trump advisors called during the campaign low propensity voters. That's who they were targeting. People who didn't really care about congressional seats necessarily cared about Trump. A lot of Joe Rogan listeners, right? That's the overlap. Or what we call collectively low propensity voters, right?
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
They're the kind of folks who stay home when it comes to these special elections and Supreme Court races. But Democrats tend to grab more of the high propensity voters. So I think it's very easy to look at these special elections and say, whoa, Republicans are in trouble. They're headed for a fall the same way that happened in 2018 after the first two years of Trump. I think not so fast.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
It's more complicated. And while it's really tough to tell whether Republicans will be able to bring these low propensity type voters out in 2026, they certainly have a shot. And I think your listeners should keep paying attention to those trends in terms of who's coming out and casting votes in which races.
Apple News Today
Markets plummet, a House revolt, and other big Washington news
But 2026, unless he really means it about trying to run for a third term against the Constitution, will be the last time Trump is de facto on the ballot.