Axios Hill Leaders

November 05, 2026
Strap in, folks. Tonight's newsletter is 970 words, 3.5 minutes.
- 😭 Next GOP nightmare
- ‼️ Schumer's high-wire act
- 🤼 Epic power struggle
1 big thing: 😭 Next GOP nightmare
Republicans woke up "in shock" this morning after they got hit with the biggest midterms wave in 50 years. Within hours, it turned into rage and despair.
Why it matters: House Republicans are savaging their leaders and each other, while Senate Republicans are questioning what they can get done before Democrats take power next year.
- They'll have four days to grieve before going back to work in Washington.
🏛️ In the House, every GOP leader lost reelection, stepped aside or faces a challenger in next week's leadership elections.
- Within minutes this morning, Speaker Mike Johnson said he'll step aside, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said they'll run for minority leader, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) picked up a challenge from Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas).
- Not to be outdone, Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) picked up a challenge tonight from Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.). McClain says 35 members have already endorsed her.
- There's no love lost: "Please do us all a favor and step aside so new leadership can take a truly conservative direction," Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) posted on X today about House GOP "Leadership."
😭 In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune is on a glide path to retain his party leadership job on Tuesday. But he'll be leading a conference that's lost the wind in its sails.
- Just two weeks ago, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) vowed to work on a MAGA megabill to end all megabills if Republicans lost both chambers.
- The GOP's nightmare election scenario has given Democrats little reason to cooperate with Republican demands.
- Multiple Republican sources questioned whether they'll pass anything beyond a short-term CR to avoid a government shutdown in December.
The intrigue: Sources expect a bipartisan permitting-reform effort to move forward, but that's dependent on Democratic goodwill.
- Some conservatives will push for a Hail Mary reconciliation package or another swing at the SAVE Act voter-ID bill. But don't expect those to gain traction.
The bottom line: House GOP leaders could have a whale of a problem motivating the dozens of lawmakers who lost to come back for the lame duck.
— Kate Santaliz and Stef Kight
2. ‼️ Schumer's high-wire act
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer plans to use his new majority to confront President Trump when he wants to — and cooperate with him when he needs to.
Why it matters: It's a high-wire act made a little easier by a majority that could grow to 56 seats. It's made a lot easier by the absence of a clear challenger for the top job, though Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has called for an "open and honest discussion" about who should lead the Senate.
- Schumer, 75, is eager to demonstrate he has plenty of fight left.
Zoom in: At a late-morning press conference, an energized Schumer seemed to acknowledge the risk Democrats could squander their new majority by focusing more on confronting Trump than delivering for voters.
- "These voters did not give us the majority so we can do whatever we want. They entrusted us with the majority to do what they, the American people, want."
Zoom out: Schumer's success will depend on buy-in from his Democratic colleagues — including an ambitious class of 2028 presidential hopefuls — for his two-track approach.
- He'll also need to reach an understanding with Trump that aggressive congressional investigations into the president, his family and his Cabinet can be kept separate from the routine business of divided government.
The first test will come before a stopgap government funding measure expires Dec. 11. Schumer also wants to use Congress' power of the purse to prevent Trump from restarting military action in Iran.
- "We are going to end the war. We have some Republicans already who have joined us in ending the war," Schumer said.
— Hans Nichols
3. 🤼 Epic power struggle
House Democrats channeled anti-Trump fury into last night's landslide. Now comes the hard part: Figuring out what to do with their huge majority.
Why it matters: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called for "dramatic change" next year. But the Democrats' ideological factions have contradictory visions about what that looks like.
- "Last night was a rebuke of the status quo," progressive Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told us.
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a centrist, said it was a "gigantic night for the middle ground," and the mandate is far more modest.
The big picture: House Democrats are on track to win more than 250 seats.
- That blows up the plans of a cohort of incoming progressives known as the "Bloc" to demand leadership concessions.
- The left is hopefully eyeing the "Bernie Dogs": Populist candidates from working-class backgrounds who won red districts with support from both progressives and centrists.
- They are also taking a close look at the "wave babies": Candidates who won upset victories in districts not on the party's radar and whose politics are largely unknown on Capitol Hill.
What they're saying: Former Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said she is "100% down" for the items on Jeffries' 100-days agenda, but "I just don't think there's any way we can stop there. ... We have to pass a living wage bill, we have to pass universal child care."
- "Americans delivered a demand for bold change, and progressives are excited to deliver it," CPC Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) told us in an interview.
The other side: Rep. Adam Gray (D-Calif.), a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, told us, "The most extreme elements ... want to do messaging bills and yell and scream and point the finger."
- Jeffries ally Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) said the results were a "victory for common sense, not any extremist ideology."
— Andrew Solender
This newsletter was edited by Justin Green and copy edited by Kathie Bozanich.
Sign up for Axios Hill Leaders




