The Republican leadership fights are over. For Democrats, the pain has only just begun.

🪑 Why it matters: All the talk about changing party leadership is empty if no one steps up to run.

• Senate Republicans demanded more time and deeper conversations about their leadership, but no one stepped forward to challenge John Thune, who won by acclamation.
• Democrats are demanding their own conversations about the party's future and the leadership of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Neither has a challenger.

‼️ The intrigue: Where there was a contested leadership fight, the challenger won.

• Rep. Jim Jordan, the Freedom Caucus founding member who spent years tormenting Republican leaders, will now lead the battered House GOP after defeating 12-year leadership veteran Rep. Steve Scalise by 33 votes.
• Jordan is the kind of fighter House Republicans want to take on Democrats as they enter the minority, lawmakers told us today.
• "We're gearing up for war. And you're talking to a guy who's known as a hammer. You know we need someone who can punch hard, and I think that he'll do that," Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) told us.

🤺 Zoom in: No such fighter has emerged to challenge Democratic leaders from within their ranks, and Schumer said he is "confident I will be elected majority leader."

• The closest thing to a challenge is Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who's listening to calls to run for Democratic leader while also considering a presidential campaign. It's hard to do both.
• Meanwhile, opposition to Schumer is building: "[T]he time is now for change," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today. He appeared with Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who said she's not "actively seeking the job" but demanded a plan for change.

🏛️ Over in the House, Jeffries is dismissive of the idea that anyone would challenge him after the midterms gave him a massive majority.

• "You think I don't have the vote nailed down? I guess we'll find out next Wednesday," he told reporters yesterday.
• Some of his new members are signaling that they're not afraid to defy their new leaders. Rep.-elect Don Leonard (D-Ohio) said it "aches" his heart to potentially oppose the first Black speaker, "but Rome is burning." (See item No. 2 for more).
• But other new members are on his side, like Reps.-elect Marni von Wilpert (D-Calif.), Denise Powell (D-Neb.) and Cait Conley (D-N.Y.).

🤝 Jeffries also has high-profile progressive incumbents on his side, such as Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

• "There is one candidate in this race, Hakeem Jeffries, and I think that everyone is far more concerned about what that leadership means, what is it promising?" Ocasio-Cortez told reporters today.

Between the lines: Thune and Jordan don't have much of a relationship; Thune had left the House for the Senate two years before Jordan arrived.

What's next: Senators say they plan to be in the Capitol working on Veterans Day.

• Thune committed to working more days during the lame-duck session to ensure they leave no judge appointments behind, senators said.

— Stef Kight, Kate Santaliz and Andrew Solender

The incoming House Democratic freshman class is already threatening to defy party leaders in ways most of their incumbent colleagues wouldn't dare.

Why it matters: House leaders may have to learn to live with this dynamic as they integrate a massive group of new members swept into office on a wave of populist, anti-establishment anger.

• "My class is huge not because of ... the Democratic Party and its brand but despite it," Leonard said. "Many of us are outsiders who didn't come up through the machine, don't buy into the conventions."
• Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told us: "Any members that are new and have just run their elections are going to be very close to where the voters are, and we know the voters are very upset."

State of play: Most House Democrats expect Jeffries to be elected speaker, and he has deep support from returning lawmakers.

• It gets more spotty when gauging his backing among incoming freshmen, some of whom have openly declined to commit to supporting his leadership.
• That includes members of the informal progressive "Bloc": Reps.-elect Darializa Avila Chevalier (D-N.Y.), Melat Kiros (D-Colo.), Claire Valdez (D-N.Y.), Adam Hamawy (D-N.J.) and Chris Rabb (D-Pa.).

The list also includes some moderates in districts President Trump carried by double digits in 2024.

• Said Rep.-elect Teresa Benitez-Thompson (D-Nev.), a member of the center-left New Democrat Coalition: "I just won a district that went for Trump two years ago by 14%. … I've got to turn around and show that we're making change."
• "Until I've had an opportunity to chat, until I've had an opportunity to see who's out there, I'm not making any decisions," said Rep.-elect Jake Johnson (D-Minn.), a member of both the New Dems and the centrist Blue Dogs.

Zoom in: Several members, such as Leonard and Rep.-elect Richard Ojeda (D-N.C.), have said they want Jeffries to commit to a ban on corporate PACs as a prerequisite for voting for him.

• "We need a 28th Amendment in the year 2028 or before to shut down Elon Musk and corporate money and Israeli lobby money, for that matter," Leonard said.

Share this story

— Andrew Solender