What's On Tap This Week

Tuesday, November 17

Senate president pro tempore Grassley tests positive for COVID-19, misses first roll call vote in 27 years

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced Nov. 17 he had tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier in the day, Grassley had said he would be self-quarantining to await his test results after coming into contact with someone who was infected with the virus.
- Grassley, who was first elected to the Senate in 1980, missed his first roll call vote in 27 years.
Other federal officials who tested positive over the last week include Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), who announced they had tested positive on Nov. 16, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Co.), who announced his positive result on Nov. 17, and Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Co.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wa.), who announced they had tested positive on Nov. 18. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fl.) announced his positive result on Nov. 20.

Biden announces appointment of nine senior White House staff members

On Nov. 17, former Vice President Joe Biden (D) announced nine appointees who will serve as White House senior staff in his administration:
- Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign manager, will be deputy chief of staff. O’Malley Dillon is a former executive director of the Democratic National Committee and a founding partner of the Democratic consulting firm Precious Strategies. She led Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 presidential campaign before joining Biden’s.
- Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) will leave Congress to work as a senior adviser focused on public engagement. He will conduct outreach to grassroots organizations, public interest and advocacy groups, the business community, and climate change activists. Richmond was a national co-chair of Biden’s presidential campaign. Richmond’s congressional district, Louisiana’s 2nd, is rated Solid Democratic. Vacancies are filled by special elections.
- Steve Ricchetti, a longtime Biden aide, will serve as counselor to the president—a role currently held by Hope Hicks and Derek Lyons in the Trump administration. Ricchetti worked for Biden during the Obama administration, serving as his chief of staff in 2013.
- Anthony Bernal will be senior advisor to Dr. Jill Biden. Bernal was a deputy campaign manager for the Biden presidential campaign and Jill Biden’s chief of staff. He has worked with the Bidens for more than a decade, including as director of scheduling and trip director for Jill Biden during the Obama administration.
- Mike Donilon, chief strategist for the Biden presidential campaign, will be senior advisor to the president. Prior to joining the campaign, Donilon was the managing director of the Biden Institute. He has worked on six presidential campaigns.
- Dana Remus will serve as White House counsel. Remus was general counsel for the Biden presidential campaign. She previously worked as general counsel for the Obama Foundation. She was also the deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel of ethics during the Obama administration. She clerked for Republican-nominated Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
- Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon will be chief of staff to Jill Biden. She served as the U.S. ambassador to Uruguay and deputy assistant secretary of state during the Obama administration. She is a partner at Winston & Strawn and previously worked on the faculty of Columbia Law School and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
- Julie Chavez Rodriguez will work as director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. She was a deputy campaign manager for the Biden presidential campaign. She previously worked on the Harris presidential campaign as the national political director and traveling chief of staff. In the Obama administration, Chavez Rodriguez was a special assistant to the president and senior deputy director of public engagement.
- Annie Tomasini, Biden’s traveling chief of staff, will be director of Oval Office Operations. She has worked for Biden for over a decade, including as his deputy press secretary during the Obama administration and as press secretary when Biden was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Rep. Cedric Richmond to resign from Congress, will trigger first congressional special election of 2021

After President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced Nov. 17 that U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) would become Senior Adviser to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Richmond said he would resign from his district in the House of Representatives.
Richmond was first elected to the House in 2010 and was re-elected Nov. 3, receiving 64% of the vote in Louisiana's majority-vote system. Richmond chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from November 2016 to December 2018. Before joining Congress, Richmond was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 2000 to 2011.
Vacancies in the House of Representatives are filled by special election, and Richmond’s resignation will trigger the first special election of the 117th Congress. Richmond did not say when his resignation would become official. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said, “I will consult with Congressman Richmond about the timing of his resignation from Congress and with the Secretary of State and other leaders in his district about the best time for a special election to fill his seat when it is vacant.” Although the special election can be set on any date, Louisiana holds municipal primary elections on March 22, 2021, and municipal general elections on April 24, 2021.
The final partisan composition of the House of Representatives after the Nov. 3 elections has not been determined. A consensus of five media outlets have called enough races to confirm that Democrats will retain their majority.
In 2017, four U.S. House members—Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), Tom Price (R-Ga.), and Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.)—resigned to take positions in President Trump’s administration. In 2009, four U.S. House members—Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), John McHugh (R-N.Y.), Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), and Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.)—resigned to take positions in President Barack Obama's (D) administration. The party of the outgoing representative won seven of the eight special elections triggered by those resignations. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) won a special election in November 2009 for McHugh’s seat.

Wednesday, November 18

U.S. Senate confirms five to federal judgeships

The U.S. Senate confirmed five nominees to federal judgeships—four to federal district court seats and one to the U.S. Court of International Trade. The 94 U.S. District Courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal courts. The U.S. Court of International Trade is an Article III federal court that only hears cases involving particular international trade and customs law questions.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed 227 of President Trump’s Article III judicial nominees—three Supreme Court justices, 53 appellate court judges, 168 district court judges, and three U.S. Court of International Trade judges—since January 2017.
The nominees are:
- Benjamin Beaton, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky by a 52-44 vote. After he receives his federal judicial commission and takes his judicial oath, the five-member court will have two Democrat-appointed judges, three Republican-appointed judges, and no vacancies. Beaton will join two other judges appointed by President Trump.
- Toby Crouse, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas by a 50-43 vote. After he receives his federal judicial commission and takes his judicial oath, the six-member court will have one Democrat-appointed judge, five Republican-appointed judges, and no vacancies. Crouse will join two other judges appointed by President Trump.
- Kristi Haskins Johnson, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi by a 53-43 vote. After she receives her federal judicial commission and takes her judicial oath, the six-member court will have one Democrat-appointed judge, four Republican-appointed judges, and one vacancy. Johnson will be the first judge appointed by President Trump to join the court.
- Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida by a 49-41 vote. After she receives her federal judicial commission and takes her judicial oath, the 15-member court will have six Democrat-appointed judges, nine Republican-appointed judges, and no vacancies. Mizelle will join four other judges appointed by President Trump.
- Stephen Vaden, confirmed to the U.S. Court of International Trade by a 49-43 vote. After he receives his federal judicial commission and takes his judicial oath, the nine-member court will have four Democrat-appointed judges, four Republican-appointed judges, and one vacancy. Vaden will join two other judges appointed by President Trump.

U.S. House of Representatives elects leaders for 117th Congress

Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives held elections for leadership positions in the 117th Congress, which convenes on January 3, 2021. The speaker of the House, who presides over sessions of the chamber and is second in the line of presidential succession, is elected on the first day the new Congress convenes. Other leadership positions are elected in meetings prior to the start of a new Congress.
House Democrats held their leadership elections remotely on November 18. Current Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was selected as the Democratic nominee for speaker of the House. She was unopposed. Pelosi was elected speaker of the House on January 3, 2019. She previously served as House speaker from 2007 to 2010 and became House minority leader after Democrats lost control of the House in the 2010 elections.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was re-elected as majority leader, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) was re-elected as majority whip, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) was re-elected as Democratic Caucus chairman. All three were unopposed. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) defeated Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) 135-92 for the role of assistant speaker, the fourth-ranking position in the House. In the 116th Congress, the position was held by Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who was elected to the U.S. Senate.
House Republicans held leadership elections on November 17. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was re-elected as minority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) was re-elected as minority whip, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was re-elected as Republican Conference chairman, and Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) was re-elected as Republican Policy Committee chairman. All were unopposed.
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) was re-elected as National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) chair. The election for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chair will be held the week of November 30. Reps. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) announced they would run for the position after Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) said she would not run again.

Thursday, November 19

Georgia hand-count audit confirms Biden's victory in state

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) announced the results Nov. 19 of the state's hand-count audit, which confirmed former Vice President Joe Biden's (D) victory over Donald Trump (R). The audit revealed a 0.1053 percent discrepancy in the statewide vote total, and a 0.0099 percent variation in the margin of victory, between the hand count and the initial machine count. The audit uncovered approximately 5,000 ballots that were not tallied during the initial machine count, which election officials attributed to human error. This resulted in a net gain of 1,272 votes for Trump, reducing Biden's margin of victory to 12,284 votes.
- Because the margin of victory is less than 0.5 percent, the Trump campaign could request a machine recount. The deadline for requesting a machine recount is Nov. 24.
- Also, on Nov. 19, the Trump campaign's requested recount in Wisconsin's Dane and Milwaukee counties got underway. The recount must be completed by Dec. 1.
- To date, Ballotpedia has tracked 17 lawsuits across five states that dispute election outcomes and directly involve the Trump campaign. For more information, click here.

Friday, November 20

Biden projected to win 306 Electoral College votes, Trump 232

Calls were made in the presidential election this week in the last two states where the outcome had not yet been determined as of Nov. 13—Georgia and North Carolina. President Donald Trump (R) was projected as the winner of North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes Nov. 14 and Joe Biden (D) was projected to win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes Nov. 19. Biden’s total puts him over the threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Should these results remain as they currently stand, Biden will win 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
A consensus of five media outlets determined Nov. 17 that both U.S. Senate races in Georgia will require runoff elections on Jan. 5, 2021. Incumbent David Perdue (R) and Jon Ossoff (D) are the two candidates in the runoff in the state's regular Senate election for a full six-year term. Incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R) and Raphael Warnock are running in the runoff election for the remaining two years of the six-year term that Johnny Isakson (R) was elected to in 2016. Gov. Brian Kemp (R) appointed Loeffler in January.
- Control of the Senate will be determined by these runoffs. Based on results called so far, the 117th Congress will have 50 Republican senators, 46 Democratic senators, and two independent senators that caucus with the Democrats.
Three of the 15 U.S. House races that were too close to call in our last update had winners projected this week. Among those races was the election for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, in which Burgess Owens (R) defeated incumbent Ben McAdams (D) by a margin of 0.57 percentage points, the narrowest margin of victory among any callable U.S. House race. McAdams was elected in 2018 when he defeated then-incumbent Mia Love (R) by a margin of 0.26 percentage points.
As of Nov. 20, Democrats have won at least 219 seats and Republicans have won at least 203 seats. Heading into the election, Democrats had 232 seats to Republicans’ 197. Two hundred and eighteen seats are required for a majority in the House.

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November 21, 2020

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