Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Multiple high-profile Republican lawmakers returning to Washington on Monday chastised former President Donald Trump over his dinner last week with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Their remarks are the latest round of rebukes after Trump met with the pair — in what he insisted was an inadvertent group meal — last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, news of which broke over the holiday and sparked outcry soon after Trump announced his third presidential campaign.

Fuentes has a history of racist, sexist and antisemitic comments and has been banned on all major social media platforms.

The dinner was attended by Fuentes, Ye — who recently lost major business deals over his own antisemitic remarks — and Florida Republican political operative Karen Giorno.

“It was wrong and inappropriate to have that meeting. White supremacy has no place in our nation’s culture. It’s antithetical to everything we stand for as Americans,” retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said Monday.

“I think it’s ridiculous he had that meeting. Just ridiculous. That’s all I’m going to say,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, added.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a frequent Trump detractor and former Republican presidential candidate himself, called the dinner “disgusting.”

“I think it’s been clear there’s no bottom to the degree to which President Trump will degrade himself and the nation,” Romney said.

Their comments marked some of the first by congressional Republicans, who were largely silent about the dinner over the holiday weekend but were faced with questions by reporters in the halls of Congress on Monday.

Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, the GOP leaders in the House and Senate, respectively, have not spoken publicly about the dinner. McCarthy is a legislative ally of Trump’s. McConnell has previously criticized Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection but declined to comment on the Mar-a-Lago meeting.

Trump has maintained that meeting with Fuentes was not intentional: He said in multiple statements that he only sought to meet with Ye and that the rapper brought Fuentes to the two-hour dinner without his knowledge. He also said he did not know who Fuentes was when Fuentes came to Mar-a-Lago.

Some Republican lawmakers on Monday declined to criticize Trump directly but said the meeting was still wrong and that it indicates Trump is not being served well by his aides.

“That’s just a bad idea on every level. I don’t know whose advising him on his staff, but I hope that whoever that person was got fired,” said Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota.

“I’m gonna take at face value that the president didn’t know who the guy was. I didn’t know who it was. Whoever allowed anyone with his background to get that close to the president should not have a job in the Trump team,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Others took a different view.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said, “I suppose he can have dinner with whomever he wants. I wouldn’t have had dinner with him.”

And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said “the meeting was bad” but accused the press of a “double standard” because he said that Democrats didn’t face similar coverage when associating with polarizing figures. Still, he said, “I think Trump should be talking about what he did as president and how he could fix the problems that America is living with, and any day he is not doing that is a bad day for him.”

Beyond Washington, Trump also faced criticism from his former vice president and potential 2024 primary opponent, Mike Pence.

“President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize,” Pence told NewsNation in an interview.

Still, Pence said, “I don’t believe Donald Trump is an antisemite. I don’t believe he’s a racist or a bigot.”

The dinner and Trump choosing not to directly denounce Fuentes, as the controversy has unfolded, also became fuel for criticism from Democrats.

“For a former president to sit down and have dinner with an antisemite is disgusting and dangerous,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Monday. “To give an antisemite even the smallest platform much less an audience over dinner is pure evil. Even assuming the former president didn’t realize Mr. Fuentes was coming to Mar-a-Lago, for him to refuse to condemn Fuentes and his bigoted words after the dinner is appalling and it is dangerous.”

The White House, too, has weighed in.

“We should all be condemning this, and we should be very clear, very clear and say it in really absolute clear terms,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday. “This is something that we condemn, and we will continue to speak out against.”

ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Monday criticized China’s coronavirus containment strategy and said people there have a “right to peacefully protest,” although its comments were notably restrained at a time it is seeking to strengthen relations with Beijing.

The comments follow the most significant demonstrations in China in decades as over the weekend, protesters in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere challenged police in the streets, with some even calling for China’s President Xi Jinping to resign.

“We’ve long said everyone has the right to peacefully protest, in the United States and around the world,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, who requested anonymity, said. “This includes in the PRC.”

The spokesperson used the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

The Biden administration has emphasized the need to manage the United States’ strategic relationship with China, which it this year labeled the United States’ “only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order.”

Biden has spoken with China’s Xi half a dozen times since taking office, most recently in person — for the first time since both became president — this month at a summit in Indonesia.

China’s continued strategy of locking down large parts of its cities and subjecting residents to stringent testing and restrictions stands in stark contrast to the approach to COVID in the United States and much of the rest of the world, which have largely returned to life as normal while living with the pandemic.

Since last winter’s omicron wave subsided, Biden has adopted a strategy that eschews large-scale lockdowns or mandatory restrictions on Americans. A significant portion of the American population is now vaccinated against the virus, and the country has increasingly prioritized its economic recovery.

In September said in an interview that the pandemic was “over.”

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, told ABC News’ This Week on Sunday that a better strategy would be to “build up immunity in the population by getting people vaccinated,” as the United States has done.

The spokesperson also said that it would be “very difficult” for China to be able to contain COVID using its current strategy.

“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for China to be able to contain this through their zero COVID strategy,” Jha said in an interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz. “I would recommend that they pursue the strategy of making sure everybody gets vaccinated, particularly their elderly. That I think is the path out of this virus. Lockdown and zero COVID is going to very difficult to sustain.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is poised to sign a memorandum boosting the U.S. government’s opposition to conflict-related sexual violence in an effort to further combat rape as a weapon of war.

Biden is expected to sign the memo, which will clarify that an act of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) may constitute a serious human rights abuse, on Monday, according to the White House.

The memo is intended to give CRSV an “equal consideration alongside other serious human rights abuses in developing designations under existing sanctions authorities,” the White House said.

It also directs the State and Treasury departments, as well as other federal agencies, to use additional tools to hold CRSV offenders accountable.

Biden is releasing the presidential memorandum in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s international ministerial conference on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, “at a time when CRSV persists with impunity around the world, including in Russian-occupied Ukraine and Ethiopia,” the White House said

A report released by the United Nations in October said that Russian troops have committed war crimes, including rape and sexual violence, against Ukrainian civilians.

“You only need to see a snapshot from what is happening in Ukraine to know how important this presidential memorandum can be in focusing on accountability for conflict related sexual violence,” a senior Biden administration official said on a call with reporters Sunday. “It will provide guidance and direction to facilitate targeting the perpetrators of these horrendous acts and bringing them to justice.”

The United Nations estimates that 10 to 20 CRSV cases go undocumented for each one reported in connection with a conflict.

A 2021 report by the U.N. Secretary-General found 3,293 U.N.-verified CRSV cases across 18 countries — 97% of which were targeted toward women and girls.

That number was about 800 more than what was verified by the U.N. in 2020.

The memorandum pledges an additional $400,000, on top of the $1.75 million annual contribution, toward the Office of the U.N. Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, as well as an additional $5.5 million over the next two years to help the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor investigate and document acts of CRSV.

The memo also aims to deliver services and support for survivors of gender-based violence in emergency and conflict settings, as well as increase access to justice, protection, and services to survivors of gender-based violence, according to the White House.

“Together with today’s Presidential Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, these initiatives signal President Biden’s ongoing commitment to confront gender-based violence — in all of its forms — around the world,” the White House said.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — First lady Jill Biden will unveil this year’s White House holiday theme and seasonal decor on Monday morning.

She will be joined by members and leadership of the National Guard along with their families, as part of her Joining Forces initiative to support and promote the sacrifices and needs of military families, according to the office of the first lady.

After previewing the holiday decorations, the first lady — who holds a doctorate in education — will join National Guard families and state adjutants generals for a roundtable discussion on education for military-connected children at 11:30 a.m. ET.

“As a fellow National Guard mother, Dr. Biden wanted to show appreciation for, and honor, the special role the National Guard plays in serving our country,” the office of the first lady said in a statement.

The first lady will then deliver remarks at 12:30 p.m. ET “to offer a holiday message of unity and hope and thank the volunteers from across the country who helped decorate the White House for the 2022 season,” according to her office.

Last year’s holiday theme was “Gifts from the Heart,” intended to honor those who have persevered through hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 volunteers decorated the White House with approximately 25 wreaths, 41 Christmas trees, 300 candles, 6,000 feet of ribbon, 10,000 ornaments and nearly 80,000 holiday lights, according to the office of the first lady.

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(DENVER) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Sunday that he is considering reforms to his state’s “red flag” law after this month’s mass shooting in Colorado Springs at Club Q, an LGBTQ venue.

The alleged shooter’s access to an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle has been thrust into the spotlight after it was revealed that the suspect, who is 22, was arrested last year and accused of threatening their mother with explosives.

Still, the state’s red flag law, which allows for family or law enforcement to petition a judge to revoke an individual’s access to firearms, was not used, Polis said.

“We’re certainly going to take a hard look at why [the] red flag law wasn’t used … what can be used to better publicize, make available, add different parties to make sure that it’s used when it should be used,” Polis said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The governor, a Democrat, defended the legislation, which some conservatives have criticized as ineffective and vulnerable to abuse by the government.

“That law was successfully used several 100 times. And I know that it’s prevented self-harm and violence in our state. And we need to make sure more people are aware of what it can do,” Polis added on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Among the changes being considered is expanding who can petition a judge under the law, Polis said.

“What I think we’re going to look at in Colorado is potentially expanding that, for instance, so [district attorneys] can also seek extreme risk protection orders,” Polis said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

He said that in last year’s case, involving the suspect’s mother, neither she nor the local sheriff pursued an order under the red flag law.

The suspect in the Nov. 19 shooting, which killed 5 people at the LGBTQ club and injured many others, legally purchased the rifle before the attack, authorities have said.

Patrons of the club tackled the suspected shooter before law enforcement arrived.

Appearing on “Face the Nation,” Polis said there had been some media reports that one of the suspect’s firearms was a so-called “ghost gun,” referring to privately made weapons that aren’t tracked by a serial number.

“All of these facts will emerge in the coming days and weeks. Obviously, right now our heart is with the victims, five people who lost their lives, their families, dozens of others injured and, of course, many traumatized,” Polis said.

The suspect is facing five counts of murder and five counts of bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, which is Colorado’s hate crime law. The suspect has not yet entered a plea.

The mass shooting has reignited calls for stricter gun laws, including President Joe Biden’s push for what he called an assault weapons ban, which faces an uphill climb in gaining the necessary support to pass through Congress.

Polis said Sunday that the response to the shooting needs to be “national,” noting fewer laws in neighboring states, and indicated he’s open to measures beyond gun legislation.

“Of course it’s about mental health. Of course it’s about gun policy. Of course it’s about anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. It’s about all these things,” he said on “Meet the Press.”

Asked directly on “Face the Nation” if he would back Biden’s latest call for a ban, Polis said there needed to be a wide-ranging discussion — on mental health, discrimination, red flag and ghost gun laws and more.

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(WASHINGTON) — A spokesman for President Joe Biden is sharply criticizing former President Donald Trump for having dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago club last week.

“Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America – including at Mar-A-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.

Trump met with Fuentes while hosting rapper and designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at his resort last Tuesday, ABC News previously reported.

Fuentes has a history of racist, sexist and antisemitic comments, including apparent skepticism about the Holocaust, and has been banned on all major social media platforms.

Tuesday’s dinner lasted about two hours and was attended by Fuentes, Ye — who recently lost major business deals over his own antisemitic remarks — and Florida Republican political operative Karen Giorno.

The White House’s denunciation of the Mar-a-Lago dinner adds to a growing chorus of critics, including some Republicans.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, an erstwhile Trump ally, told The New York Times it was “another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump, which, combined with his past poor judgments, make him an untenable general election candidate for the Republican Party in 2024.”

Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seemingly distanced himself from figures like Fuentes when he tweeted on Saturday that “anti-Semitism is a cancer. … We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.” (He didn’t reference Trump by name.)

And in a statement to The Washington Post, the Republican Jewish Coalition called on “all political leaders to reject their messages of hate and refuse to meet with” Ye and Fuentes.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, spoke even more bluntly.

“For Donald Trump to dine with notorious white supremacists and unrepentant bigots, I think at a minimum it’s clarifying. He is trying to make America hate again and running arguably the most unapologetic white nationalist presidential campaign we’ve ever seen,” Greenblatt said on CNN.

In a series of statements, Trump played down Fuentes’ involvement, insisting he didn’t know who Fuentes was before they met and that he was unaware Fuentes would be joining the meal.

“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump said in one statement on Friday.

In a subsequent statement, he said that Ye had asked for the meeting for “very much needed ‘advice'” and brought “3 people, two of which I didn’t know.”

Trump recently announced he is running for president in 2024. Ye, who launched a longshot third-party bid of his own in the 2020 race, has also claimed he is running in 2024.

A source at the dinner previously told ABC News that during the meeting, Ye asked Trump to be his vice president. The rapper has often voiced support for Trump and met with him in the Oval Office while Trump was president.

In a video released on Twitter, Ye said their dinner became heated when he and Trump discussed politics. He contended that Trump was “really impressed with Nick Fuentes.”

In his social media statements, Trump said he and Ye “got along great” and that Ye “expressed no anti-Semitism.”

Biden has refrained from commenting on the dinner but suggested he had strong feelings. He was asked about it while out shopping in Nantucket off the coast of Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon.

“You don’t want to hear what I think,” he replied.

ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway, Olivia Rubin and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on Sunday insisted that the incoming House Republican majority would continue to support funding and arming Ukraine in its war against Russia, downplaying critics inside the GOP’s conference who have vowed to oppose future aid packages. 

McCaul and Turner, the likely next chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees, respectively, said on ABC’s “This Week” that Ukraine could win if it gets adequate support from the West. 

They also backed House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s past statement that Congress shouldn’t provide a “blank check” and said Republicans planned to push for greater oversight and “accountability” over how American support is being used overseas.

“This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz cited objections to Ukraine aid from some conservatives — like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — and asked, “Are you really certain that Republicans will bring this to the floor?”

“I think the majorities on both sides of the aisle support this effort,” McCaul said. “I think everybody has a voice in Congress. And the fact is, we are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability. We’re not going to write a blank check.”

“Does that diminish our will to help the Ukraine people fight? No. But we’re going to do it in a responsible way,” McCaul said. Otherwise, he said, authoritarian countries like China and Iran could become emboldened by Russia’s success.

“The issue, obviously, is we don’t need to pass $40 billion, large Democrat bills that have been passed to send $8 billion to Ukraine,” Turner told Raddatz, who recently returned from a reporting trip in Ukraine.

Raddatz pushed back on Turner, noting that beyond the immediate funds for procurement, that whole aid package was focused on Ukraine including with long-term financial support for rebuilding. Both McCaul and Turner also voted for the $40 billion package in May. 

The lawmakers’ comments come ahead of what is expected to be a brutal winter in Ukraine, with Russia, some nine months after its invasion, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — limiting power and heat to major cities.

McCaul and Turner said that providing Ukraine with adequate air defense systems is a top priority, and McCaul contended the federal government had “slow-walked” some of its lethal support.

When Raddatz pressed McCaul on whether providing certain munitions could “incite Russia” after McCaul raised the possibility of extending Ukraine’s range into Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, McCaul said: “Crimea is not part of Russia under international law. So if they can hit into Crimea, I think that’s fair game.”

But, Turner said, simply handing over U.S. equipment might not be the answer given its sophistication and how long it could take to train and ultimately use.

“Our air defense systems are so complex, we need to make certain that we work with partners and pull together an air defense system that they can put together to defend Kyiv, to defend their infrastructure,” he said.

More broadly, McCaul and Turner said that starting in January, their committees will launch investigations into the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Republicans could also scrutinize Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ handling of the southern border and the controversial contents of a laptop that Republicans say was owned by Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son.

“One thing that’s going to be very, very positive about this Congress is we’re going to get back to the committees working again,” Turner said.

McCaul also expressed confidence that McCarthy will have the votes to become speaker in the next Congress despite public criticism from several hard-right lawmakers. 

McCarthy will need 218 votes on the House floor on Jan. 3 to be speaker. At least four Republicans in the likely 222-seat majority have vowed to oppose him — complicating his path to winning the gavel in the first round of voting. 

The entire House will continue voting for a speaker until a candidate wins a majority. Lawmakers could nominate another compromise candidate if McCarthy fails to secure enough support.

“Do you think he has the votes?” Raddatz asked.

“Kevin has worked harder than any other candidate for speaker I’ve seen. I think he’s got the majority of our conference,” McCaul said. “And the fact is, what’s the alternative here?”

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(PALM BEACH, FL) Former President Donald Trump hosted controversial figures, Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday night for dinner, a guest also at the meeting told ABC News.

Trump met with Ye, who recently lost major business deals over antisemitic comments, and Fuentes, along with Florida Republican political operative Karen Giorno, Giorno confirmed with ABC News. The dinner lasted just under two hours.

Fuentes is a white nationalist who has made racist, sexist and antisemitic comments and has been banned on all major social media platforms.

Trump posted about the meeting on his social media platform on Friday, claiming he didn’t know Ye would be bringing other guests, but did not mention Fuentes.

“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. “We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport.”

A source at the dinner told ABC News that Ye asked Trump to be his vice president during the dinner and that toward the end of the meal the former president “started bad-mouthing Kim Kardashian,” Ye’s ex-wife.

In a statement to ABC News, former President Trump said, “Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about.”

Trump’s dinner with Fuentes and Ye comes just weeks after he announced his 2024 presidential bid.

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(WASHINGTON) — The 2022 midterm cycle is not even done yet, with Georgia’s runoff next month leaving the U.S. Senate’s margin in question, and speculation over the 2024 presidential race is swallowing up media coverage. But already, Democrats and Republicans are positioning themselves for congressional runs in key races two years from now.

Democrats face a daunting Senate map in 2024, though a surprisingly strong midterm cycle that saw them lose the House by a smaller-than-expected margin has them optimistic about flipping it back.

Much of how the 2024 cycle plays out will be affected by the presidential race, including whether former President Donald Trump is the GOP nominee for a third time in a row and if President Joe Biden makes good on his intention to run for reelection. Still, early vulnerabilities for both parties in down-ballot races are beginning to come into sharper relief, with candidates starting to throw their hats into the rings.

Here’s how the early battles for congressional seats are shaping up.

Senate

For 2024, Democrats will find themselves largely on defense in the fight for the Senate, which they’ll control with either 50 or 51 seats depending on Georgia’s results.

Their only two possible offensive opportunities are seats in Florida and Texas — two Democratic long-sought “white whales” that had strong showings for the GOP this month. Meanwhile, they’re defending seats in three red states, Montana, Ohio and West Virginia, and several purple states, including Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — a stark imbalance that has even Democrats conceding how rough the map is.

“The plain math is difficult, puts Democrats almost purely on defense. I do think that even though there’s nothing easy about Democrats breaking through in either Texas or Florida, I do think Democrats are going to have to find a way to put one or both of those seats on the map, frankly,” said Democratic pollster Zac McCrary.

Already, Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., has said he’ll run for the Senate seat held by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has not said if he intends to run for reelection. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, has also said he would make a decision next year on whether he will run again.

Rounding out the three toughest holds, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has announced that he will run again. He could face a sprawling field of Republicans looking to take him on.

Democrats are eagerly awaiting announcements from Manchin and Tester, saying that their candidacies would make the difference between having a fighting chance of holding their seats and facing significant headwinds to hold serve in states Trump handily carried twice.

“There’s no bigger recruits for [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, D-N.Y., for the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] than to get Manchin and Tester to sign the dotted line,” McCrary said. “That’s an imperative … to keep those seats on the map.”

With Brown’s confirmation of another run, both parties are gearing up for a bare-knuckle brawl in Ohio.

Brown has proven to be a unique Democrat who can withstand the state’s jolt to the right, winning reelection in 2018 by nearly 7 points two years after Trump won it by 8 points.

Brown’s camp is projecting confidence, noting Brown’s continued electoral success in a tough state and broad name recognition after decades in public office, with adviser Justin Barasky telling ABC News Brown “is well positioned to win re-election in 2024 and continue waking up every day and doing everything he can to make life better for Ohio families.”

However, Republicans are feeling their oats there after the midterms, when GOP Gov. Mike DeWine won reelection by 25 points and J.D. Vance defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the Senate race by over 5 points even after Ryan ran a widely lauded campaign.

Already, Republicans are starting to test the waters, with state Sen. Matt Dolan, who lost the Senate primary this year, eyeing another bid. Other names being tossed around include former Senate candidate Bernie Moreno and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Brown is anticipated to put up a stiff fight, though experts project one of the toughest elections of his political career, particularly after winning in 2018 against a candidate not considered particularly strong.

“You never want to write Sherrod Brown off because he will outwork anybody, and he has been relentless in defining himself … around the concerns of working families, and that has proven to be one way, and really the only way, a Democrat can win Ohio,” said David Niven, a political scientist at the University of Cincinnati.

Still, “he’s obviously not going to get another freebie like that,” Niven said of Brown’s 2018 race.

Democrats are hopeful that they can be competitive in several of the more purple states given that candidates were able to win statewide races there this year despite being bogged down by Biden’s low approval ratings.

Meanwhile, Republicans are bullish, boasting that the Senate majority could easily be within reach given that Democrats will control a maximum of 51 seats heading into 2024.

“You got three Democrats running in states where Trump won in 2016 and 2020. Those ought to be three states where we can run a very strong candidate, have a great chance of a takeaway. And just the overall numbers, you got 21 Democrats in seats and only 10 Republicans,” said GOP strategist Bob Heckman. “The 2024 map is definitely a good map for Republicans.”

House

Democrats are much better situated in the House, where their surprisingly strong showing this month could see Republicans hold just a single-digit majority.

Already, candidates have started making moves. West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, a Republican, is running for Mooney’s House seat, outgoing GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell already filed paperwork to run for the New Mexico House seat she narrowly lost this year, and North Carolina Republican Bo Hines also filed paperwork to run for the swing seat he just missed out on.

Of the races that have been called thus far, over a dozen Republicans will represent districts that Biden won in 2020. And House Majority PAC, House Democrats’ top campaign super PAC, released a memo Tuesday outlining 19 seats it intends to target in two years.

“The path to retaking the Majority is clear as day. HMP will be prepared to take back the House in 2024, and Republicans should start planning to hand back the gavel,” the group wrote.

Many of Democrats top targets, though, are expected to be in New York, where there will be six Republicans holding seats Biden won in 2020.

New York Democrats are facing an internal reckoning over what led to the party’s underwhelming performance in House races, with debates raging over a bungled redistricting process, inadequate responses to GOP attacks on crime and more. But with the party expecting a boost in turnout in a presidential year, Democrats are boasting that they’ll prove that the incoming Republican lawmakers are merely renting the seats.

“I think there are five seats that conceivably could come back. Definitely three, and possibly five,” Westchester County Democratic Party Chairwoman Suzanne Berger said. If Democrats are able to flip five seats in 2024, that alone could make up the possible House margin.

Meanwhile, Republicans’ top targets will likely echo several of their main foils from this cycle, including Reps. Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania, Jared Golden in Maine, Marcy Kaptur in Ohio, Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and more.

Yet much of the low hanging fruit in the House for Republicans was picked this year and in 2022, leaving few Democrats representing districts Trump won in 2020.

Many swing-seat Democratic incumbents are now battle tested, with some of them fending off their first challenges as incumbents this month, while the new GOP members will be waging their first reelection bid, though Republicans are still cautiously optimistic they’ll be able to net some gains in the House in 2024.

“Hopefully the [Republican National Committee] and the congressional committee will both work closely with these candidates to raise enough money and to make sure that they’re ready for what’s going to be coming at them because the Democrats are never short on money in these kinds of seats,” Heckman said. “So, I’m concerned, but I think we can get the job done.”

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President Joe Biden reiterated his call to pursue a ban on assault weapons following the latest mass shooting at a Walmart in Virginia and said it’s “sick” that the U.S. continues to sell semiautomatic weapons.

“The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. It’s just sick. It has no social redeeming values. Zero. None. Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturer,” he said Thursday during a stop at a fire station in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

The chance of a ban actually making its way through Congress is all but impossible now that Republicans have control of the House of Representatives and the need for any legislation to get 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate. The president, however, said that will not stop him from trying.

“I’m going to try. I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons,” he said.

The remarks come after a string of mass shootings thrust the issue of gun reform back to the national fore.

The killing in Virginia and a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado have renewed calls by advocates for tighter gun laws, such as a ban on assault weapons like the AR-15.

Biden has been unable to cobble together the bipartisan support needed to get a bill to his desk.

Biden also made brief comments on negotiations on a contract deal between railroad companies and unions to help avoid a strike but said he couldn’t talk about what is holding up each side from reaching a deal.

“I have not directly engaged yet,” Biden said, though his team remains in touch with all the parties involved.

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