A Big Week for Angst

Today’s notice: How midterm operatives are gaming out the midterms. Cory Booker’s (2028?) tour. A close look at Alina Habba’s last few months. And: veterans of the Hill on political violence.

THE LATEST

Is this the week the shutdown ends? The Senate left town last week with Utah Sen. John Curtis calling on the House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring back the House.

Johnson on Fox News Sunday did not sound ready to call Republicans back to Washington. In defending his decision to not swear in Adelita Grijalva, he said that the House is simply “not engaging in regular business right now.”

As for Donald Trump, his message on the shutdown via Truth Social appeared to be directed at Senate Majority Leader John Thune: “END THE FILIBUSTER!!!” — an idea Senate Republicans pretty soundly rejected last week.

No matter what happens this week between the shutdown and Election Day, we are entering 12 months of pure angst for both parties ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Democrats saw a good national poll Sunday from NBC News showing Trump’s numbers down since March and Democrats eight points up in the fight for the House.

But…“I don’t think we’re starting in as good of a place as we did in 2018,” former Rep. Conor Lamb told NOTUS’ Alex Roarty. Why? Democrats haven’t been so enthusiastic about their elected officials. And, of course, redistricting.

Republicans have their own dilemma. “[O]ur approach will be to adopt the methods that worked for the President’s campaign to turn out the exact same voters that we did get,” Brendan Jaspers, NRSC political director, told Alex.

But (x2) … The Trump coalition is not as midterm-friendly as the Democrats’ electorate (and distancing from Trump is not an option for nearly all of Republicans) and the economy remains a real wildcard.

Open tabs: Wright: Nuclear tests won’t include explosions (AP); Obama campaigns in New Jersey, Virginia (WaPo); Trump admin says War Powers don’t apply to cartel strikes (WSJ); Nigerian leaders caught off guard by Trump’s threats (Semafor)

From the White House

SNAP day: The Trump administration was ordered to present a plan by noon today to the federal judge who ordered that benefit payments continue during the shutdown. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding,” the president posted Friday.

Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump offered little insight into his plans for SNAP. Did your attorneys get back to you? a reporter asked.

“Well, it’s a much easier situation than that,” Trump said. “If [Democrats] vote to open up the country, to open up immediately, we don’t even have to think about that.”

The focus remains on politics. Trump also posted Chuck Schumer’s office line and urged SNAP beneficiaries to “call the Senate Democrats.”

From the campaign trail

First on NOTUS: Booker’s whistlestop. Who cares about 2026, when you can talk about 2028? South Carolina (cough, 2028, cough) is one of three southern states Sen. Cory Booker will visit this month, starting soon after tomorrow’s election, Alex Roarty reports.

His southern tour will cover Alabama and Georgia. Booker’s team says the trip will highlight the importance of confronting the “moral moment” facing Americans. The 2020 presidential candidate is also set to visit New Hampshire this month (cough).

Pennsylvania’s downballot money man: “For something that’s going on in a state, this is an incredibly large amount. It’s made him a very big player in what’s going on in Pennsylvania.” That’s OpenSecrets’ Brendan Glavin on investment fund cofounder and Pennsylvania’s richest man Jeff Yass, who spends big for Republicans on local issues.

Democrats are being forced to spend more where they typically wouldn’t, with the next big test being the Supreme Court retention elections tomorrow, NOTUS’ Avani Kalra reports.

From the District of New Jersey

Life with Alina. A NOTUS review of more than 140 criminal cases filed in recent months by the U.S. Attorney’s office led by Alina Habba found around 39 indictments that could be contested. Why? Because Habba signed them after July 1, the point at which a judge deemed she acted “without lawful authority.”

Someone else’s name also appears on some of these indictments: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“This is all such wackadoodle, unprecedented territory. I’d be surprised if there’s an answer in case law as to whether the courts would accept it,” Rutgers University law professor David Noll told NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery.

THE BIG ONE

Veteran lawmakers reflect. “There was never a sense that you had to look over your shoulder,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro told NOTUS of when she first ran for Congress in 1990.

“You weren’t worried about doing town hall meetings,” Rep. Tom Cole said of 2002, when he first ran.

It’s not true now. “It’s an unfortunate development that we’ve had to adjust our quality of life and security protocols around,” Rep. Sanford Bishop, in Congress since 1993, told NOTUS’ Em Luetkemeyer of the rise in political violence.

When did things change? Depends who you ask. Rep. Nancy Pelosi said 9/11. Others said Jan. 6, or the general erosion of bipartisanship over recent decades. Rep. Steny Hoyer blamed Trump’s rhetoric.

One thing everyone agrees on: “The biggest change since I’ve been in politics is the internet and the way it can harm people,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, serving on Capitol Hill since 1995, told Em.

NEW ON NOTUS

STOCK Act blues, part II. “I am taking aggressive measures to ensure full compliance in the future,” reads a letter from Rep. Lisa McClain to the House clerk after her second STOCK Act violation of the year, Dave Levinthal reports for NOTUS.

McClain was months late publicly disclosing between $360,000 and $900,000 worth of stock trades made by her husband, Michael McClain. Her office also violated STOCK Act disclosure rules in August.

More: Trump’s Admin Says It Froze Blue State Infrastructure Projects. The States Don’t Know If That’s True, by Anna Kramer

Maine Senators Caucus With Different Parties, But They’re Unified on the Shutdown, by Torrie Herrington

Trump’s Threats Toward Colombia Could Cripple U.S. Drug and Intelligence Operations, Democrats Warn, by Hamed Ahmadi

NOT US

• These 13 N.J. towns saw a surprise surge in Republican voter registrations, by

• Katie Kausch for NJ Advance Media

• Focus of redistricting session shifts to race for attorney general, by Dave Ress for the Richmond Times-Dispatch
• Mamdani and Cuomo Vie for Democratic Stalwarts as a Disruptive Election Enters Closing Days, by Katie Honan, Gwynne Hogan and Samantha Maldonado for The City
• The money spent on Newsom’s Proposition 50 was unlike any other California election, by Jeremia Kimelman for Cal Matters

WEEK AHEAD

Monday: The Trump administration has a noon deadline to update a federal judge on how it will comply with a court order to fund SNAP.

Tuesday: Key races in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia and California headline the highest-profile Election Day of the year.

Wednesday: Presidential tariff power is scheduled to be the topic of oral arguments at the Supreme Court.

Friday: Hungarian President Viktor Orban is scheduled to visit the White House. Plus, federal jobs numbers are supposed to be released (if the government is open).

Thank you for reading! If you like this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.org. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@notus.org.

The newsletter was produced by Tara Golshan, Kami Reick and Dianna Heitz.