Today’s notice: The death of the left was greatly exaggerated, says the Justice Democrats. A look at the momentum behind Ben Wikler. Also: a who’s who at the confirmation hearings and some really nerdy stuff about Schedule F.
The Democrats Are Fighting Again
Lately, a lot of people have been quoting Rep. Tom Suozzi. The New York moderate Democrat, whose November win was a bright spot for his party, warns Democrats against knee-jerk opposition to Donald Trump’s agenda, arguing Democrats can rebuild credibility by finding common ground and being selective in their attacks. It’s an increasingly popular vision of the party’s future on the Hill, as witnessed by the relatively broad Democratic support for the Laken Riley Act, which fulfilled a Trump campaign promise.
But not every Democrat is ready to be part of that kind of opposition party. The Justice Democrats are back, launching a candidate-recruitment drive today aimed at finding strongly progressive voices to generally make life hard for the Suozzis of the world running in safe Democratic seats. The group is calling on angry Democrats to suggest local candidates through the group’s website, who — along with other people directly recruited by leadership — may be the next set of voices raised up in resistance to Trump. A list of targeted districts and campaign plans are still down the road, but group leaders wanted to get the drive launched ahead of the inauguration in part to send a message.
“People that are like Tom Suozzi right now, that I think are showing there’s starting to be a shift away from resisting Trump,” Alexandra Rojas, executive director of Justice Democrats, told NOTUS. “That’s a really frightening thing in this environment.”
Justice Democrats didn’t do a candidate-recruiting drive last cycle, choosing instead to focus on defending its members. The results of that effort were decidedly mixed, with the decisive losses of incumbents like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. The progressive left has been left for dead by many in politics in the wake of last year’s results. But Rojas says her supporters are the ones who know how to reconnect with working-class voters — she says the rise of billionaire donors makes the Justice Democrats approach of rejecting all corporate donations even more salient.
“It’s not just happening to progressives,” she said of the big money that helped sink the candidates. “It is the capturing of our democracy in general, and it’s going to bite Democrats in the ass if they don’t deal with it.”
Young, activist Democrats are still opposed to U.S. policy in Gaza, still favor the expansion of trans rights and still want an increased minimum wage, Rojas says. Democrats will get their voice back by being louder, not quieter.
“We’re supposed to be a party that stands by our values, and we’re repeatedly showing we’re willing to abandon them,” she said.
—Evan McMorris-Santoro | Read more with Tinashe Chingarande.
Is Ben Wikler the Uniter?
The next DNC chair will have the, er, pleasure of trying to keep all those various Democrats together as the party rebuilds. NOTUS’ Nuha Dolby reports that Wisconsin party Chair Ben Wikler — one of the front-runners to lead the national party — has the respect of various groups of Democrats often at each other’s throats.
“He’s getting endorsements from progressives and [Third Way’s] Matt Bennett. Which is interesting when his personal politics clearly are more progressive,” a national Democratic strategist supportive of Wikler told Nuha. His campaign is gaining steam, but “not everyone on the left is sold on him,” she reports.
Front Page
- Health Officials Want a ‘Seamless’ Transition on Bird Flu Preparedness: The reality isn’t so certain.
- The Laken Riley Act Could Reshape Immigration. Advocates Say Democrats Don’t Get It.: “It’s only an eight-page bill, and I wish a number of these senators would sit down and take the time to read it.”
- Trump Floats California Aid-Debt Ceiling Gambit: During meetings with different House Republicans, Trump discussed an idea to tie California disaster aid to raising the debt ceiling.
- The ‘Uncommitted’ Movement Grapples With Organizing Under Trump: Activists are still frustrated with Democrats, but many think the party offers their best chance of success.
Senators to Watch at the Confirmation Hearings
- Joni Ernst: She’ll be the pivotal senator behind Pete Hegseth’s hearings. The sexual assault survivor and veteran initially signaled some discomfort around Hegseth’s nomination, but she’s reportedly warmed to the idea of backing him, despite once angling for the job herself.
- Adam Schiff: Confirmation hearings will be the Democratic star turned MAGA archnemesis’ first major public opportunity to sound the anti-Trump alarm as a senator. He has a coveted slot on Judiciary, so he’ll be questioning Pam Bondi and Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel.
- Lisa Murkowski: She is widely seen as the Republican senator most likely to vote against Trump’s nominees. As a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, it’s worth watching how tough she is on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or if she signals a willingness to play ball.
- John Fetterman: On the flip side, Fetterman is the Democrat most likely to back Trump’s nominees. He met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, and the president-elect described the Pennsylvania senator as “common sense.”
- Markwayne Mullin: He is Hegseth’s biggest hype man in the Senate. If anyone is going to make a strong case for Hegseth on Tuesday, it’s him. With Hegseth’s confirmation looking likely but not certain, Mullin’s advocacy could be critical.
—Riley Rogerson
Not Schedule F-ing Around
How will Trump’s opponents fight back against his pledge to fire government workers who aren’t sufficiently through Schedule F? A memo from Governing for Impact out this morning argues accepted wisdom about the legality of Schedule F is wrong, and OMB nominee Russell Vought cannot actually reclassify top civil servants, strip them of their due process protections and fire them, at least not without facing a credible challenge in court.
“Firing civil servants at will without job protections violates the Constitution,” Jordan Ascher, policy counsel at GFI, told NOTUS. “This comes from a line of due process case law that we don’t think is under particular threat in today’s judicial environment. So whatever else may be said about it, the Constitution has something to say.”
—Anna Kramer
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Why Pete Hegseth nomination is a milestone for the rightwing Christian movement he follows by Liam Adams for The Tennessean
- How Religious Schools Became a Billion-Dollar Drain on Public Education by Alec MacGillis for The New Yorker, in collaboration with ProPublica
- The Mr. Yogato Guy Is Helping Run Elon Musk’s DOGE by Jessica Sidman for the Washingtonian
Be Social
(Billy Joel starts playing from McConnell’s new office.)
Some smoke in the Senate wing after Thune’s first use of the fireplace in the GOP leader suite.
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) January 13, 2025
It likely hasn’t been used since 2007, when McConnell first moved in. As Leader, he hung a portrait of Henry Clay that was on loan, under the stipulation the fireplace not be used. pic.twitter.com/4I6RcPdLLw
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