Taegan Goddard

“Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) plans to run for a sixth term in the Senate, buoying Republicans’ hopes of retaining her seat in 2026,” the Washington Examiner reports.

Politico: “House Republicans have salvaged an agreement on their internal rules… after it appeared to be on shaky ground for hours earlier on Thursday.”

“Although he’s remained involved on the periphery of Democratic politics since losing a 2022 bid for the U.S. Senate, Tim Ryan publicly had ruled out running for office again in 2026,” Signal Cleveland reports.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is keeping her options open for re-election in 2026.

Jonathan Chait: “Maybe the Senate caucus really will draw the line somewhere—perhaps at Gaetz, perhaps at one or both of Gabbard and Hegseth. But there is something disconcertingly familiar in the confident yet carefully hedged assertions that the old-line GOP will stop this madness. It is exactly what Republicans said would stop Trump from receiving the nomination in 2015, from winning the presidency in 2016, and from reclaiming the party’s leadership after the ignominy of January 6. ‘I don’t think he’s a serious candidate,’ Senator Lisa Murkowski said yesterday, of Gaetz. That is almost a verbatim repetition of what elected Republicans once said about Trump.”

“During Donald Trump’s hush-money trial last spring, a string of top Republicans turned up at the Manhattan courthouse in a public show of loyalty. Now several are being tapped for his government,” Bloomberg reports.

“President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate former presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services,” Politico reports.

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) suggested Thursday that he is open to voting for Democratic judicial nominees, even if they can’t secure any Republican support, Axios reports.

“President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is planning to kill the $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases as part of broader tax-reform legislation,” Reuters reports.

“The woman who was at the center of a yearslong Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the now-former Florida congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old,” ABC News reports.