Democrats

The New York Times reports: President Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 convicted of nonviolent crimes, the largest grant of clemency by an American president in a single day, the White House announced in a statement on Thursday. The commutations affect mostly those who had been released from prison and placed in home confinement …

The Hill reports: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to keep his gavel in the next Congress after receiving glowing reviews from President-elect Trump. But if there is any kind of revolt from Johnson’s conservative detractors during the Jan. 3 Speaker vote, no Democrats will step in to save him, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned on Wednesday. “I …

NY1 reports: Former Congressman Anthony Weiner is starting to plan a political comeback, filing paperwork with the city’s Campaign Finance Board to run for a City Council seat on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Weiner went to federal prison in connection to a sexting scandal involving a minor, but that’s not derailing him from considering a return to the political arena. …

NBC News reports: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a law Monday prohibiting public schools and libraries from banning books and protecting librarians who obey state law. Murphy’s signing of the Freedom to Read Act comes amid an ongoing push by conservative lawmakers and activists across the country to challenge books they consider inappropriate for minors, particularly those …

The Hill reports: West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (I) and Vermont Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) have introduced a resolution to impose 18-year term limits on Supreme Court justices, which would require some turnover on the high court every two years. Specifically, their resolution calls for a constitutional amendment to institute nonrenewable 18-year terms for new Supreme Court justices, with a …

The Hill reports: Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) was appointed to the Senate on Sunday following the resignation of interim Democratic Sen. George Helmy. In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy (D-N.J.) announced the appointment, noting he is taking the step to allow Kim to “embark on the smoothest possible transition into his new role so he can hit the ground running.” …

NBC News reports: Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., said Saturday that she and her family had been targeted by a bomb threat and that local police are working with the U.S. Capitol Police to investigate the incident. Westford Police Department Capt. Michael Breault said the department was made aware of the threat via email Saturday morning, at which point they responded …

The Detroit News reports: A Michigan House panel advanced legislation Tuesday to repeal the state’s law against sodomy, calling it a “zombie” law that has been defunct for the two decades since a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidated sodomy laws across the country. The movement of the legislation to the full House floor comes as a separate set of …

The Associated Press reports: Democrat Adam Gray captured California’s 13th Congressional District on Tuesday, unseating Republican Rep. John Duarte in the final U.S. House contest to be decided this year. Gray’s win in the farm belt seat that cuts through five counties means Republicans won 220 House seats this election cycle, with Democrats holding 215 seats. Gray won by a …

The Washington Examiner reports: Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) said he would join the House DOGE Caucus next year, becoming the first Democrat to align himself with GOP-led efforts to crack down on government efficiency and slash federal agencies. Moskowitz announced the move Tuesday, arguing that efforts to streamline governmental processes and reorganize the federal government should not be partisan. The …

The Hill reports: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is the first person to hit a million followers on the social platform Bluesky, according to the platform. Other than Bluesky’s own account, Ocasio-Cortez’s follower landmark is a first for a user, the platform told The Hill on Monday. Democrats and those on the American left have migrated to Bluesky from the similar …

“As a father, I don’t know a father that wouldn’t have done the same thing. What I would have done differently. My recommendations to the counsel would have been, ‘why don’t you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all his charges and make it, you know, it’d have gone down a lot more balanced, if you will. I’m just …

The Associated Press reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers returned to the state Capitol on Monday to begin a special session to protect the state’s progressive policies ahead of another Trump presidency. The Democratic governor, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, is positioning California to once again be the center of a resistance effort against the conservative …

“While as a father I certainly understand President [Joe Biden’s] natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. When you become President, your role is Pater familias of the …

The New York Times reports: President Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son Hunter on Sunday night after repeatedly insisting he would not do so, using the power of his office to wave aside years of legal troubles, including a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun and for tax evasion. In a statement issued by the …

The Associated Press reports: President Joe Biden on Sunday had the AIDS Memorial Quilt spread on the White House South Lawn for the first time in observance of World AIDS Day. Gathered with the president and his wife, Jill, were survivors, family members and advocates to memorialize the lives lost to the epidemic. The president emphasized the federal government’s support …

Axios reports: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday called for “maximum protection” for members of Congress and their families in response to a series of bomb threats around Thanksgiving. Nearly the entire Connecticut congressional delegation faced bomb threats on Thursday. “We have been in close communication with the Sergeant at Arms office and it is imperative that Congress …

The Connecticut Insider reports: Multiple members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation said they received bomb threats over the Thanksgiving holiday. The officials who received the threats, which were determined to have been hoaxes, included all five state members of the U.S. House of Representatives as well as U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy. It was not immediately clear whether Murphy’s counterpart in the …

ABC News reports: The homes of multiple Democratic members of Congress in Connecticut were targeted by bomb threats on Thanksgiving Day. Reps. Joe Courtney, Jahana Hayes, Jim Himes, and John Larson all said their homes were targeted on Thursday. “This morning, I was notified of a bomb threat targeting my home where I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family,” Himes …

Axios reports: President-elect Trump used Thanksgiving as an opportunity to attack “Radical Left Lunatics” while outgoing President Biden emphasized gratitude in his final holiday message as president. Trump made punishing “enemies within” central to his reelection bid, which saw Republicans rewarded with control of both chambers of Congress and the presidency. Trump’s Thanksgiving message shows he feels no need to …