Ryan runs red to save Senate Dems

A play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news

Oct 21, 2022 View in browser   By Katherine Tully-McManus Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), on the Senate campaign trail in Ohio. Photo by Drew Angerer | Getty Images LOSING RACE OR SAVING GRACE? — Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan has convinced Republicans that he's enough of a threat that they've poured money into the open-seat Ohio Senate race, and in a twisted vote of confidence, his own party hasn't followed suit. But win or lose, Ryan is doing Democrats a big favor. His underdog campaign to flip an Ohio Senate seat for the first time in 16 years, has drawn critical GOP resources away from key races in Democratic-held states like Arizona and Colorado. He has a hunch as to why Democrats are letting him go it alone. "I don't know if I'm going to vote for Chuck Schumer" as leader, Ryan said in an interview with Burgess on his campaign bus. "I will get to the Senate and be beholden to absolutely nobody, right? And I will be, probably, a royal pain in the ass when I get there. And that may be a reason why we're not getting help." Another reason might be that Donald Trump won the state by eight points, and he would need significant support from Republican voters to win. But he has tailored his campaign accordingly, with ads that Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio) called "right-leaning" and even a bright red campaign bus. When his Republican opponent J.D. Vance takes shots at Ryan for being beholden to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Ryan trots out one of his strongest party-bucking credentials: he challenged her for the Democratic leader post back in 2016. Burgess is in Ohio and has more on how Ryan's race could save the Democrats' majority , even if he doesn't end up part of it.   NEW AND IMPROVED POLITICO APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. With a fresh look and improved features, the sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don't miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. Already a POLITICO app user? Upgrade today! DOWNLOAD FOR iOS  – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID .     TGIF! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, October 21, where your host has no comment on this newsletter doom and gloom . (But thanks, as always, for reading.) HUDDLE'S WEEKLY MOST CLICKED: Future Democratic stars at risk of getting wiped out in the midterms , from POLITICO's own Elana Schneider. The close runner-up (you folks just love drama): How obscure government documents foreshadowed divorce for Kanye West, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Madison Cawthorn , from Dave Levinthal at Insider. WELCOME TO CONGRESS, YOU'RE GOING TO HATE IT — The conservative House Freedom Caucus sent out a 52-page guide to new GOP candidates on what they'll face as freshman members, and it reads more like a warning than a warm welcome. "It's worse than you thought," is the title of Part I of the five-part guide, which Fox News first reported . The packet of info aims to demystify the heady initial days and weeks following an election win, as the realities and responsibilities of being in Congress start to come into focus. Members-elect will cast key votes before they are even sworn in: on party leadership, GOP conference rules, the freshman class president, steering committee slots and more. It's a tall order for newcomers. Read the HFC's new member guide . The Freedom Caucus' anti-establishment roots are on full display, with a reminder that there's no requirement to vote for the GOP conference's nominee for speaker and an outline of the changes the group wants to make to conference and House rules. (They include restoring the motion to vacate the chair, a move which eventually led to the resignation of Speaker John Boehner, the Freedom Caucus' original foe.) But with Freedom Caucus founding members moving up the ranks and into caucus and committee leadership, a concerted challenge to GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy appears unlikely. The memo did do one thing: It got your Huddle host psyched about the most wonderful time of the year, New Member Orientation. IT'S HOT IN NEVADA — Not a dry heat, a dead heat. Multiple polls are now showing Republican Adam Laxalt as neck-and-neck with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), in a race that is seen as one of the GOP's best pickup opportunities. Natalie Allison has more on just how close the race for the Silver State is. WILL GRAHAM GAB? — "Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating Donald Trump's effort to subvert the 2020 election can force Sen. Lindsey Graham to testify before a grand jury investigating his phone calls with top Georgia election officials, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday." Nicholas, Kyle and Josh Gerstein have the latest . ABOUT THOSE LOEFFLER TEXTS — POLITICO got a hold of the 59-page log of 405 texts to and from former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), first reported Wednesday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and noted a key detail: They were sent as a report from Cellebrite, a service typically used by investigators to extract digital data from cell phones. Kyle and Nicholas report that "the nature of the document suggests Loeffler's phone may have been subpoenaed or otherwise provided to prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, who are currently investigating Trump's attempts to influence 2020 election results in the state." SEE YOU AT THE FEC — You won't believe who you might bump into when pouring through Federal Elections Commission campaign finance reports, even all the way up in Alaska. Liz Ruskin from Alaska Public Media put together a who's-who of Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) donors. Homer Simpson, or at least voice actor Dan Castellaneta, made the list, along with Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand and Eagles founder Don Henley. Read more from Liz' Alaska-at-Large newsletter dispatch . EXPECTATIONS VS. REALITY — Your Huddle host is a sucker for an interactive. The New York Times broke down every single line of revenue and spending in President Joe Biden's budget proposal and cross-referenced those with the cost estimates for five major policy bills passed by Congress during his presidency. Four of the bills — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the PACT Act and the Safer Communities Act — passed with support from both parties, while the Inflation Reduction Act (which made up a whopping third of the spending) passed without Republican backing. Take a look, the graphics are fun .   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today .     HUDDLE HOTDISH Kittens for King … Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) brought home two 12-week old brothers from the Midcoast Humane Society, Dobby and Winkie . Working like a dog … No, really, the Government Accountability Office examined the plight of about 5,100 working dogs that serve the federal government and determined that federal agencies "need to better address health and welfare." QUICK LINKS  Walker Says His Mental Illness Is Healed. Experts Say It's Not So Simple , from Sheryl Gay Stolberg at The New York Times Ahead of the Midterms, Energy Lobbyists Plan for a Republican House , from Eric Lipton at The New York Times Peltola receives rock-star welcome as AFN keynote speaker , from Liz Ruskin at Alaska Public Media TODAY IN CONGRESS The House and Senate are out. AROUND THE HILL Looking quiet on a recess Friday TRIVIA THURSDAY'S WINNER: Clem Balanoff correctly answered that Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) once described having grown up as "just a high school kid like everybody else with skinny legs" while on the presidential campaign trail. TODAY'S QUESTION: This U.S. senator served the exact same number of days that Liz Truss was prime minister of the United Kingdom. The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to ktm@politico.com. GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus   Follow us

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