| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Jesús Rodríguez, Gloria Gonzalez, Jesse Naranjo, Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala and Charlie Mahtesian
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POLITICO illustration/AP Photo | What up, Recast family! It's T minus two days to turkey day. We're now accepting your submissions for the next Recast Power List . A quick programming note: We won't be publishing a Friday edition, but we'll be hitting your inboxes again with fresh news and analysis a week from today. And with that, let's jump right in. It's hard to believe the midterm elections were a mere two weeks ago. Well, maybe not. A lot has happened since then, including the flood of news in recent days including Elon Musk's restoring of former President Donald Trump's Twitter account. That came on the heels of Attorney General Merrick Garland's decision to name a special prosecutor to helm the criminal investigations of the aforementioned ex-commander-in-chief, who had just announced days before — in surprisingly subdued fashion — his intention to make a third run for the White House . That announcement did little to scare off other GOP 2024 hopefuls, as my POLITICO colleague Alex Isenstadt points out in his coverage of the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas over the weekend. Then, of course, there was the tectonic shift for congressional Democrats when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she (along with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer) is stepping down from Democratic leadership . It's a move that will usher in a new leadership group, paving the way for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to become the first Black person to lead a party in either chamber of Congress.
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House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries of New York arrives to meet with his fellow Democrats at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo | Jeffries, known for his penchant of peppering his remarks with lyrics from East Coast hip hop artists (including during Trump's second impeachment trial, when he cited the Notorious B.I.G. ), was quite loquacious when reflecting on his soon-to-be role in an appearance on CNN . So, with all that in mind, it's understandable if you were distracted from a bit of history that was made on Thursday, when the Los Angeles mayor's race was (finally) called. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) became the first woman to lead the nation's second-largest city and just the second Black mayor ever elected to lead La La Land. When she is sworn in next month, it will also mark the first time in U.S. history when the nation's four largest cities — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston — will be led by Black mayors.
|  Twitter | "Anytime we get a new mayor, it's exciting. But to have another mayor, a Black woman, who's going to lead one of our nation's major cities. That's a big deal," Frank Scott, the mayor of Little Rock, Ark., tells The Recast. Scott, who also serves as the president of the African American Mayors Association, points out that 14 of the nation's 50 largest, most-populous cities have Black mayors — including London Breed of San Francisco, Eric Johnson of Dallas, Vi Lyles of Charlotte and Cavalier Johnson of Milwaukee. He called Bass an "esteemed national leader" who will bring her legislative prowess to the Black mayors association and help better understand how to work with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. "Those are close friends, we're definitely going to tap into her knowledge," Scott says.
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Los Angeles Mayor-elect Karen Bass speaks with supporters after a news conference in Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. | Jae C. Hong/AP Photo | Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, the longest tenured of the so-called Big Four mayors, says he's proud of this achievement and hopes he, New York's Eric Adams, Chicago's Lori Lightfoot and Bass can come together to commemorate this moment. "It's my hope that all four of us, at some point soon, can stand on the same platform together," Turner, who is term-limited and cannot seek election next year, told The Recast on Monday. He says it's important for the public to see not just them, but to know there are Black mayors serving across the nation in cities big and small who are ready to be among the next wave of future office holders in state and federal office. "We need to encourage a deeper bench," Turner adds. "We also need to make sure when we look back, there are more people coming. That's critically important." We dive deeper into this tomorrow with a report on POLITICO.com. For now, take care of yourselves and have a restful Thanksgiving holiday. All the best,
The Recast Team
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| Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here .
| | | CLUB Q AFTERMATH
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Mourners hold candles during a vigil at a makeshift memorial to mark the weekend mass shooting at a gay bar, late Monday, Nov. 21, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colo. | David Zalubowski/AP Photo | The nation is again reeling from another gruesome and senseless act of violence, this time in Colorado Springs, Colo., where a gunman opened fire inside an LGBTQ nightclub late Saturday night. Five people were killed and at least 18 others injured. Club Q was a safe haven for members of the LGBTQ community, known for hosting drag performances. In an instant, it went from an establishment that's been part of the community for more than 20 years to the latest backdrop of rage and fear. A 22-year-old suspect donning a military jacket and armed with an AR-15 style weapon and handgun unleashed a torrent of bullets just minutes before the observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday. He remains in police custody and is facing five murder charges and an additional five counts of bias-motivated crime.
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Noah Reich, left, and David Maldonado, the Los Angeles co-founders of Classroom of Compassion, put up a memorial with photographs of the five victims of the weekend mass shooting, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colo. | David Zalubowski/AP Photo | Law enforcement has since identified the victims as :
- Kelly Loving (she/her)
- Daniel Aston (he/him)
- Derrick Rump (he/him)
- Ashley Paugh (she/her)
- Raymond Green Vance (he/him)
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the nation's first openly gay governor, described the incident as "horrific, sickening and devastating," and ordered flags at public buildings to be lowered to half-staff. Also, the Pride flag will be flown at the Colorado State Capitol through Saturday. Polis told The Colorado Sun over the weekend that he knows the Club Q owners and wants to be part of their rebuilding efforts, adding: "I told them … that when they reopen, I want to be part of that." Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers is among the myriad of voices praising Richard Fierro and Thomas James , who are credited with subduing the gunman by grabbing and then using his firearm to bludgeon him until law enforcement arrived. WATCH: Colorado Springs mayor says 'heroic action' by patrons saved lives
|  | "The thing that was really remarkable was the intervention of patrons that really brought this thing to a halt, very quickly," Suthers said. On Monday, the Biden administration was asked if this latest mass casualty event will renew efforts to go beyond the gun safety legislation the president signed in June. "He committed to continuing to press Congress for an assault weapons ban because thoughts and prayers are just not enough," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. But with Republicans slated to take control of the House in January, the chances of striking another major gun reform deal is unlikely.
| | | PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD SPAT
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"This is not a situation of charity. This is a situation of mutual support for American citizens across the board regardless," said House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva, pictured above at a June 29, 2020, hearing | Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images | A House committee gathered last week to evaluate Puerto Rico's recovery from major disasters and efforts to rebuild its fragile power grid. But as POLITICO's Gloria Gonzalez points out, that discussion was overshadowed by an exchange of barbs when the topic turned to the potential statehood for the territory. Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) rejected pleas by Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi to address the island's territorial status, accusing the House Natural Resources Committee of ramming through a bill to facilitate a statehood vote. "The reality is every time we have a hearing on Puerto Rico … it is coming here with hands out, asking for more money and/or asking for statehood," Hice said, during a hearing intended to focus on the island's post-disaster reconstruction efforts after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and a 2020 earthquake. Hice continued: "It's no secret I oppose statehood for Puerto Rico and I'm certainly not alone in that position." | 
| The Georgia Republican's comments drew sharp rebukes from House Natural Resources Chair Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, and the island's Republican congressional representative, Jenniffer González-Colón. "The American citizens of Puerto Rico did not come to us after these disasters with their hands out," Grijalva said. "They came the same way that the people that suffered disasters in Florida and in Texas came to us, for relief. This is not a situation of charity. This is a situation of mutual support for American citizens across the board regardless." A fired up González-Colón observed Hice's quick departure after making the comments. "He's entitled to his opinion regarding the status of the island, but he does not live in Puerto Rico," she said, noting that she and the Democratic governor, Pierluisi, were the only ones at the hearing elected by island residents, who have voted in favor of changing its territory status several times. "What we are supporting here is what the people of the island voted for and that's statehood. And that's democracy, right?" Perhaps unsurprisingly, the hearing ended without resolution to either the statehood push or the reconstruction efforts following the crippling natural disasters.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO Sprint for DACA Fix Hits Resistance — Confronted by the reality that there are just weeks left in Democrats' governing trifecta, lawmakers are trying to blitz a fix to the deportation-protection program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. As POLITICO's Marianne LeVine points out, the Republican votes needed to pass it just aren't there. WATCH: Biden pardons turkeys named Chocolate and Chip |  | She's Baaaaack — If you think it's just about 45 being reinstated to Twitter, think again. POLITICO's Anthony Adragna reports for Congress Minutes about how Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) announced her return to the platform after being suspended in January.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS Mario Vargas Llosa's "Harsh Times" — a historical fiction masterpiece set in 1950s Guatemala during the aftermath of the U.S.-backed coup — is freshly published in paperback . " SHAQ ," a four-part HBO series premiering tomorrow, chronicles the meteoric rise of the basketball superstar as well as his life off-court.
|  | Thanksgiving is almost with us, folks! In preparation, New York Times cooking columnist Eric Kim taste-tests every stuffing under the sun . Korean American poet Eugenia Leigh has us excited about her forthcoming collection, "Bianca," with a sneak peek in The Atlantic: " I Was Wrong About So Much ." Santigold's Tiny Desk debut is making our Tuesday a little more punk.
|  | TikTok of the Day: In sync (kind of)
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