With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross

IT’S OFFICIAL — “Republicans flip the House,” by Ally Mutnick and Jessica Piper

ALL EYES ON PELOSI — On Wednesday night, just before 11 p.m., NANCY PELOSI’s longtime spokesperson DREW HAMMILL announced on Twitter that today, the speaker will finally announce her plans for the future — putting an end to mounting speculation about whether she’ll retire (a possibility Hammill has batted away), stay on as the top House Democrat or step down from leadership but continue to serve in Congress.

“@SpeakerPelosi has been overwhelmed by calls from colleagues, friends and supporters,” Hammill wrote. “This evening, the Speaker monitored returns in the three remaining critical states. The Speaker plans to address her future plans tomorrow to her colleagues. Stay tuned.”

The tweet came just a few hours after the House was called in favor of Republicans — sending the rumor mill already churning over Pelosi’s future into warp drive.

Wednesday night, speculation ran rampant inside Pelosi’s own leadership circle about what she will do — and House Democrats’ patience is wearing thin. Some senior members predict Pelosi will run again despite her 2018 promise to limit herself to four years as the lead House Dem. But at least four members and aides on her leadership team told us late Wednesday night that they were hearing the opposite from people close to Pelosi: that she will announce she’ll step aside as soon as this morning. 

Is that wishful thinking on their part? Who knows. We’re told things are up in the air to the point that Pelosi “took two versions of her planned floor speech home” Wednesday night — presumably one announcing her exit and the other her plans to stay.

“Anybody who says they know is lying to you,” a fifth member of Pelosi’s leadership team told us.

The longtime leader has played coy about her plans. Ditto Majority Leader STENY HOYER (D-Md.), who hasn’t said whether he will stick around and try to succeed Pelosi as the top House Dem or exit alongside her.

That delay has frustrated the next generation of would-be Democratic leaders eager to make plans of their own. Reps. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-N.Y.), KATHERINE CLARK (D-Mass.) and PETE AGUILAR (D-Calif.) have been waiting to launch their public campaigns to succeed Pelosi, Hoyer and Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.), who together have served as the party’s top three posts for more than 15 years.

Yet Democrats’ impressive performance on Election Day led a host of senior Democrats — including President JOE BIDEN and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER — to personally ask Pelosi to stay on.

Most Democrats believe last week’s election presented Pelosi with the perfect off-ramp: If the projected “red wave” had manifested as predicted, she would have been leaving on a negative note. But Democrats nearly kept the House, and Pelosi — should she choose to — could say she closed her career by defending the party through what was expected to be a brutal midterm.

Either way, the palace intrigue surrounding her announcement is quintessential Pelosi. Ever the meticulous planner, she has laid her chips down perfectly such that all today — and likely the entire weekend — will be about her historic career, upstaging KEVIN McCARTHY’s recent nomination for the speakership and Republicans’ House takeover.

On Wednesday, at least one high-profile Democrat looking to make a play to climb the ladder bowed out. Our Sarah Ferris and Nicholas Wu scooped that Rep. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) has decided not to run for House leadership, and will instead focus on a possible Senate bid.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CAPITOL — “Murray passes on No. 3 Democratic leader job,” by Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine: “[Sen.] PATTY MURRAY will step down from her role as assistant Democratic leader as she prepares to take over the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and enter the presidential line of succession.

“Fresh off a 15-point reelection win, the Washington State senator will take two of the chamber’s most crucial jobs next year: Writing the nation’s spending bills and assuming the job of president pro tempore, the constitutionally afforded title given to the majority party’s longest-serving senator.”

Who might succeed Murray in the post? “CHUCK SCHUMER chooses much of the Democratic leadership team, and there’s been no decision on whether he would fill the vacant assistant leader slot or make another change,” Burgess and Marianne write. But the next rungs on the Dem leadership ladder are now held by Sen. DEBBIE STABENOW (Mich.), who leads the Dem policy and comms shop, and Sens. MARK WARNER (Va.) and ELIZABETH WARREN (Mass.), who are conference vice chairs.

McCONNELL WORLD NEVER FORGETS — The latest salvo in the escalating Senate GOP war between Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL and NRSC Chair RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.) was lobbed into the Twittersphere last night: JOSH HOLMES, McConnell’s former chief of staff and campaign manager, took aim at Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.), who, somewhat surprisingly, joined the abortive rebellion against McConnell this week.

“This dude literally spent the first half of his career championing amnesty,” Holmes tweeted along with a link to a Fox News story quoting Graham as saying there would be no immigration deal until the border is secured.

As anyone familiar with Graham’s history in South Carolina politics knows, his previous attempts at comprehensive immigration reform did not go over well with the Republican electorate there. In 2013, he raced to try and pass a centrist immigration deal ahead of his reelection the following year before some immigration-focused primary challengers caught fire. McConnell personally made sure Graham had help dousing any flames. (The deal passed the Senate and collapsed in the House after a conservative backlash against it.)

Graham has long since retreated from his pro-CIR position, but allegations of being pro-“amnesty” are like sticks of dynamite in a South Carolina GOP primary. While Graham is not up until 2026, this shot from Holmes appears to be a not-so-subtle sign from McConnell world about what will and won’t be tolerated by the Republican leader.

Good Thursday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line with your predictions about what Pelosi will do next: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
TALKER — “Why Washington Can’t Quit Twitter,” by Nancy Scola for POLITICO Magazine: “From news media to message-testing to adversary-monitoring, the platform has changed Washington. It won't be easy to go back.”

LICHT SPEAKS — CHRIS LICHT, CNN’s chair and CEO, is this week’s guest on “On with Kara Swisher,” which just posted at this link. Licht spoke to Swisher for over an hour in what is his most expansive interview since his appointment in April.

We got some early excerpts, and wanted to share two portions of the conversation where Licht addresses his vision for how CNN will cover politics …

— On what kind of audience he’s trying to attract:

Licht: “I'm not looking at it through trying to appeal to ‘lean into the left’ or ‘try to appeal to more people on the right.’ I think that that's not a good business model because you're fighting for a bigger slice of a shrinking pie. … [T]he competition for me in cable is not MSNBC or Fox. Hopefully, what we're doing is so different and unique that we are attracting people who perhaps have found cable news to be irrelevant in their lives. … So the play is to not be offensive to a side, right? And perhaps they will come to us for an unvarnished truth to allow themselves to make their own decisions. And that's a different brand. And my competition is frankly KATHLEEN [FINCH]’s HGTV and Netflix. … I’m fighting for people in down news times. I'm fighting for people's discretionary attention. And I don't believe that the way to the future is to try to steal people from Fox.”

— On how he wants CNN to cover Trump and the 2024 presidential race:

Licht: “We have fact-checkers ready to go. We will put things in perspective. We will not let everything [DONALD TRUMP] does consume the news cycle, right?”

Swisher: “Right.”

Licht: “There are other things that are important, I think one of the mistakes–”

Swisher: “Which [former CNN chief JEFF] ZUCKER regretted. Zucker regretted.”

Licht: “One-hundred percent. But look, it's not just Zucker, it was everybody. We let every little thing that [Trump] did consume everything, and so you ended up talking about him for eight hours a day. … We are not going to be a 24/7 Trump news network.”

Swisher: “Even if he raises ratings?”

Licht: “Correct.”

PHOTO OF THE DAY

MORE MIDTERMS FALLOUT

RUNOFF REPORT — “GOP civil war spreads to Georgia runoff,” by Natalie Allison and Brittany Gibson in McDonough, Ga.: “Georgia GOP activists are worried about the potential effect of Donald Trump launching his 2024 run on Tuesday, an announcement that local party leaders fear could depress turnout among moderate Republicans — votes that [HERSCHEL] WALKER needs to beat Democratic Sen. RAPHAEL WARNOCK, who finished just ahead of him in last week’s election.” 

— “McConnell-aligned Senate GOP group shelling out $14 million to boost Herschel Walker in Georgia runoff,” by Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser

GREAT DATA VIZ — “See how Republicans won the House but fell short of a red wave,“ by WaPo’s Dan Keating, Harry Stevens and Nick Mourtoupalas

THE MAJORITY-MAKER — “U.S. House win by ex-combat pilot cements Republican control,” by AP’s Michael Blood: “Republican Rep. MIKE GARCIA, a former Navy fighter pilot, scored an upset U.S. House win” as he “was reelected to a third term in a district that has a 12.5-point Democratic registration edge and was carried by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden by double digits in 2020.” Garcia “is the sole GOP House member with a district anchored in heavily Democratic Los Angeles County.”

THE MAINE EVENT — “With Golden’s victory, Republicans are shut out of House seats in New England,” by NYT’s Stephanie Lai

SQUARING TRAFALGAR — “The Pollster Who Predicted a Red Wave Explains Himself,” by N.Y. Mag’s Benjamin Hart

ALL POLITICS

HISTORY MADE — “Karen Bass elected mayor, becoming first woman to lead L.A.,” by L.A. Times’ Julia Wick: “The 69-year-old congresswoman achieved victory despite [RICK] CARUSO spending more than $100 million of his own fortune on his mayoral bid, shattering local spending records and pumping previously unprecedented sums into field outreach and TV advertising.”

PLAYBOOK EXCLUSIVE:LONGTIME DAINES AIDE TO RUN NRSC — Here’s one piece of NRSC news that has nothing to do with the blood feud between Scott and McConnell: Sen. STEVE DAINES (R-Mont.), the incoming chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, is tapping his longtime chief of staff, JASON THIELMAN, to run the committee for the 2024 cycle. Thielman, a graduate of the University of Montana, has worked for Daines for 12 years, serving as an aide for him since he was first elected to the House in 2012.

From a release going out later today: “Jason has incredible political intuition and continues to be my most trusted political advisor,” Daines will say. “Jason’s hiring is bad news for Senate Democrats. I would never want to run against him.”

CONGRESS

NOW THAT IT’S BEEN CALLED — “What Divided Government Means for Washington,” by WSJ’s Tarini Parti, Natalie Andrews and Lindsay Wise: “Legislating will likely grind to a near halt, including some bills that once saw bipartisan support but have recently drawn skepticism from Republicans, such as assistance for Ukraine in defending itself against Russia. Republicans will get to push a competing agenda if they can hold their caucus together on key priorities — a daunting task with such a small majority.”

The view from the Massie caucus: “‘Everybody’s relevant, nobody’s irrelevant,’ said Rep. THOMAS MASSIE (R., Ky.). When asked what the razor-thin majority would look like, he said: ‘Go ask JOE MANCHIN,’ referring to the centrist Democrat who is a key swing vote in the Senate.”

— “Republicans Barely Won the House. Now Can They Run It?” by NYT’s Carl Hulse

— “McCarthy’s next step on the GOP tightrope: Navigating concessions to conservatives,” by Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney: “As [McCarthy] edges toward offering institutional concessions to the Freedom Caucus, the Trump-aligned group that helped block his ascent to the speakership in 2015, emboldened moderates are growing uncomfortable with what they perceive as back-door deals with the party’s hardliners.”

BREAKING THE FILIBUSTER — “Same-sex marriage protections clear critical Senate hurdle,” by Marianne LeVine: “In a 62-37 vote, 12 Republicans voted with all Democrats to move forward on the bill, after negotiators reached a bipartisan deal to include protections for religious liberty. The vote on final passage could occur as soon as this week.” See the list of 12 GOP votes, via NBC’s Frank Thorp

THE CEILING IS THE ROOF — “A Bid By Democrats to Raise the U.S. Debt Ceiling This Year Is Failing,” by Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson

INVESTIGATING THE INVESTIGATORS — “Dem strategists to launch counterpunch to House GOP,” by Heidi Przybyla and Jordain Carney: “The newly relaunched Congressional Integrity Project initiative, details of which were shared first with POLITICO, will include rapid response teams, investigative researchers, pollsters and eventually a paid media campaign to put congressional Republicans ‘squarely on the defense,’ founder KYLE HERRIG said in an interview. It’s designed to serve as the party’s ‘leading war room’ to push back on House Republican investigations, Herrig said in an interview.”

A TRADITION UNLIKE ANY OTHER — “Departing lawmakers are lining up cushy lobbying gigs,” by Hailey Fuchs
2024 WATCH

WHO’S RUNNING THE SHOW — “Trump’s Candidacy Is in Motion, but His Campaign Is a Work in Progress,” by NYT’s Maggie Haberman, Shane Goldmacher and Michael Bender: “Though former President Donald J. Trump has talked of a third run for the White House since before he completed his term, the rollout of his actual candidacy — as the Republican Party grapples with the fallout from midterm losses — has been surprisingly slapdash.”

INSIDE THE BALLROOM — “Scenes From Inside Trump's Grim and Glitzy Comeback Announcement,” by POLITICO Magazine’s Michael Kruse, with photos by Mark Peterson

THE DeSANTIS DOWNLOAD — “DeSantis draws contrast with Trump as party hunts for 2024 alternative,” by Alex Isenstadt in Orlando, Fla.: “During a closed-door appearance before the Republican Governors Association meeting at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Orlando, [Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS] gave a detailed explanation on how he scored a lopsided reelection last Tuesday — including examples laden with implicit contrasts to the former president, who went unmentioned.

“DeSantis argued forcefully against the widely shared Trump-era conventional wisdom that the party couldn’t appeal simultaneously to suburban and rural voters, saying that he ‘won overwhelmingly’ with suburbanites while also racking up massive ‘SADDAM HUSSEIN margins’ in the state’s rural areas, according to a recording of the one-hour appearance obtained by POLITICO.”

WHO’S IN — “Donald Trump endorsed by SC Gov. Henry McMaster. Nikki Haley, Tim Scott still watching 2024,” by the Post and Courier’s Caitlin Byrd

WHO’S OUT — “Trump ally, billionaire GOP megadonor Ronald Lauder won’t back Trump’s 2024 run for president,” by CNBC’s Brian Schwartz

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

PENCE NIXES POSSIBLE TESTIMONY — Former VP MIKE PENCE told CBS’ Margaret Brennan in an interview that he was “closing the door” on the idea that he would provide testimony to the Jan. 6 committee. “Congress has no right to my testimony,” Pence said, noting that the “partisan nature” of the panel was a “disappointment” to him. Watch the 1:54 clip

— The committee pushback: “The Select Committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book,” Chair BENNIE THOMPSON (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair LIZ CHENEY (R-Wyo.) said in a joint statement, per CNN.

WAR IN UKRAINE

KYIV’S POV — “Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems,” by Erin Banco and Andrew Desiderio

BRUSSELS’ POV — “‘This Is Not Ukraine’s Fault’: Tensions Ease Over Missile Strike in Poland,” by NYT’s Steven Erlanger and Marc Santora in Brussels

WASHINGTON’S POV — “Top U.S. general argues Ukraine may be in a position of strength to negotiate Russian withdrawal,” by CNN’s Oren Liebermann

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

CLIMATE CONFAB — “Kerry: Formal climate talks between US and China have resumed at UN summit,” by CNN’s Ivana Kottasová

VALLEY TALK

SBF SPEAKS (KIND OF) — If you’ve been following the SAM BANKMAN-FRIED saga, Vox’s Kelsey Piper has a must-read piece on her Twitter DM conversation with the fallen crypto king. Here’s how Piper summed it up: “Looming over our whole conversation was the fact that people who trusted him have lost their savings, and that he’s done incalculable damage to everything he proclaimed only a few weeks ago to care about. The grief and pain he has caused is immense, and I came away from our conversation appalled by much of what he said. But if these mistakes haunted him, he largely didn’t show it.”

Herschel Walker called vampires “cool people” during a campaign speech.

Megyn Kelly fell asleep during Trump’s announcement.

Lawmakers, they’re just like us: unable to get Taylor Swift tickets.

OUT AND ABOUT — The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new sculpture garden yesterday. The event was emceed by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle, and included a special appearance and remarks by first lady Jill Biden. SPOTTED: Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), British Ambassador Karen Pierce, Liz Larner, Sheila Johnson, Jonathan Capehart, Jeff Koons, Laurie Anderson, Adam Pendleton, Mark Ein, Ellen Susman, Heather Podesta, Carol Melton, Jessica Nigro, Isabel Ernst, Robert Lehrman, Fred Eychaner, Steve Sumberg, Josh Bernstein, Marcus Brauchli, Christine Grady and Isaac Lee. Pic

— SPOTTED at a screening of “She Said” at the Motion Picture Association HQ on Wednesday evening: Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews and Kathleen Matthews, Ruth Marcus, Liz Allen, Kate Berber, Emily Lenzner, Margaret Carlson, Sena Fitzmaurice, Kylie Atwood, Jacqueline Alemany, Jessica Dean, Lois Romano, Phil Rucker, Jonathan Lamy, Kendra Barkoff Lamy, Michael Falcone, Victoria Lion Monroe, Ashley Parker, Kate Gibbs, Sara Murray and Katelyn Polantz.

— SPOTTED at an event celebrating diversity on and off Capitol Hill hosted by Forbes Tate Partners on Wednesday night: Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), David Montes, Carlos Sanchez, Nicole Varner, Ian Spears, Dan Turton, Alex Marsh, Francesca McCrary, Jeff Forbes, Zach Williams, Rachel Miller, Arthur Sydney, Michael Williams, Rich Lopez and Andres Ramirez.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ted Newton is now a campaign manager at Purple Strategies. He previously was president of Gravity Strategic Communications.

— Nick Bouknight is now a partner at Capitol Counsel. He most recently served as director of issue advocacy at the American Action Network and is a Kevin McCarthy alum.

TRANSITIONS — Beth Jafari will join Kelley Drye & Warren’s government relations practice upon leaving Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) office, where she has served as chief of staff since 2007. … Bronwyn Lance is now chief of staff for Rep.-elect Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.). She most recently was comms adviser for Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). … David Brock announced that he is stepping down as chair of the board for Media Matters for America, Media Matters Action Network, and American Bridge. Read his announcement …

… Sean Quinn is now an associate in Wilson Sonsini’s strategic risk and crisis management group. He previously was an investigative counsel for the Jan. 6 committee. … Retired Air Force Major Gen. Eric Hill is now executive VP of defense programs for J.A. Green & Company. He previously was deputy commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Special Operations Command.

WEDDINGS — Katie Abrames, senior policy analyst for Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), and Josh Woodward, legislative director for Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), got married on Friday at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina. The couple first met in former Rep. Mark Walker’s (R-N.C.) office in 2017. Pic … Another pic

— Parker Van de Water, government relations coordinator at the Kennedy Center and House Appropriations alum, married Patrick Maillet, lawyer with Legal Services Corp. and a Betty McCollum alum, on Saturday, Nov. 5. Pic … Another pic 

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Logan Dobson, a VP at Targeted Victory, and Emily Taylor Dobson, a Peter Meijer and Martha Roby alum, welcomed Vernon Bell Dobson on Wednesday, who weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 inches long. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) … Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice … Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf … NBC’s Noah Oppenheim … Chris Stirewalt … John Boehner … Terry Branstad … Howard Dean … Linda Moore of TechNet … Diana Aviv … POLITICO’s Jerome Baldwin … Helena Bottemiller Evich of Food Fix … Mike Ricci … Jarrod Agen of Lockheed Martin … Charmaine Yoest … Arielle Mueller of Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) office … Brian Jones of Black Rock Group … DOE’s Sonja Thrasher … Ahmad Ramadan … Camryn Anderson of Strategic Marketing Innovations … Halie Soifer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America … Intuit’s Paul Lindsay … Howard Fineman … Rick Dunham … MSNBC’s Lily Corvo … Suzan G. LeVine … Jeff Watters of the Ocean Conservancy … AKPD’s Isaac Baker … Harry Jaffe … Ralph Posner … Kellie Boyle … Erika Compart … S-3 Group’s Marty Reiser … Alex Gallo … Carly Montoya … TPM’s David Kurtz … Mike DeFilippis of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ (R-N.Y.) office … Mike Maloof … FT’s Felicia Schwartz … Sarah Gibbens … Addison Neikirk (28) … DCCC’s Jonathan Cousimano  … WinRed’s Joey Rodriguez … Katie Fitzpatrick of Sen. Mike Braun’s (R-Ind.) office

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