Dems' House takeover sets up series of legislative showdowns

After years in the political wilderness on Capitol Hill, Democrats will have the power to push their legislative agenda in Congress after winning the House majority Tuesday. But faced with a Republican-controlled Senate and White House, the Democrats are in for a series of showdowns that could leave the party undertaking more modest legislative goals on issues from prescription drug prices to infrastructure, while laying the groundwork for a more ambitious national agenda ahead of the 2020 presidential race.
Meanwhile, President Trump's wide-ranging wishlist, including his recently announced plan for a 10-percent middle-class tax cut and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's renewed call for an ObamaCare repeal, now requires significant revisions. Compromise between Democrats and Republicans will surely remain elusive as the midterm season is overtaken by presidential election politics, though analysts say both sides may be forced to strike some deals in pursuit of legislative wins.
Democrats' first major initiative will likely be to enact rules changes that govern the House, because those internal regulations do not require Senate passage. In the wake of the dramatic arrest of Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., in August on insider trading charges related to his role on the board of a prominent biotechnology company, ethics reforms are set to be a marquee area of focus.
DEMS RETAKE HOUSE, BUT GOP EXPANDS SENATE MAJORITY -- GIVING THEM CONTROL OVER JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has her eyes on the speaker's gavel, signaled as much on Tuesday night, vowing that "we will have a Congress that is open transparent and accountable to the American people."
“Tomorrow will be a new day in America,” Pelosi declared. "It's about restoring the Constitution's checks and balances to the Trump administration. ... It's about ending wealthy special interests' free rein over Washington."
She promised to "clean up corruption to make Washington work for all Americans."
Pelosi similarly pledged to lead "the most ethical Congress in history" when she first rose to the speakership in 2007 -- a boast that became a liability when she placed then-Rep. William Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee, despite allegations he had stashed $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer. (Jefferson was later convicted on bribery charges.)
"Members of Congress should not be sitting on boards of companies, especially those whose are impacted by policies — policy decisions and the government — so this is appalling, but it shows the brazenness of it all," Pelosi said on MSNBC earlier this year.
More substantive legislative changes are also possible on a series of high-profile policy items on which both parties have signaled they could ultimately have some common ground.

"The only legislative initiative that appears to be at stake is tax reform 2.0. Other than that, the same things happen."
— Fmr Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eaken

In June, Trump supported a compromise immigration bill that would have secured $25 billion for border wall construction while also providing a pathway to citizenship for so-called Dreamers, or illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. But after the legislation hit a wall of its own as moderate and conservative Republicans splintered, Trump seemingly withdrew that support and said his party should try again if a "red wave" materialized in November.
DEMS TO FLEX MUSCLE, AS HOUSE AFFORD THEM POWER TO SUBPOENA TRUMP ADMIN
Roosevelt University politics professor David Faris, who has said that the GOP likely wouldn't have made much legislative progress even it had retained control of the House, told Fox News that Trump might revisit that short-lived compromise effort in the coming months.
"If Democrats are willing to fund the border wall in exchange for the Dreamers -- I think that broad compromise has been there a long time," Faris said. "The real question is whether the president is willing to let go on restrictions on legal immigration. If he can let that go, I think the compromise is there."
Leaders from both parties have also publicly lamented soaring prescription drug costs. Trump has hammered Pfizer and other pharmaceutical giants on the issue, saying in July that they "should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason" and "are merely taking advantage of the poor."
The president has framed drug prices as an affront to his "America First" worldview, writing on Twitter that the companies are "giving bargain basement prices to other countries in Europe & elsewhere." Soon after his election, he charged that drug companies were "getting away with murder."
A 2015 Reuters study found that on average, prices for the world's top-20 highest selling medicines are three times more expensive in the U.S. than they are in Britain, owing to government pricing controls there.
On Tuesday, Pelosi promised to take action in brief remarks as early election returns poured in.
"Democrats will lower health care costs and prescription drug prices for seniors and families across America," she said. "Instead Mitch McConnell and the Republicans have put Medicare and Medicaid on the chopping block, and will continue their cruel assault from the protections for people with preexisting conditions.
But the issue of soaring drug prices may be trickier to resolve than it appears. Trump already signed a bipartisan bill in October that guaranteed pharmacists the right to tell consumers when paying cash would be cheaper than using insurance for their prescriptions, over the objection of insurance companies. And Democrats, although united in their concern over soaring prices, are split on how to resolve the underlying problem.
Some Democrats want to allow the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices, even though similar efforts in the past may have made the problem worse. On Tuesday night, Pelosi hinted at taking "very strong legislative action to negotiate down the price control of prescription drugs that is burdening seniors and families across America."

"I think it deserves some hearings, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s not a magic bullet."
— Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., on Dems' plan for prescription drug prices

In 1990, Congress mandated that federal Medicaid programs either receive a 15 percent discount on drugs off their list prices, or the most competitive price offered to private payers -- an initiative that ultimately led drug companies to slash private discounts to roughly 15 percent off list prices.

But some in her party are skeptical. “It’s a great talking point,” Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., told Roll Call, referring to the idea of having the federal government negotiate with drug companies. “I think it deserves some hearings, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s not a magic bullet.”
Infrastructure reform could also be an area of bipartisan consensus, as Democrats have vowed to use the committee process to build agreement on any proposal to improve the nation's roads, bridges, sewer systems, and schools.

On Tuesday, Pelosi specifically touted her plans to "deliver a transformational investment in America's infrastructure," including broadband networks, housing, schools, and sewers.
"Infrastructure has never been partisan," she claimed.
In October, Trump signed a bipartisan bill to provide several billions of dollars to fund drinking-water initiatives and Army Corps of Engineers projects, just one day after he signed a similarly bipartisan bill to combat the opioid epidemic and just two months after he signed a massive defense spending bill into law.
"If you want to know about bipartisan accomplishments, look no further than this Congress," Stephanie Penn, press secretary for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News. "Water infrastructure, opioids, defense, etc. All passed with overwhelming bipartisan support."
Trump's own infrastructure proposal, which called for a $200 billion federal investment in the hopes of spurring $1.5 trillion in additional funding from states and private investors, stalled in Congress earlier this year. Democrats balked at further spending cuts to pay for the measue, and instead suggested rolling back the GOP's recent tax overhaul. Republicans, meanwhile, split on whether to fund the plan with a gas tax or other mechanism.
RED-STATE DEMS WHO OPPOSED KAVANAUGH DROP LIKE FLIES IN MIDTERMS
Another potential showdown looms over Trump's recently renegotiated trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, which is slated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) secures greater U.S. access to Canadian dairy markets and changes regulations to bring back more auto manufacturing to the U.S. and is considered one of the White House's crowning foreign policy achievements -- but it requires congressional authorization.
"The bar for supporting a new NAFTA will be high,” Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., who is poised to become the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told Politico. And Trump himself has similarly sounded a note of caution: "Anything you submit to Congress is trouble," he said.
But other analysts have warned that Democrats, by fighting Trump on trade, would risk drawing attention to his accomplishments -- and play into his critiques that they are only interested in obstruction. One of the only major concessions by the U.S. in the USMCA is that it preserves a tariff-dispute regulatory regime that Canada had insisted was a sine qua non.
"Given the modest nature of the revisions he pursued with these trade agreements, I don't see Democrats dying on that hill," Faris told Fox News. "I think the opinion within Congress is broadly supportive of these agreements. ... You could argue that's an area where the president has succeeded, and I don't think Democrats want to highlight that success by trying to stop it."
Still, Faris added, if Trump decides to escalate the ongoing trade conflict with China, a congressional clash could be imminent.
"The collision course possible here is with China," Faris said. "If we get to the point where we're talking aboutmost-favored-nation status, I could see a potentially significant battle with Congress over that." (The U.S. has afforded China permanent normal trade relations since 2000, an arrangement that afforded China the same trade advantages as other countries with that designation.)
While more partisan fireworks are likely in the next two years, Faris said, the actual impact of divided government may not be as significant as it might appear, owing to the lack of pending, articulated GOP policy proposals that actually hang in the balance.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who previously directed the Congressional Budget Office and now heads the conservative American Action Forum think tank, agreed, telling Fox News that the Democratic takeover of the House won't actually "change much."
"The only legislative initiative that appears to be at stake is tax reform 2.0," Holtz-Eaken said. "Other than that, the same things happen -- with [Democrats] doing a lot more oversight."

Battleground-state Dems who opposed Kavanaugh all defeated

Incumbent Senate Democrats in battleground states who opposed the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination appeared to have paid a price on Election Day, with senators Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Indiana's Joe Donnelly, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Florida's Bill Nelson all suffering defeat.
In fact, every Democrat incumbent who opposed Kavanaugh in states rated "toss up" by Fox News lost their race. In contrast, the lone Democrat who voted for Kavanaugh, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, won his race.
"Every Dem Senator in a competitive race who voted against Kavanaugh lost," tweeted Tom Bevan, Co-founder of RealClearPolitics. Fox News polling offered evidence the Kavanaugh issue was a major problem for those battleground incumbent Democrats.
A Fox News poll from early October, just before the Kavanaugh confirmation vote, found 34 percent of North Dakotans said they would be less likely to vote for Heitkamp if she voted against Kavanaugh, with just 17 percent saying it would make them more likely to vote for her.
In Missouri, among the 28 percent of voters who said they could still switch candidates, almost twice as many said they'd be less likely to support McCaskill if she opposed Kavanaugh.
In Indiana, a Fox News poll found 32 percent said they would be less likely to vote for Braun if he voted against Kavanaugh, compared to 30 percent who would be more likely.
Sen. Manchin got grief for his vote for Kavanaugh, and was shouted at by protestors with chants of "shame!" One reporter asked him: "Do you think there's still a place for you in the Democratic Party after this?"
Manchin replied by saying, "I'm just a West Virginian."
Manchin also came under fire from his Republican opponent for waiting to announce his vote until after the Republicans had already secured enough votes. Many speculated that had been the deciding vote, he would have gone against Kavanaugh.
But he survived that charge.
The other incumbents Democrats took a different tack. Heitcamp told CNN she had been ready to support Kavanaugh until she heard his testimony. "I saw somebody who was very angry, who was very nervous," she said.
Donnelly came out with a more full-throated statement. “As I have made clear before, sexual assault has no place in our society," he said. "When it does occur, we should listen to the survivors and work to ensure it never happens again."
Lindsey Graham, who was outspoken in condemning what he saw as unfair treatment of Kavanaugh during the hearings -- he told Senate Democrats "God you all want power. I hope you never get it -- chimed in on the subject Tuesday night.
"One of the reasons we are winning big in the Senate tonight is because of the way Democrats treated Brett Kavanaugh," he tweeted.

Dems to flex muscle with new House majority: Subpoenas, investigations, even possible impeachment talks loom

The incoming Democratic majority in the House of Representatives has the power to open a slew of investigations into the White House and President Trump when the new Congress is seated in January, and early indications are that Democrats plan to aggressively take advantage of their new authority.
Bogging down the Trump administration with burdensome document requests and subpoenas could backfire, political analysts tell Fox News, but there is little doubt that the strategy -- made more viable by heightened partisanship and loosened congressional norms -- would impair Republicans' messaging and even policy goals for the next two years.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who aims to reclaim the position of House speaker when her colleagues vote on leadership roles in the coming weeks, recently seemed to threaten to use congressional subpoenas as a cudgel against the White House.
“Subpoena power is interesting, to use it or not to use it,” Pelosi said at a conference in October, referring to the authority of House committees to summon individuals and organizations to testify or provide documents under penalty of perjury. “It is a great arrow to have in your quiver in terms of negotiating on other subjects." She added that she would use the power "strategically."
DEMS RETAKE HOUSE, BUT GOP EXPANDS SENATE MAJORITY -- GIVING THEM CONTROL OVER JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS
On Tuesday night, as it became clear Democrats would retake the House, Pelosi appeared to double down on that rhetoric, declaring that the midterms were about “restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration."
"In sharp contrast to the GOP Congress, a Democratic Congress will be led with transparency and openness, so the public can see what's happening and how it affects them. ... We will have accountability," Pelosi said.

"A Democratic Congress will be led with transparency and openness."
— House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pelosi has said that unearthing Trump's personal tax returns would be "one of the first things we'd do" in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, calling it the "easiest thing in the world" to obtain them using statutory authority granted to congressional committees under the Internal Revenue Service code. Democrats made several efforts to obtain Trump's returns while in the minority, only to be rejected by House Republicans.
Trump would likely seek to stall those requests with legal challenges, and it remains unclear whether Democrats could publicly release his tax returns even if they obtained them for investigative purposes.
Before a rally in Indiana on Monday, Trump appeared unconcerned about the matter. "I don't care," he said. "They can do whatever they want, and I can do whatever I want."
House committees can effectively hold in statutory contempt anyone who refuses to fully comply with a subpoena relevant to the committee's legislative purpose and pertinent to its investigation. While criminal penalties, including fines and even imprisonment, are then possible with a judge's approval, separation-of-powers issues emerge when the House tries to penalize a member of the Executive branch.
In 2014, a federal judge denied House Republicans' efforts to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of court, saying the move was "entirely unnecessary."
FROM MAXINE WATERS TO JERRY NADLER, MEET THE LIKELY NEW HEADS OF KEY HOUSE COMMITTEES 
But even fruitless investigations can beleaguer and derail administrations, and historical evidence suggests they are becoming a popular partisan tool in the lower chamber for that reason.
Research conducted by Cornell University political science professor Douglas Kriner, who co-wrote the 2016 book "Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power," underscores how important control of the House, as opposed to the generally less partisan and slower-moving Senate, is to these congressional probes.
"We examined every congressional investigation from 1898 to 2014 – more than 11,900 days of investigative hearings," Kriner told Fox News. "What we found is that divided government is a major driver of investigations in the House. This is particularly true in periods of intense partisan polarization. For example, from 1981-2014, the House averaged holding 67 days of investigative hearings per year in divided government, versus only 18 per year in unified government."
KAVANAUGH EFFECT? RED-STATE DEMS WHO OPPOSED KAVANAUGH ALL OUSTED IN MIDTERMS
Kriner added that modern congressional probes seem geared towards "maximiz[ing] the political damage on the White House," rather than producing more substantive results. "Investigations are less likely to trigger new legislation than in previous, less polarized eras," Kriner told Fox News.
President Trump has repeatedly derided the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible illegal Russian collusion and obstruction of justice as a "partisan witch hunt," saying it's fueled by Democrats upset that he won the 2016 election. But it's not clear how effective those attacks have been: An August poll showed that 59 percent of registered voters approve of Mueller's investigation.
SECRET WATERGATE 'ROAD MAP' COULD OFFER GUIDANCE FOR MUELLER PROBE 
The House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Adam Schiff, already has warned his party would relaunch the Russia probe in the House with Democrats in charge.
“We will be able to get answers the Republicans were unwilling to pursue,” he recently told CNN.
Democrats have an array of potential avenues of investigation to pursue aside from Russia. In September, a federal judge ruled that Democrats have standing to sue Trump over potential violations of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which ostensibly precludes the president from accepting certain foreign favors. While the legal argument that Trump is violating this clause by maintaining lucrative and profitable overseas investments is far from settled, Democrats' pursuit of this line of argument offers some clues into what their investigations might focus on.
University of North Carolina Law Professor Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional expert who testified during impeachment proceedings of former President Bill Clinton, told Fox News in an interview that Democrats might focus on Trump's financial ties to Saudi Arabia.
"It is possible — would not be a surprise — if there were some interest in exploring the president’s Saudi connections or finances," Gerhardt said, before adding: "It would also not surprise me if the Democrats did not pursue these things."
TRUMP: SAUDI ARABIA DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO USE US-MADE BOMBS IN YEMEN 
The killing of dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey last month led to heightened scrutiny of the past connections between Trump's business empire and the Islamic country. The president initially condemned what he characterized as a rush to judgment against the Saudi government, before saying that its agents had apparently engaged in the "worst cover-up ever."
Trump has tweeted that he has "no financial interests in Saudi Arabia," and there is no evidence that he currently does. However, he has repeatedly touted his real estate deals with the country, saying at a 2015 rally that "they buy apartments from me" and "spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much."
In August, Axios published a spreadsheet circulating among Republican circles on Capitol Hill documenting possible areas of focus for Democratic investigations. They include the White House's revocation of top former officials' security clearances, Trump's unreleased tax returns, and the administration's proposed travel ban and a prohibition on transgender individuals in the military. Other topics on the list, which Axios said originated in the office of a senior Republican lawmaker, are Trump's personal iPhone use and his personal payment to porn star Stormy Daniels -- a move that implicated, but did not appear to definitively violate campaign finance law.
Frequent Trump critic Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said in an interview last week that Democrats intend to "exercise oversight over the executive branch the way the Framers intended."
NAVY SEAL MOCKED BY 'SNL' FOR EYE INJURY WINS HOUSE SEAT
He went on to mirror Pelosi's threat: "We would be able to get Donald Trump's tax returns to see if he's being influenced by foreign entities. ... We can call in the secretary of Homeland Security [to] ask her why she still has hundreds of children she has not reunited that she ripped away from parents at the border. There are a lot of things that we can do with our oversight responsibility."
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who is poised to become the committee's chairman, offered another possible angle in an interview with The Hill. "I want to look at what President Trump has done, aided and abetted by the Republicans in Congress, to tear down the foundations of our democracy," he said.
Republicans who control the Oversight committee have rejected more than 50 Democratic requests for subpoenas of Trump administration documents, covering everything from the White House's decision not to defend key provisions of ObamaCare in court, to perks used by Cabinet members.
A particularly prominent possible investigation would revolve around Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, which critics have cited as potential obstruction of justice in part because Trump acknowledged that Russia-related matters were on his mind at the time.
“The cover-up is always worse than the crime, and this one is very shady,” Andrew Hall, who represented a top adviser to then-President Richard Nixon during Watergate, said in an interview. Hall has maintained that Trump will "undoubtedly be impeached."
However, legal experts, including emeritus Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, have said that penalizing the president for firing an FBI director who serves at his pleasure would be unconstitutional, and others have pointed out that Comey's firing would have done little to halt the Russia probe generally.
TRUMP QUOTES BEN STEIN, SAYS MIDTERMS WERE A 'TREMENDOUS SUCCESS' AS GOP EXPANDS HOLD IN SENATE
Mueller's findings, which are expected to be submitted to Congress in a matter of months, might provide a launching point not only for further investigations but for even impeachment proceedings.
"Impeachments tend to be driven by particular events that are instances of grave misconduct — not liking someone or being an opponent is not likely to be enough to get the whole process started," Gerhardt told Fox News.
Such an escalation, analysts warn, would potentially pose a risk to Democrats. "I don’t think there is something as well developed as a tradition not to seek an impeachment when it appears conviction is unlikely or unthinkable," Gerhardt added. "Nonetheless, I think there is always awareness of the possible risks of seeking an impeachment when conviction is impossible."
Handling many of these congressional inquiries will be the new White House Counsel, veteran high-powered Washington lawyer Pat Cipollone, who will oversee an office that dwindled from a staff of approximately 50 to fewer than 30 in recent weeks. That headcount is expected to expand significantly in the wake of Democrats' House takeover.
"He’s very talented and he’s a very good man," Trump said last month, referring to Cipollone. In a campaign email in the days leading up to Tuesday's vote, the president made an impassioned effort to cut down on Cipollone's workload, saying Democrats are interested only in "vicious obstruction and mindless resistance."
"We can only imagine what they’d do with legitimate power in our government," Trump said. "We can’t hand Democrats the keys to Congress. We can’t go back.”

Democrat Blue Wave Cartoons

Ted Cruz fires back at Jim Carrey's 'vampire' attack with shot at Democrats

Ted Cruz and Jim Carrey engaged in a contentious back-and-forth on Twitter on Monday. (AP)

Liberal Hollywood actor Jim Carrey and GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz engaged in a contentious back-and-forth on Twitter Monday, just hours before voters in the state head to polling stations to help determine Cruz’s fate in the Senate.
Cruz is holding a slight lead in his race against Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke in the Lone Star State, according to the recent polls. So Carrey, a vocal liberal who recently urged Americans to ‘stop apologizing’ and ‘say yes to socialism,' got into the fray by tweeting his support for the Democrat.
“Go Beto! Go Democrats! Vote like there’s no tomorrow,” the “Ace Ventura” star tweeted Monday. “Let’s make this Tuesday like the end of every great vampire movie. Pull back the curtains and let the sunshine turn all those bloodsuckers to dust.”
The tweet accompanied the actor's art showing O’Rourke opening a window curtain as Cruz fled from sunlight.
“Hollywood liberals all in for Beto,” Cruz soon tweeted in response. “But (self-described socialist) Jim Carrey made a mistake here:  Vampires are dead, and everyone knows the dead vote Democrat...”
But Carrey didn’t back down from his Cruz criticism and instead doubled-down in a Monday night response.
CLICK FOR COMPLETE FOX NEWS 2018 MIDTERMS COVERAGE
“Wow...sorry I rattled your chain, @TedCruz,” the actor wrote. “I thought you would have more important things to do two days before an election — like sucking up to the guy who called your wife ugly and accused your dad of murder. But I get it! It’s hard to say no when Trump grabs ya by the p----!”
President Trump and the Texas senator had a contentious relationship during the last presidential primary season but apparently mended ties ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
'TAYLOR SWIFT EFFECT' ON SENATE RACE DISMISSED BY TENNESSEE STUDENTS
Cruz, however, isn’t the only GOP politician Carrey has targeted; the actor's recently painted a series of unflattering portraits of Trump administration officials.
“I don't know when it'll stop,” he said in August.

Crowd at Trump rally sings 'Amazing Grace' after woman collapses

The crowd at President Donald Trump’s rally in Missouri on Monday evening began singing "Amazing Grace" after a woman collapsed and needed medical attention.
Trump paused his rally for roughly five minutes after asking the audience to say a prayer as emergency responders made their way to the woman.
"Is there a doctor in the house, please? Doctor? Please. Thank you," the president said while pointing to the woman in the crowd, according to The Hill.
As the woman received medical treatment, the crowd of thousands broke out into song.
"That was beautiful," Trump said after resuming his spot behind the podium. “Hopefully she’ll be OK.”
"Amazing Grace" has been recorded more than 6,600 times, according to reports.
The song was written in 1779 (or a few years earlier) by John Newton, an English poet and clergyman who died in 1807. Newton, as a young man, deserted the English Navy, was recaptured and punished and became involved in slave trading. He later had a religious awakening during a storm at sea before becoming a prolific hymn composer.
More than two centuries later, it's a fixture across spiritual and secular culture. It's been played at some of the country's most somber gatherings: Memorial services following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing and the attack that killed 32 students at Virginia Tech.
The familiar, inspirational first verse: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
"That saved a wretch like me.
"I once was lost but now am found.
"Was blind, but now I see."
Subsequent verses offer reassurance, protection and fulfillment.
During Monday night’s rally in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Trump touted his administration’s progress the past two years, while making his final case for Republican candidates as voters head to the polls for the midterm elections on Tuesday.
Medical emergencies are common at presidential rallies, where security requires attendees to be in place for hours ahead of time.

Election Day arrives: What’s at stake in midterm battles for Congress, governorships

It’s finally here.
After hundreds of campaign rallies, billions of dollars in donations, a nonstop blitz of TV advertising and polling that’s been in full swing since summer, Election Day has arrived – and with it, voters’ midterm verdict on whether Republicans should hold or lose their grip on power in Washington.
Democrats have been working toward this day since the moment President Trump was sworn in. They’ve waited two long years for the shot to win enough seats in Congress to cripple the 45th president’s agenda.
In the end, the elections will go one of three ways: Republicans hold both chambers, Democrats take the majority in both, or the parties split the House and Senate. Either of the latter two scenarios would be problematic for Trump, immediately putting a damper on his agenda.
By the numbers, 35 Senate seats, 36 gubernatorial seats and 435 House seats are up for grabs on Tuesday. And the biggest names in both parties say the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“America is at a crossroads right now,” former President Barack Obama told supporters in Illinois over the weekend, saying it “might be the most important election of my lifetime, maybe more important than 2008.”
Trump himself has been campaigning non-stop in recent days, telling voters they must keep Democrats from taking back control of the House and Senate, or his agenda could be in jeopardy. The party of the president has historically lost seats in their first midterm elections.
“We have to win,” Trump told supporters Monday during a telephone town hall, ticking off accomplishments during his first years in office and warning everything he’s accomplished as president can be “undone and changed by the Democrats.”
Here’s the lay of the land on Election Day:

• For Democrats, their best shot at winning back control of a body of Congress is in the House, where they need to net 23 seats for a majority. Whether they flip the House or not, Democrats are still expected to gain seats in the chamber, given the favorable political environment for Democrats.
• Republicans currently hold a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate, and Democrats have long aimed to win back control. But it will be more difficult for Democrats to be victorious in the Senate by netting two seats in part because of the large number of incumbent Democrats running for re-election in states won by Trump in 2016.
• Republicans currently control 33 governorships, with Democrats holding 16. But with 36 seats up this year, Democrats are likely to pick up at least some seats. According to the Fox News Gubernatorial Power Rankings, Republicans are favored to control at least 22 seats by the end of the night and Democrats are favored have at least 20 seats, with 8 additional toss-up races.

Election watchers could be in for a long time. The first polls, on the East Coast, close at 7 p.m. ET. After polls on the West Coast close at 11 p.m. ET, the last will close in Alaska at 1 a.m. ET.

Ahead of the vote, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi confidently predicted last week that Democrats would indeed win back the House.
“Let me say this. Up until today, I would’ve said, ‘If the election were held today, we would win,’” Pelosi said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Tuesday. “What now I’m saying is, ‘We will win.’”
But there are no guarantees about Election Day, even as generic congressional ballots show Democrats with the advantage over Republicans. While Democrats need to net 23 seats for a majority, the Fox News House Power Rankings indicate there are 29 “toss-up” races.
If Democrats are victorious, the Trump administration likely will be in for a challenging 2019. Should Democrats re-take the House, there are signs some in the conference may launch a push to impeach the president – though the leadership has not yet backed the effort. Pelosi has said impeachment is "not a priority," at least not until Special Counsel Robert Mueller announces the conclusions of his probe into the Trump administration's alleged dealings with Russia.
Trump, though, almost assuredly will face an avalanche of investigations into his tax returns, his payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and his relationship with Russia if Democrats win back the House – which comes with the much-coveted power to subpoena and launch congressional investigations.
PRESIDENT TRUMP'S CLOSING ARGUMENT: VOTE REPUBLICAN AND CONTINUE THE JOBS BOOM
A number of prominent anti-Trump Democrats also would be poised to assume control of key committees if Republicans lose control of the House.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., likely would be elevated to chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, where she currently serves as ranking member. Another top California Democratic representative, Adam Schiff, would likely rise to chair the House Intelligence Committee, where he is now the ranking member. And Pelosi would look to regain the speakership.
Still, if Democrats win the House – but Republicans hold the Senate – their legislative priorities likely would stall.
In the Senate, the Fox News Senate Power Rankings lists Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Arizona and Nevada as the five most competitive races. Of those races, Democrats in three states won by Trump are defending their seats.
Republicans feel more confident about keeping control of the Senate – or possibly adding to their majority. But the threat to the Trump agenda is real if they lose control. Democrats have a narrow path to the majority if they run the table in the toss-ups and pick off one GOP-favored seat, like Texas or Tennessee. If Democrats win control of both houses of Congress, they could send legislation to Trump’s desk. And, in the Senate, they would have the votes to block any of Trump's nominees – coming after Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s brutal confirmation fight last month.
On the day before America votes, Trump hopscotched to rallies in three battleground states -- in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.
In Ohio, Trump campaigned for a slate of Republicans, including Jim Renacci in his bid to unseat Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown. Trump won the state with 52 percent of the vote in 2016 but the Fox News Senate Power Rankings lists that contest as “likely Democrat.”
Later Monday, the president flew to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he is hoping to give Republican Mike Braun an assist to defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly. He then traveled to Missouri to lend a hand to Josh Hawley in his campaign to beat incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Meanwhile, in state capitals across the country, Republicans have control of a majority of governorships, holding 33 to the Democrats’ 16 seats.
Democrats are likely to pick up at least some seats, with 36 gubernatorial seats up for grabs this year. According to the Fox News Gubernatorial Power Rankings, 15 of the contested seats lean Republican, 13 lean Democrat and eight are tossups.
For Republicans, holding on to control of state houses is important, considering that’s where real policy changes may take place if Democrats win control of Congress and Washington effectively deadlocks.
Among the most-watched races: Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker is locked in a tight re-election battle with Democratic challenger Tony Evers and Tallahassee Democratic Mayor Andrew Gillum is facing off against Trump-backed GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis in Florida.
Though the political environment seems to favor Democrats, Trump argued Monday that Republican voters are energized heading into Tuesday’s vote, saying he hasn’t felt such “electricity” since he was elected president in 2016.
"Tomorrow, with your votes, you can stop the radical resistance in its tracks," Trump told the crowd in Cleveland.
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.

Trump on the ballot as midterm elections turn on president’s record, influence

To some Republicans' chagrin, President Trump has openly embraced Democrats' efforts to cast Tuesday's midterm elections as a referendum on his record and political clout, a kind of ultimate test after a bruising midterm season that saw many of his hand-picked candidates surge to victories in key primaries.
Election Day marks voters' first nationwide opportunity to react not only to Trump's tenure, but also to the slew of recent developments that have reverberated in the public consciousness, including the deadly mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, the swelling migrant caravans making their way to the U.S. border with Mexico, and the mail bombs sent to prominent liberals by an outspoken supporter of the president.
"In a sense, I am on the ticket,” Trump told a raucous election-eve rally in Ohio, one of three he held in the final hours before Election Day. "The midterm elections used to be, like, boring, didn't they?" he added. "Do you even remember what they were? People say midterms, they say, 'What is that, what is it,' right? Now it's like the hottest thing."
Trump has held 26 rallies since October as he criss-crossed the country, boosting not only local candidates but also his own stake in Tuesday's vote. In Mississippi in October, Trump urged supports to imagine they could vote for him when they head into the voting booth: “I'm not on the ballot, but in a certain way, I'm on the ballot. I want you to vote. ... Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
At an airport in Indiana ahead of another Monday evening rally, Trump simultaneously seemed to downplay his role while also expressing an eagerness to bear the responsibility for his party's performance on Tuesday.
"It's really about the candidate, but if they want to give me the credit or the liability, I'll be willing to take it," Trump told reporters.

"In a sense, I am on the ticket."
— President Trump

Over the past several months, Trump has unabashedly taken credit for the big wins enjoyed by several Republican candidates throughout this year's primary season, which often came directly after his endorsement.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is locked in a tight gubernatorial race against Stacey Abrams, had surged ahead of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle only after he secured Trump's backing. Similarly, Republican John Cox secured a spot on Tuesday's ballot in California's gubernatorial race when Trump urged the party to coalesce behind him.
KEMP ANNOUNCES LAST-MINUTE PROBE INTO POSSIBLE VOTER HACKING BY GEORGIA DEMOCRATS
Perhaps the most stunning example of Trump's influence unfolded on June 12 in South Carolina, when Trump-bashing Rep. Mark Sanford was unseated by Katie Arrington. As voters headed to the polls, Trump tweeted that "Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my campaign to MAGA" and called him "MIA and nothing but trouble."
Also attributable, at least in part, to Trump's endorsements: Republican State Sen. Troy Balderson pushing back a challenge from insurgent Democrat Danny O’Connor in Ohio's special election in August; South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster's win over rival businessman John Warren; and New York Rep. Dan Donovan's rise to beat Michael Grimm.
"When I decided to go to Ohio for Troy Balderson, he was down in early voting 64 to 36," Trump tweeted. "That was not good. After my speech on Saturday night, there was a big turn for the better. Now Troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. He will win BIG in Nov." (Fox News currently rates Balderson's bid for Ohio's 12th Congressional District as lean Republican.)
TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO DENY ASLYUM-SEEKERS WHO DON'T ARRIVE AT PORT OF ENTRY, IN APPARENT ATTEMPT TO REJECT MANY CARAVAN MEMBERS
But as voters head to the polls, some Republicans are suggesting that Trump's fiery, immigration-focused messaging may have derailed the GOP's electoral chances in some key races. And Trump himself seemingly acknowledged that, despite his efforts, his party is looking at long odds in several congressional races.
“I think we’re going to do well in the House," Trump said. "But, as you know, my primary focus has been on the Senate, and I think we’re doing really well in the Senate.”
Last week, Trump rebuked House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and told him that he "should be focusing on holding the Majority" rather than challenge his proposal to end birthright citizenship -- which was widely seen as an effort to cast some blame on Ryan if Democrats retake the lower chamber.
Last Friday's jobs report showed the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7 percent, the lowest it has been in nearly 50 years, and that employers added roughly 250,000 jobs in October. Consumer confidence is at record-high levels. In an exclusive Fox News op-ed published Monday, Trump focused extensively on the economy, which he called "red-hot" and "the envy of the world."
TRUMP MAKES CLOSING ARGUMENT IN FOX NEWS OP-ED: VOTE REPUBLICAN AND CONTINUE THE JOBS BOOM
At times, though, Trump has appeared unwilling to discuss those figures publicly.
"Sometimes it’s not as exciting to talk about the economy because we have a lot of other things to talk about," Trump said at a rally Wednesday night in West Virginia. He proceeded to discuss the migrant caravan and birthright citizenship -- more contentious issues that analysts say may turn off some moderate voters.
"Does that bring a single person to the polls? Is it moving any undecided voter — toward you, anyway?" Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist asked, in an interview with The Washington Examiner. "Immigration is not a consensus issue within the current Republican Party because so many Republican voters are immigrants."
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times on Monday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Trump "owns the Republican Party even more than Reagan" -- and he's wielding that historic influence accordingly.
"He has polarized the election on the issues he believes in, on his terms, despite the news media," Gingrich said. "You can argue whether or not it’s the right gamble. But it’s his gamble.”

Oprah Cartoons

Pete Davidson doesn't owe me an apology, Crenshaw says

Republican congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw reacts to the crowd with his wife, Tara, during a party at the Cadillac Bar, in Houston. (Houston Chronicle via AP)

Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican Congressional candidate, took the high road Sunday after 'Saturday Night Live' actor Pete Davidson joked that the former Navy SEAL's eye patch made him look like a "hit man in a porno movie."
Davidson stirred up controversy during Saturday's "Weekend Update" when he said Crenshaw's photo was "kinda cool," but that viewers might be "surprised he's a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie." He added, "I'm sorry, I know he lost his eye in the war or whatever."
Crenshaw wears an eyepatch because he was badly wounded during his third tour in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL.
PETE DAVIDSON MOCKS REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, FORMER NAVY SEAL WHO LOST AN EYE IN AFGHANISTAN
The National Republican Congressional Committee tweeted Sunday morning that David and NBC "should immediately apologize to Dan, and to the millions of veterans and military families who tune in every weekend -- because they're not laughing."
But Crenshaw backed away from demanding an apology from either Davidson or NBC. He said the "real atrocity" was Davidson's attempt at a joke, which he called "not funny" and "mean-spirited."
"[I]t wasn't even funny. Right? It was not original, it was not funny, it was just mean-spirited and that's how I feel about it," Crenshaw told TMZ.
"I want us to get away from this culture where we demand apologies everytime someone misspeaks," Crenshaw said. "I think that would be very healthy for our nation to go in that direction."

FILE: Pete Davidson speaks at a Comedy Central Roast at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif.  (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

"We don't need to be outwardly outraged. I don't need to demand apologies from them. They can do whatever they want." He acknowledged that Davidson and NBC are likely "feeling the heat from around the country right now."
'THANK U, NEXT' -- ARIANA GRANDE DROPS NEW SONG BEFORE 'SNL,' NAME-CHECKS PETE DAVIDSON, MAC MILLER
"But I would like him and 'Saturday Night Live' to recognize something, which is that veterans across the country probably don't feel as though their wounds they received in battle should be the subject of a bad punchline for a bad joke," Crenshaw said.
Neither representatives for Davidson not NBC immediately responded to Fox News' request for comment.