Author: Heather Cox Richardson

Representative Mary Peltola (D-AK) won Alaska’s House seat on November 25 for a full term after taking it this summer in a special election to replace Representative Don Young (R-AK), who died in office in March after 49 years in Congress. Peltola is the first woman to represent Alaska and, as Yup’ik, is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress. Peltola was endorsed by Alaskans of both parties, including Republicans like Senator Lisa Murkowski. Peltola promised to protect abortion and the salmon fisheries and was elected thanks to Alaska’s recent adoption of ranked choice voting, in which votes...

Midterm results gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives after a campaign in which they emphasized inflation. On November 17, Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who has received his party’s nomination to become speaker of the House, along with other Republican leadership, outlined for reporters their plans for the session. “We must be relentless in our oversight of this administration,” the number 2 Republican in the House, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, told his colleagues. They plan to begin a raft of investigations: into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, the origins of Covid-19, the FBI, the withdrawal from Afghanistan,...

November 8 was a good day for democracy. Americans turned out to defend our principles from those who denied our right to choose our own leaders. There was little violence, the election appears to have gone smoothly, and there are few claims of “fraud.” As of November 10 control of the House and Senate is still not clear, but some outlines are now visible. Usually, the party in power loses a significant number of congressional seats and state seats in the first midterm after it takes the presidency. President Joe Biden spoke to reporters on November 9 and noted...