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The least expensive dozen eggs available for delivery from a Hannaford grocery store in Bangor, Maine, this morning cost $7.99.
(We, of course, picked that grocery store at random and not because it’s located in a perennially competitive House district held by Democrat Jared Golden in a state with a battleground Senate race featuring Appropriations Chair Susan Collins in 2026.)
At least for the moment, the politics of eggs are real, and they seem emblematic of two broader trend stories in the political and policy space that we cover here at CQ Roll Call.
One is the Trump administration’s efforts, through the office known as the Department of Government Efficiency, to reduce the size of the federal workforce. The mass termination of probationary government employees, which appears to be a prelude to larger-scale federal worker layoffs, included Agriculture Department employees working to combat avian flu, as Iowa Public Radio reported.
USDA is among the departments and agencies that have needed to recall workers originally terminated as part of the DOGE efforts. On Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a plan to spend $1 billion to address bird flu, as Olivia M. Bridges reported for Roll Call. The United States could also import more eggs in an effort to bring prices down, and as Rollins wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, more Americans could raise their own chickens.
Which brings us, of course, to the other part of the story: inflation. President Donald Trump ran and won on promises of bringing down costs, and his party’s midterm prospects may ultimately be tied pretty directly to the cost of living.
The latest Economist/YouGov numbers show only 19 percent of U.S. adults think the economy is “getting better.” Or, as our Editor-in-Chief Jason Dick writes this week, “No really; it’s still the economy, stupid.”
Starting gate
What’s old is new again: Democrats are criticizing the budget resolution adopted by House Republicans this week as an attack on Medicaid, reviving their 2018 focus on health care that helped them win the House as they look to another Trump midterm next year.
DelBene’s deputies: Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene has announced the full roster of House Democrats who will support her efforts as DCCC chair for the 2026 cycle. They include four regional vice chairs: Reps. Lizzie Fletcher of Texas, Sara Jacobs of California, Rob Menendez of New Jersey and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin.
Donalds for governor: Florida Rep. Byron Donalds has formally announced his candidacy for governor in what could be a contentious GOP primary against Florida first lady Casey DeSantis. Donalds already has Trump’s endorsement.
Ramaswamy for governor: Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy made his bid for Ohio governor official this week. Hours after officially launching his campaign, the short-lived co-leader of Trump’s DOGE effort picked up the president’s endorsement.
Town hall backlash: During last week’s House recess, some GOP members who have embraced Trump’s agenda faced anger from constituents at town hall meetings. Voters in blue districts also turned out, pressing Democrats to take an aggressive stance against the president and the sweeping cuts undertaken at his direction by DOGE.
#MNSEN: Our colleague Olivia M. Bridges profiles Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, who was elevated by her fellow Democrats to be ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee this year. Craig is also weighing a Senate bid to succeed retiring Democrat Tina Smith, telling Olivia that she’s having conversations with stakeholders back home but expects to take more time before making a final decision. If she does run, one candidate Craig won’t have to face for the Democratic nomination is Gov. Tim Walz, who passed on a Senate run this week as he weighs a third gubernatorial term.
Know your congressman: Alabama Democrat Shomari Figures talks to Roll Call’s Jackie Wang about his road to running for the House, which included staffing stints in all three branches of government. And Ohio Republican Michael Rulli spoke to Daniela about his eclectic path to politics.
Ridin’ with Biden: Roll Call’s final installment of our annual vote studies series looked at 2024 votes on legislation that former President Joe Biden took a position on. As Niels and Roll Call’s Ryan Kelly report, support for Biden’s priorities remained steady in his final year in office, with an uptick in Republican backing in both chambers.
ICYMI
Snowbird district: With Donalds seeking the Florida governorship, speculation over who could succeed him in the 19th District is swirling around several former elected officials who have relocated to the Sunshine State. According to Florida Politics, potential GOP candidates include former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, former New York Rep. Chris Collins and former Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis.
#KYSEN: Republican Daniel Cameron, the former Kentucky attorney general who is running for Senate, criticized his former boss, retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, for opposing some Trump nominees.
New York shuffle: New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado said Monday he won’t run for reelection alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul next year. The former Democratic congressman said he’ll be exploring “all options” — and he filed a new campaign committee with the state elections board a day later, the (Albany) Times Union reported — suggesting he could challenge Hochul for the state’s top job. Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, himself a potential gubernatorial candidate in New York, backed Andrew Cuomo for New York City mayor, although the former governor hasn’t officially entered the race. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, said Cuomo would be “a candidate that a lot of people … would be very interested in checking out.”
Guv watch: In Pennsylvania, state Sen. Doug Mastriano is weighing a rematch against the Democrat who trounced him in 2022, Gov. Josh Shapiro, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. In New Mexico, former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima has launched an exploratory campaign for governor, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Fellow Democrat and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is already running. And in Virginia, a pair of GOP hard-liners are looking to challenge Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the primary for the open governor’s race this year. Former Del. Dave LaRock has filed paperwork and is collecting signatures for a gubernatorial run, the Virginia Scope reports, while former state Sen. Amanda Chase, who has billed herself as “Trump in heels,” is also collecting signatures to earn a place on the ballot.
Blue on blue: Massachusetts Rep. Stephen F. Lynch may face a primary challenger, Politico reports. Attorney Patrick Roath is seriously considering a run against the longtime Democrat, who received a cool reception at a rally in Boston last week, according to MassLive.
McCain, D-Ariz.? The Cook Political Report looks at potential Democratic candidates for House seats in Arizona this cycle. They include Jimmy McCain, whom some Democrats are trying to recruit to challenge GOP Rep. David Schweikert in the 1st District. McCain, the son of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, announced last year that he had registered as a Democrat and was backing Kamala Harris for president.
Party chairs: Michigan Republicans picked state Sen. Jim Runestad as their new state party chair over Meshawn Maddock, who is a former party co-chair and close Trump ally, and Joseph Cella, a former Trump ambassador. Former state Sen. Curtis Hertel, who lost a competitive House race last year to Republican Tom Barrett, will chair the state Democratic Party.
Charges dismissed: A New Jersey judge dropped racketeering charges against power broker George Norcross, a former Democratic National Committee member who is the brother of Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross.
What we’re reading
All politics is local: The 51st ponders what might happen if Congress passes a bill proposed by two Republicans to eliminate D.C.’s home rule. Even though Trump has endorsed the idea, the measure faces long odds.
A gap in Cumberland: The Boston Globe explores a political rift in Cumberland, Maine, which is at the center of a dispute between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills over transgender athletes. Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Maine House voted to censure Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby, who posted photos and identifying information about a transgender student-athlete days before Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the state for not complying with his recent executive order.
No contest: The New York Times takes a look at the “death of competition” in U.S. elections. A third of House members ran unopposed in their primaries last year, while three-quarters of state legislative primaries were uncontested, the Times analysis found.
Cash is king: Trump may not be eligible for another White House run under the Constitution, but his campaign is still fundraising. National Journal looks at whether Trump may spread the wealth with other Republicans on the ballot in next year’s elections — something he hasn’t prioritized in past midterms.
Behind the alliance: Axios provides a behind-the-scenes look at the relationship between Trump and Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.
Donor disquiet: Democrats looking to rebuild their party after sweeping Republican wins last year are encountering frustrations from some donors, upset at how their money was spent in the last election, The Hill reports.
The count: 3
That’s how many of Trump’s nominees Mitch McConnell has voted against so far this year.
While the president has often denigrated the Kentucky Republican and his time as Senate leader, McConnell had previously been steadfast in his support for Trump’s nominees.
His votes against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary were his first real votes against a Republican president’s picks in decades.
Over the 12 years encompassing the presidency of George W. Bush and Trump’s first term, McConnell, who is retiring next year, voted against a presidential nominee just five times. One of those was a parliamentary move “reserving the right to reconsider,” often employed by Senate leaders when their majority loses a vote and they want the effective option of a do-over.
Three others were votes he cast along with most of his Republican colleagues against nominees to fill spots reserved for Democrats.
Before this year, the only time in the past quarter-century that McConnell broke with a majority of Republicans to oppose the nominee of a GOP president was in 2001, when he voted against Bush’s renomination of Roger W. Ferguson Jr., a Clinton appointee, to the Federal Reserve. McConnell and fellow Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning were the only senators to oppose Ferguson’s confirmation vote, arguing that his views were too similar to then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s.
— By Roll Call’s Ryan Kelly
Coming up
Lawmakers will gather in the House chamber Tuesday night for Trump’s first address before a joint session of Congress in his second term.
Photo finish
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The post At the Races: Great egg-spectations appeared first on Roll Call.
