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Happy Tuesday morning. Election Day is one week from today.

News: House Republicans are planning to hold leadership elections the week after Election Day, several sources told us. The House Republican Conference will hold its candidate forum on Monday, Nov. 14 and the election on Tuesday, Nov. 15. These dates haven’t been finalized, but this is the timeline top Republicans are envisioning.

House Democrats, meanwhile, are likely to hold their leadership elections after Thanksgiving. This has happened twice in recent years – 2016 and 2018 – although it’s open to interpretation who precisely that benefits.

Now let’s dig into what all this means. First we’ll look at the Republican side. Quick leadership elections benefit the current leaders and those members who are best organized.

If Republicans take the House, the GOP lawmakers with the most work to do is NRCC Chair Tom Emmer, who’s trying to put together a campaign to become majority whip. Emmer has done the least personal outreach to members because he believes it’s important to win the majority before starting to run for leadership.

If he’s successful on Election Day, the Minnesota Republican will have one week to gather the votes he needs to win. Should Republicans have a big night, Emmer will have an easier time finding support.

Of course, Republicans will have to decide whether they want to elevate Emmer, who’s been feuding with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. Some worry an Emmer win would effectively make the leadership an object of the TV commentator’s ire.

And Emmer’s rivals – Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) – have been meeting with lawmakers for weeks.

There’s also a contest between Reps. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) and Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) to replace Emmer at the NRCC. Hudson has the edge. We wrote about Hudson and LaHood last week.

For the other top GOP posts, we don’t expect any serious challenge to Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise or Elise Stefanik – if Republicans take the majority.

On the Democratic side, there’s a lot of uncertainty, of course.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi — still dealing with the aftermath of Friday’s horrific attack against Paul Pelosi at the family’s San Francisco home – has been struggling to save the endangered Democratic majority. Whether Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn can and will remain in power depends on what happens next week.

Democrats still haven’t scheduled their elections but everyone we talked to said they would occur sometime after Thanksgiving. Some senior Democrats are even pushing for a date in December, meaning it could be a month after Election Day until House Democrats know who will be leading them into the next Congress.

In the past, Pelosi has moved around the date of leadership elections depending on her needs. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) forced a delay in 2016 when he unsuccessfully challenged the California Democrat. Pelosi herself called for a delay in 2018 to get ahead of a potential rebellion.

The dynamic this time around could be much different. In past years, Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn ran without serious challengers. This year, one or more of them could try to stay. But it’s also likely – and expected – that the trio would face a challenge from younger members if Democrats lose the majority.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries – one of the few Democratic leadership positions with a term-limit – along with Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark and Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar have all indicated they would like to move up, and soon.

The question in this case is who does this delay benefit? Usually in leadership elections, particularly in the Democratic Caucus, the member who announces they’re running first – whether for leadership or a top committee post – has the advantage. But with so much up in the air for Democrats right now, it’s hard to see who gains the most by having three, maybe even four weeks to mount a challenge and build a coalition of supporters.

One more thing: House Democrats will be voting for leadership again using a secure phone app, we’re told. They started this in 2020 due to the pandemic but are sticking with the electronic voting system this time around.

– Jake Sherman, Heather Caygle and John Bresnahan

New: We’re interviewing Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) on Monday, Nov. 21 at 12 p.m. ET in a one-on-one virtual conversation about the importance of privacy and security in existing and new technologies. The event is the second in a three-part series, “Building Trust in Technology,” presented by Trusted Future. RSVP here!