📝 Readback: Behind the scenes at the Dem retreat

IN THIS EDITION

Behind the scenes at House Dems’ retreat

A meat-y conversation with Padilla

Up close and personal with the US hockey team at SOTU

Talking SOTU on Reddit AMA

THE TOP

Behind the scenes at House Dems’ retreat

Welcome to The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week – a quick roundup of all our scoops, analysis and Capitol Hill insight you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve also included a few of our favorite outside reads from the week.

Dems retreat. My colleague Max Cohen and I just got back from three days in Leesburg, Va., where House Democrats gathered to plot their 2026 battle plan.

It was great to get outside of D.C. with the rest of the Capitol Hill press corps, lawmakers, and their staff. The reporters were treated to a lot of press conferences, which we wrote about in our AM, PM and Midday editions.

I’d like to use this Readback to dig into some of the private, member-only sessions.

The historians. Democrats attended an all-star panel Thursday night. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries moderated a discussion on America’s 250th anniversary with authors Ron Chernow, Heather Cox Richardson and Isabel Wilkerson.

I read Wilkerson’s book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” and Chernow’s George Washington biography last year. I had extreme FOMO missing this event, but reporters were not allowed. And no one would sneak me in.

Put together, the expertise of these historians spans hundreds of years of American history. Chernow has written extensively on the country’s founding. Richardson specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Wilkerson wrote the incredible undercovered story of the Great Migration.

Chernow told lawmakers the founders were afraid of someone like President Donald Trump in the White House and that fear drove them to vest powers in Congress in Article One of the Constitution, per sources in the room for the panel. Richardson discussed how the creators of the Republican Party in the mid-nineteenth century were worried about oligarchs.

The panel also discussed parallels between Trump’s incorrect insistence that he won the 2020 election to the Lost Cause myth perpetrated at the end of the Civil War.

Several Democrats told me this was their favorite part of the retreat.

The auction. There were also more light-hearted parts of the week. We noted in our Friday AM edition that DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene capped off her midterm presentation to the caucus with an auction.

The event brought in $1.75 million for the DCCC.

I got a lot of questions about the auction winners and prizes, so I did a little digging.

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) won a special edition bottle of Old Forester Bourbon.

Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) won the right to push a pie in the face of House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. She delegated this task to Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.).

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) won what I’m told are very good tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert.

What I’m listening to: My Kindle is still stuck in Texas! So I’ll share a podcast this week. I’m listening to Hilary Duff’s interview on “Call Her Daddy,” and I’m very excited to learn her side of the Toxic Mom Group saga.

– Ally Mutnick

You can find The Readback in your inbox every Saturday at 8 a.m. And don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with feedback. Enjoy The Readback.

A meat-y conversation with Padilla

This week, I had the pleasure of making my debut on the Fly Out Day-verse — stepping in for the inimitable Max Cohen in the Punchbowl News Pink Room.

Our guest this week was Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). Punchbowl News Founders Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer handled the main interview, where they talked about the latest in California politics and the ongoing shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security. I got to ask the fun questions at the end.

My first question, which I thought would be a bit of a snoozer if I’m being honest, was what Padilla brings with him from California when he comes to Washington every week.

“Mexican food,” Padilla said. I expected the California Democrat to begin rattling off his favorite hot sauces — you know, something easy to transport in carry-on luggage. That is not what he did.

Padilla paid the Beltway its due for its Mexican culinary scene. “You can find some around Washington, D.C., but certainly not the variety of spices and chilies,” Padilla said. “And even certain quality meats have made the cross-country voyage.”

I nodded along until that point. Then I stopped and processed what Padilla had said. “You’re bringing meat with you?” I asked, in a way that could best be described as not chill.

Padilla was ready for the follow-up. “Go the night before. Throw it in the freezer, and then it travels just fine. Throw it back in the fridge or freezer the next day,” the California Democrat said. “Carne asada. Can’t live without.”

I told Padilla I could appreciate that — which may or may not have been true — and we moved on.

More highlights from our interview with Padilla:

— The California senator on the governor’s race and whether he will weigh in.

— Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has thrown her support behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s looming campaign for president. Did Padilla?

— Padilla on where talks to end the DHS shutdown stand.

— Padilla throws some shade at the Democratic National Committee.

What I’m reading: I’ve recently been inducted into a book club with some friends in the area. (I had to fill out an application, which included an essay component. They’re a fun group.) First up: “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison. Not a book I’d describe as a “light read,” but it’s been difficult to put down. The combination of supernatural elements and the emotional clarity of the characters is deeply compelling.

– Brendan Pedersen and Haley Talbot

Up close and personal with the US hockey team at SOTU

I was sitting in the House Periodical Press Gallery with my colleagues, about half an hour before President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Jake Sherman and Laura Weiss had tickets to view the speech from the House chamber. I had planned to watch it on TV, but was still holding out hope for a ticket to come through. At around 8:50 p.m., gallery staff informed us they had one more standing ticket left.

My colleague Brendan Pedersen initially spoke up to express interest in attending, but decided standing for two hours would distract from his goal of writing an item for the AM newsletter.

I jumped in and volunteered to take the ticket. It turned out to be a great decision.

I followed the staff to the House Daily Press Gallery, a quick walk across the third floor of the Capitol. When I entered, I could immediately tell something was different. I saw a ton of security personnel. And the room was quieter than usual.

As I walked deeper into the gallery, I was starstruck to see the entire U.S. men’s hockey team occupying the seats filled every day by the Hill press corps.

We knew the gold-medal-winning team would be part of the State of the Union address, but I didn’t realize how the players would be incorporated. Trump had, at the last-minute, invited the players to attend the speech directly after their epic victory over Canada in Sunday’s clash in Milan.

Because I came in later than other reporters, I got to see the men’s team chilling in the gallery, wearing navy blue sweaters with gold medals around their necks.

I’m a huge Washington Capitals fan and watched every game of the American men’s journey to gold. I was totally star-struck and couldn’t stop grinning as I took my place in the standing section of the gallery.

As I watched Trump file in shortly thereafter, I wondered how the president would ultimately incorporate the hockey team into the spectacle.

Roughly halfway into the speech, the hockey team filed right down the aisles, feet away from where I was standing. The entire chamber erupted into a long standing ovation as the Olympians waved and showed off their medals. Trump announced that he’d be awarding goalie Connor Hellebuyck the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

It was incredible to be so close to the history-making Olympic squad. As the players filed out of the chamber, I shook their hands and thanked them for making the country proud.

I wish players on the iconic women’s hockey team, who were also invited to the State of the Union, could have made it to the speech. The women’s incredible overtime win over Canada, which inspired Jack Hughes, deserves the same praise.

While politics and partisan squabbles dominated the coverage of Trump’s speech, I was stoked to brush shoulders with my hockey heroes.

What I’m reading: “The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro. So far, there’s been more information about butlers than I’ve ever thought about.

– Max Cohen

Talking SOTU on Reddit AMA

The morning after President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address, my colleague Laura Weiss and I did a Reddit AMA — “ask me anything.”

We thought it would be a great way to help people make sense of Trump’s marathon speech and what it means for the midterms, the 2026 legislative agenda and so much more.

The r/Politics subreddit has around 9 million followers and 5 million weekly viewers, so it was the perfect place to interact directly with people who watched the speech.

Laura and I even did the famous “hostage photo” to advertise it ahead of time. We are both Philadelphia sports fans, so I made sure to get the memorabilia at our desk spaces in the background of mine, of course.

I quickly realized why these AMAs are so popular. Americans are eager to talk to subject-matter experts on things like politics, and we received tons of really good questions.

The best question I got was from a user who asked about Trump’s attempt to be forward-looking while also touting his perceived successes. This is the GOP’s biggest conundrum for the midterms. Republicans have different ideas about whether the party should address affordability concerns more directly throughout the year or lean on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and wait for those effects to be felt.

Redditors also asked about tariffs, funding for the Department of Homeland Security, and even congressional procedures.

Overall, we spent about an hour in a conference room answering questions from Reddit users.

It was the perfect kind of community interaction we prioritize at Punchbowl News. And it complemented our regular efforts to build and maintain connections with our audience, including through our Brown Bag Lunches, Community Briefings, Townhouse events and so much more.

By the way, the AMA is still up, so if you have any burning questions, we may still be able to get to them!

What I’m watching: Baseball is almost back, with spring training already getting underway. What better way to start things off than with Kyle Schwarber obliterating a baseball?

— Andrew Desiderio