The Archive
Every issue of the Punchbowl News newsletter, including our special editions, right here at your fingertips.
Join the community, and get the morning edition delivered straight to your inbox.
Presented by Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance
Big Pharma hikes up drug prices every year, most recently on over 800 prescription drugs. But did you know these price hikes are often unjustified? For too long, Big Pharma has profited on the backs of hardworking Americans. Enough is enough.
PRESENTED BY

THE TOP
Congress is gone until November. Here’s where things stand.
Election Day is just 36 days away. Here’s what you need to know about the stakes ahead:
– Republicans will almost certainly retake control of the Senate. Should that happen, it would usher in a new GOP Senate majority leader for the first time in nearly two decades after Mitch McConnell steps down.
West Virginia and Montana, which have had Democratic senators for the last 14 years, would now be represented by Republicans. Ohio is close. Democrats are trying to make a late play for Florida and Texas, but they’ve had little success in recent years. The only real questions would be how big of a majority Senate Republicans would have and what they would do with it.
– The battle for control of the House is a dogfight. Led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democrats have crushed Republicans in fundraising. Democrats put enough seats in play to take control of the chamber after two years out of power, but it won’t be a big majority if they win.
Speaker Mike Johnson, whose political future is closely linked to Republicans keeping the House, says his candidates and incumbents are stronger and have a better message going into November.
In this edition of The Tally: We explore these dynamics on the 2024 political landscape, including through interviews with the top congressional leaders.
– We also lift the curtain on the political players advising the three men running to replace McConnell as Senate GOP leader.
– We’ll examine a growing trend in the Capitol: Lawmakers paying for television ads with taxpayer money.
– And there’s everyone’s favorite — a special edition of the Punch Power Matrix.
Thank you for reading The Tally. As usual, we’d like to hear from you, so please reach out.
– Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan
PRESENTED BY BLACKROCK
90% of U.S. registered voters see a retirement savings crisis
At BlackRock, we conducted a national survey of registered voters to identify their top retirement concerns to provide us with insights on how we can help people reach their long-term financial goals.
LEADER LOOK
The Big Four weigh in on November

Congress is gone until after Election Day. Before members ditched town, we caught up with the top congressional leaders to ask them the same three questions. We wanted to know what their biggest strengths and weaknesses are going into the final stretch of the election. We also asked them about the election dynamics they think are not getting sufficient coverage.
Here are their responses. They have been lightly edited for brevity.
Speaker Mike Johnson:
Biggest strength: “Our biggest strength is the quality of our candidates. It’s not about the quantity of cash. We did a really deliberate job about candidate recruitment. We have amazing people in these general election runoffs and all of that.”
Biggest weakness: “I would say the level of misinformation that’s out there. I feel like the entire establishment media, mainstream media, obviously, is against us and our candidates. Kamala Harris gets an in-kind donation on prime time on almost every channel, every single night. And they’re constantly criticizing our nominee for president and elevating her and so that has an effect on people who are not fully informed.”
Undercovered dynamic: “Really, I think Kamala Harris has run a campaign based on a fantasy. And if this election is about record and not rhetoric, if it’s policy not personality, there’s no way that our side can lose.”
“Kamala Harris never answered the first question she was asked in the debate: ‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago.’ She can’t answer that because everybody knows the answer. I think Donald Trump is going to far outperform the polling and I think I think our entire slate of candidates will. I’m very bullish.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries:
Biggest strength: “House Democrats have consistently governed in a common-sense manner and delivered real results for everyday Americans. On the other hand, the House Republican majority has been the least productive in modern American history and has delivered on its own nothing more than chaos, dysfunction and extremism.”
Biggest weakness: “The tremendous track record of accomplishment that Democrats, under the leadership of President Joe Biden, have been able to achieve is not fully appreciated to the extent that it one day will be, at some point down the road.”
Undercovered dynamic: “The toxic connection between extreme MAGA Republicans in the House and Trump’s Project 2025 agenda.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer:
Biggest strength: “Our candidates are strong and have done so much for working families in their states.”
Biggest weakness: “Lies, misdirection and disinformation from the other side. Democrats have accomplished so much — lowering costs, growing the middle class and protecting our democracy and freedoms. But far too many on the other side have lost their sense of shame and will say anything, even lies, to distort and distract.”
Undercovered dynamic: “Senate Democrats passed historic legislation, doggedly worked to implement them and are now working for American families to feel the impacts for themselves. From expanded broadband, new bridges, tech hubs, revitalized highways, better care for veterans, lower energy costs, new jobs and lower prescription drug prices — our candidates made this a reality and Americans across the country are now reaping the benefits.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
Senate Republicans are heavily favored to win back the majority. McConnell — who will be stepping down as Senate GOP leader at the end of this Congress — declined to talk to us for this story. But McConnell has been open about his hopes and concerns heading into the late stages of the race. Here’s what we can take away from those comments.
Biggest strength: The map. McConnell has been cautiously optimistic about his party’s chances of retaking the Senate. With West Virginia almost certainly flipping to the GOP, Republicans need to win just one of the Senate battlegrounds to have an outright majority next year.
And while Democrats are talking up their chances of flipping a GOP seat this year, that’s going to be a tall order. Last week, the DSCC announced an ambitious effort to unseat Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.). Republicans panned the announcement as a colossal waste of money.
”I don’t think they’ve got a shot at any of our incumbents,” McConnell told us over the summer.
Biggest weakness: In the past, McConnell has been critical of what he’s seen as “candidate quality” issues that sunk GOP chances to win the Senate in 2022 and in previous cycles.
This time around, McConnell has praised the current crop of recruits as “really quality candidates” and credited NRSC Chair Steve Daines’ early intervention in primaries.
Still, McConnell has voiced concern about the GOP moving further right. In an interview with us in August, McConnell signaled he plans to remain engaged in helping to halt the GOP’s rightward drift on foreign policy especially.
Undercovered dynamic: McConnell has been increasingly vocal about Democrats’ desire to gut the legislative filibuster. McConnell talked about this a lot last week after Harris came out in favor of a filibuster carve-out for abortion rights.
We also spoke with Senate Minority Whip John Thune about this. Republicans’ argument on the filibuster boils down to the argument that Democrats’ willingness to gut the filibuster would make it likely that historical norms would be upended should the Democrats win.
“Once you go down that path, there’s no going back. So I assume she would do it to federalize elections and expand the Supreme Court, all the stuff that’s on [the left’s] list.”
— Jake Sherman, Max Cohen and Andrew Desiderio
LEADER LOOK
The operatives working to elect the next Senate GOP leader
For the first time in 18 years, Senate Republicans will soon elect a conference leader who isn’t named Mitch McConnell. Three men are vying to succeed McConnell: Senate Minority Whip John Thune and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
We’ve reported extensively on the race, including on fundraising and policy goals.
In this edition of The Tally, we delve into another critical aspect: The longtime operatives working to help their bosses reach the highest rung of the Senate ladder.
Each contender has a team of dozens of advisers. Some are Hill staffers while others work for their campaigns. Many are as close as family and have been with the senators since the beginning of their political careers.
Most importantly, they’re longtime confidants who may be helping run the Senate next year. Should their candidate win, they’d have a massive impact on policy and the politics of the GOP Conference, especially if Republicans retake the majority.
Thune:
The South Dakota Republican has one of the lowest staff turnover rates in Congress. Many aides in his Senate office have been with him since his House tenure. And as a member of the GOP leadership team, Thune has a larger staff than rank-and-file senators.
Geoff Antell leads Thune’s whip office. Ryan Nelson is chief of staff in Thune’s personal office and has been with him since 2005.
Thune’s deputy chief, Jessica McBride, has been with him since 2009. Rounding out the senior leadership team is Ryan Wrasse, Thune’s communications director for over a decade.
Off Capitol Hill, GOP operatives Johnny DeStefano and Paula Dukes are running a Thune-linked non-profit that can raise unlimited sums of cash. DeStefano is a Trump White House alum who also worked for former Speaker John Boehner. Dukes is a longtime GOP fundraiser.
As of this writing, Thune’s total fundraising for the 2024 cycle has surpassed $29 million.
Cornyn:
Cornyn served as GOP whip under McConnell for six years. Drew Brandewie is Cornyn’s chief of staff and has been with him for more than a decade.
Those closest to Cornyn on the outside include Monica Popp, his former chief in the whip office, and Rob Jesmer, who was executive director of the NRSC when Cornyn was chair.
Beth Jafari, another former chief of staff, is also a close confidant. Jafari is currently an executive at Hilton.
The Texas Republican has long been a prolific fundraiser for the GOP. He was NRSC chair for the 2010 and 2012 cycles.
His fundraising total for this cycle has topped $26 million. Cornyn recently told donors that his cumulative fundraising since 2002 is over $400 million.
After the 2020 cycle, Cornyn set up a joint fundraising committee that has raised impressive sums. Cornyn has three fundraising teams — for Texas, Washington and for the rest of the country.
Scott:
Scott has a contingent of loyal staffers who have followed him from the governor’s mansion in Florida to the Senate. Some have worked for his campaigns or alongside him during his tenure as NRSC chair for the 2022 cycle.
Scott is considered a long-shot candidate in the race to succeed McConnell. Still, he has an impressive political operation. Scott is up for reelection this year, so he’s not doing as much national fundraising. He’s also independently wealthy and can bankroll his campaigns.
Scott’s reelection campaign is managed by Jackie Zeckman, who’s been with him since he was first elected as Florida governor in 2010.
Craig Carbone, chief of staff in Scott’s Senate office, has been with him for a decade. Chris Hartline, currently a senior adviser to Scott’s reelection campaign, has also been with him for over a decade. Hartline ran communications for Scott’s first Senate bid, his Senate office and the NRSC. McKinley Lewis is Scott’s current communications director.
— Andrew Desiderio
THE AIRWAVES
The lawmakers using taxpayer money to pay for ads

Here at Punchbowl News, we love analyzing ads. We’ve noticed more and more lawmakers paying for what look like political ads with taxpayer dollars.
Through their franking privilege budget, House members have spent $6 million this cycle on broadcast and digital ads touting their service in office, according to an analysis by AdImpact. The communication can’t be explicitly political and has to be approved by House authorities. But many of the franked ads running this cycle look awfully close to political ads.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) leads the way among members with a total of $1.4 million spent on franked ads, according to AdImpact. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) comes in second with $1.3 million.
New York Republican Reps. Brandon Williams and Claudia Tenney spent $432,000 and $424,000 respectively on franked ads. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) rounds out the top five with $350,000 spent.
Here’s a look at some taxpayer-funded ads, several of which contain pretty political rhetoric.
— Williams plays up his support for Israel in an ad that says the U.S. alliance “is crucial for peace and stability in the region.” While Williams talks about fighting antisemitism, the screen flashes a message that says he is “holding the radical left accountable.”
— One Ryan ad touts his work going after Central Hudson Gas & Electric. It features a speech Ryan made on the House floor. “Congressman Pat Ryan: Standing against corporate greed, standing up for us,” the narrator says to close the ad.
Ryan said his office always tries to get its message out, whether it’s through mobile constituent vans or town halls. “This allows us to communicate with people,” Ryan said of the franked ads. “I’d always rather over-communicate.”
Not everyone is eager to talk about their ad spending, however. When we caught up with Tenney to ask about her spending, she declined to comment.
— In one of Tenney’s taxpayer-funded ads, she talks direct-to-camera about “the invasion at our southern border.” She also explains why she voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Thanedar, the top spender, didn’t delve into politics in his franked ads. But his big expenditure did come while he faced a competitive primary challenge.
— In one of Thanedar’s ads, he pledges to help constituents deal with the federal government. The ad includes testimony from people who say Thanedar helped them get a passport and assisted them in dealing with the IRS.
— Max Cohen
PRESENTED BY BLACKROCK
BlackRock is invested in the future of teachers like Andy

BlackRock is proud to help manage the retirement plan assets for roughly half of public school teachers in the U.S.
Meet Andy, a teacher from Tucson, AZ who is giving back to his community while also planning for a secure retirement.
Learn more by watching his story now.
Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. Political ads courtesy of AdImpact.

Crucial Capitol Hill news AM, Midday, and PM—5 times a week
Join a community of some of the most powerful people in Washington and beyond. Exclusive newsmaker events, parties, in-person and virtual briefings and more.
Subscribe to Premium
The Canvass Year-End Report
And what senior aides and downtown figures believe will happen in 2023.
Check it outEvery single issue of Punchbowl News published, all in one place
Visit the archive
Presented by Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance
Americans know who to blame for rising drug prices: Big Pharma. A majority of Republicans, Democrats, & Independents all believe Big Pharma’s focus on profits keeps drug prices high. Let’s hold Big Pharma accountable – it’s an issue we’re united on.