We love how engaged our audience gets when reading our weekly Power Matrix rankings. Let’s take a look at who fared the best and the worst all year!
Big Four: First, let’s begin with our core focus: congressional leadership. Three of the Big Four — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — ended the year with a plus-three up/down differential.
It’s a reflection of how the Senate worked in a number of bipartisan ways — think the foreign aid supplemental, plus government funding battles — and how Jeffries largely kept his caucus intact while House Republicans bickered.
Speaker Mike Johnson ended the year with a neutral differential. But don’t let that fool you — Johnson was up and down a ton. Johnson had seven ups and downs each, a sign of the topsy-turvy year for the GOP, as his job was threatened but House Republicans held the majority on Election Day.
Presidential candidates: Admittedly, the Power Matrix isn’t a perfect barometer for political success. We had President-elect Donald Trump down 10 times last year and up seven times, giving him a negative differential. It’s a testament to how Trump faced scandal after scandal yet still won a convincing victory on Election Day.
Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, was up five times and down two times. Her positive differential is evidence of the summer boom, but it couldn’t sustain her into the crunch time of fall.
The biggest winner: Outgoing NRSC Chair Steve Daines takes the cake with an impressive differential of plus 6. Daines wasn’t down once all year as he steered Senate Republicans back into the majority, working early in primaries to install the best candidates to flip key seats.
The biggest loser: Departing Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) was down six times last year and didn’t get a single up. Good, the former House Freedom Caucus chair, lost his primary in an embarrassing setback for the leading conservative. Along the way, he made tons of enemies — sparring with Trump, House leadership, Democrats and everyone in between. Not great!
Thanks for following along with our Friday tradition — much more to come in 2025!
