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| By Natalie Fertig and Nick Niedzwiadek |
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 Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.) arrives at a meeting with House Republicans on Oct. 19, 2023. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images |
STATE OF THE UNION — When organizers of the Labor Day picnic invited political candidates to the stage this past September in Clackamas, Ore., there was one who stood out: Lori Chavez-DeRemer, one of the blue state’s rare Republican members of Congress. On stage, the Teamster’s daughter spoke about the importance of labor unions, and later posted a photo on her Instagram holding up a “union proud” shirt while standing in the UFCW Local 555 booth. Now, the congresswoman is in the mix to be President-elect Donald Trump’s Labor secretary, a sign of the GOP’s slowly thawing relationship with organized labor. Chavez-DeRemer is one of only three House Republicans this Congress to cosponsor the PRO Act, a pro-union bill proposed by Democrats that has been fiercely opposed by business groups. She supported funding to replace a bridge over the Columbia River connecting Oregon and Washington, and pushed for it to utilize union labor, drawing praise from local organizers. In 2024, she secured a number of important union endorsements — including the UFCW (who endorsed both candidates), Ironworkers Local 29 and IBEW. “Lori really took it on herself to come and learn our issues,” said Lorne Bulling, political director of Ironworkers Local 29, which endorsed Chavez-DeRemer in her 2022 and 2024 campaigns. He said that construction unions in the state often feel taken for granted by Democratic candidates, who sometimes prioritize environmental concerns over projects that provide well-paying jobs. Her record has earned her the backing of Teamsters president Sean O’Brien for Labor secretary. Her local UFCW 555 chapter also told POLITICO they support her nomination. But in a sign of the complicated and long-strained relationship between organized labor and the Republican Party, the Oregon AFL-CIO endorsed Chavez-DeRemer’s Democratic rival Janelle Bynum this fall in what was one of the nation’s most closely contested House races. The state federation declined to comment.
Chavez-DeRemer ultimately lost the contest narrowly, so her possible appointment would not cause a Republican vacancy in the House. Trump could use this opportunity to send an important message to union voters amid signs of a realignment of blue-collar workers toward the GOP. Republicans have made strategic plays for union votes in the past. Richard Nixon succeeded in keeping the AFL-CIO and others on the sidelines during his 1972 landslide against George McGovern, and rewarded them by appointing a building trade union leader, Peter Brennan, as Labor secretary. But more commonly such entreaties have been rebuffed — as George W. Bush’s courting of the Teamsters in 2000 can attest — and examples like Nixon’s are more aberrations than indicators of any ideological realignment. One problem is that the GOP, including VP-elect JD Vance, has yet to square those intentions with their longstanding distrust of union institutions — which by-and-large align with Democrats nationally — in a way that forms a cohesive platform. In a reflection of the shifting loyalties among the rank-and-file, Bulling says ironworkers in his local chapter traditionally split evenly between the parties, but recent inflation is pushing them more toward Republicans. “The Biden administration has done an incredible job with [infrastructure] legislation, but the rollout has been hard,” Bulling said — echoing sentiments heard on the campaign trail in Michigan and elsewhere this fall. “You can’t just say ‘it’s coming’ forever when people arent working.” That leaves Trump with the choice of either picking a pro-union Cabinet secretary who could make more inroads with organized labor, or choosing someone more palatable to the business owners and management interests that have traditionally shaped Republican thinking. In his first administration, Trump’s DOL picks fit neatly in the latter mold.
“I would be surprised if he would pick Chavez-DeRemer,” said Joe Lowndes, a lecturer of political science at Hunter College with a focus on right-wing politics and populism who previously worked at the University of Oregon. “But if he did, I think it would signal … there is a more far-sighted labor realignment that they hope for.” While the president-elect has demonstrated a willingness to buck convention with his Cabinet picks this go-around, a union-friendly pick for the Labor Department would be hard to stomach for employers keen on rolling back a host of Biden administration workplace policies. The business-backed Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the National Right to Work Committee are among those publicly imploring Trump to look elsewhere. But Chavez-DeRemer reportedly ventured to Mar-a-Lago this week. And her appointment would undoubtedly cause a splash — nowhere more so than in Oregon, a deeply pro-union, working-class state with a rich labor history that dates back to organizing around the hazardous timber industry, railroads and farming in the late 19th century. “If you really wanted to drive a wedge, a deep wedge, into the union movement — and there already were strong cracks in it prior to this election — this would be a hell of a way to do it,” Lowndes said.
Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s authors at nfertig@politico.com and nniedzwiadek@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @natsfert and @NickNiedz.
| | | | A message from AARP: America’s 48 million family caregivers spend over $7,000 a year to care for older parents, spouses and other loved ones. They need a tax credit. With a new Congress, it’s time to act on the Credit for Caring tax credit. | | | | | — Matt Gaetz says he isn’t coming back to Congress: One day after withdrawing from consideration as Donald Trump’s attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz said he’s done with Congress. “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch,” Gaetz told Charlie Kirk on his radio show today. “I do not intend to join the 119th Congress.” Gaetz, first elected to his House seat in 2016, has been a nuisance to his party’s leadership throughout his time in Washington, though he’s cultivated and maintained a close rapport with Trump. — Trump’s hush money sentencing is delayed yet again: Donald Trump’s sentencing for his conviction in the Manhattan hush money case will be delayed indefinitely, the judge who oversaw his trial ruled today, handing the president-elect his latest legal victory on his way back to the White House. In a one-page decision, Justice Juan Merchan postponed the sentencing, which had been set for Nov. 26, in order to weigh Trump’s bid to dismiss the case entirely based on the fact that he is now president-elect. — Climate proposal would see rich countries pay $250B a year: Organizers of the United Nations climate summit issued a draft agreement today that would see the U.S., EU and other wealthy governments provide $250 billion a year in climate finance to developing nations by 2035 — an amount that falls far short of the trillion-plus figure that the poorer countries had sought. The agreement comes with many uncertainties about which nations would provide exactly how much money, especially with President-elect Donald Trump — who has scoffed at the reality of climate change and vowed steep cuts in government spending — about to take power in the U.S.
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ECONOMIC LEADER — President-elect Donald Trump has picked Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager and major Trump fundraiser, to be his next Treasury secretary, people familiar with the decision said. Bessent, who has been among Trump’s biggest allies on Wall Street, emerged over the past year as a key economic adviser during the presidential campaign. Bessent is the chief executive officer of Key Square Group, which he founded in 2015 after leaving his role as chief investment officer for George Soros’ investment firm. He’s also an ally of Vice President-elect JD Vance.
ANTI-VAX ADMIN — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is enlisting associates with close ties to anti-vaccine organizations to help vet and interview candidates for senior roles at the Department of Health and Human Services, even as he publicly seeks to distance himself from the movement he once led. At least three informal advisers connected to the anti-vaccine movement are assisting Kennedy in filling out his staff as he prepares to lead HHS, according to five people familiar with the matter and documents obtained by POLITICO — highlighting Kennedy’s continuing close association with the movement and its potential influence within the nation’s leading health agency if he’s confirmed as secretary.
NO THANKS — Former Wall Street regulator and Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher said today he is not interested in taking over as SEC chair under President-elect Donald Trump. Gallagher, who previously served at the SEC as a commissioner, was widely seen in Washington and on Wall Street as a leading contender to take over the top U.S. financial markets regulator under Trump. Other names that have circulated for SEC chair include Robert Stebbins, the agency’s former general counsel; Paul Atkins, another former SEC commissioner; and Brian Brooks, the one-time acting comptroller of the currency and a former cryptocurrency executive.
ROGERS OUT — An incoming top White House aide to President-elect Donald Trump today shut down speculation that former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan would lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “It’s not happening,” Dan Scavino Jr., Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff, wrote on X. Scavino said he had spoken to the president-elect about Rogers, who for years has been floated to take over as FBI director. Trump’s response, according to Scavino: “I have never even given it a thought.”
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President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Lima, Peru on Nov. 16. | Pool photo by Leah Millis |
CHINA’S VICTORY — The coming U.S. retreat from leadership on global climate policy comes amid a dawning reality: For much of the world, China already calls the shots. Beijing’s decades-long effort to dominate the world’s clean energy economy is enabling it to woo tight business alliances with governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America — without insisting on the labor and environmental safeguards that the United States and European Union typically demand. Those countries, in turn, are taking China’s side in disputes with the U.S. and Europe about trade policies or efforts to make rich nations step up their international climate aid.
And as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, promising to walk away from the Paris climate agreement, some diplomats at the U.N.-sponsored talks in Azerbaijan said they hope China will fill the void by championing steep cuts in greenhouse gas pollution. Trump has also pledged to shred Biden administration clean energy policies that were designed to weaken Chinese control of key technologies.
“We will need China’s continued leadership,” U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said midway through the two-week COP29 summit that is expected to wrap up this weekend, in a speech that sought to anoint the country as a preeminent climate powerbroker. He urged Beijing to demonstrate to other nations that “stronger targets drive investment” — a message that, in a different context, might have served as a sales pitch for President Joe Biden’s big-spending clean energy policies.
EMERGENCY TALKS — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war, reports The Associated Press. The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.” Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday’s Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.
In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was in retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile. Ukrainian military officials said the missile that hit Dnipro had reached a speed of Mach 11 and carried six nonnuclear warheads each releasing six submunitions.
PARTNER PROBLEMS — Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski is running to be a candidate in his country’s May presidential election — but his wife, the U.S. historian and journalist Anne Applebaum, is a very high-profile and mordant critic of Donald Trump. How does that play out? Dangerously, according to Sikorski’s critics. Poland’s main foreign policy ally and arms supplier is the United States, and the anti-Sikorski camp is warning that even the smallest ructions in relations with Trump — a man who bears grudges — would be disastrous for a nation on NATO’s front line against Russia.
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| At least 19 The number of people in Minnesota sickened by E. coli poisoning tied to a national recall of more than 167,000 pounds of potentially tainted ground beef, federal health officials said. Detroit-based Wolverine Packing Co. recalled the meat this week after Minnesota state agriculture officials reported multiple illnesses. | |
| | FLUENT IN READING — Duolingo is the world’s most popular language learning app. Over 1 billion exercises are completed every day. But for Imogen West-Knights, the app has a fairly narrow use. It has helped her to learn languages, but only partially. Specifically, it can teach reading and comprehension, but is terrible at teaching speaking. Duolingo users regularly have the experience of practicing on the app for months or years, going to a different country to try out their skills, and finding that they can understand everyone else’s dialogue but are unable to respond themselves. What kind of language learning is this, and what can we learn from the model? West-Knights reports for The Dial.
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On this date in 1963: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. This image was taken approximately one minute before he was shot. | Jim Altgens/AP | Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
| | | | A message from AARP: America needs family caregivers. And they need a tax credit.
Family caregivers struggle to balance the demands of their jobs with caring for their older parents, spouses and other loved ones, leading too many to quit or reduce their hours at work.
Added to that stress, family caregivers spend over $7,000 a year on out-of-pocket expenses to provide this care. They can’t afford it. And we can’t afford to ignore them.
Family caregivers cover the costs to help older loved ones with:
- Transportation
- Adult day care
- Home modifications
- Home care aides
- Respite care
- And MUCH more.
That’s why AARP is calling on the new Congress to act on the Credit for Caring tax credit--so America’s family caregivers can get some financial relief. | | | | |
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