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With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for Thanksgiving this Thursday and Friday but back to our normal schedule on Monday, Nov. 27.

NO SANTOS? NO PROBLEM FOR N.Y. DEMS.

Regardless of whether he announces an early exit from Congress during his planned press conference next week, George Santos won’t be on the ballot in 2024. Democrats are gearing up to make the scandal-plagued New Yorker into a campaign issue anyway.

With New York a potential key to recapturing the House majority – particularly its six GOP-held districts that President Joe Biden won in 2020 – Democratic candidates are wasting no time in highlighting all links between their Republican opponents in purple districts and the indicted Santos.

“Folks know Santos is a significant liability,” said Sarah Klee Hood, a Democratic hopeful running to take on Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) in an upstate New York district. She added that “whatever happens regarding Santos is going to negatively impact Brandon Williams, simply by association.”

Translation: Even as support for expelling Santos early grows within the House GOP, evicting the infamous fabricator won’t solve Republicans’ core political problem. New York Democrats don’t plan to stop tying their rivals to Santos if he happens to get booted from Congress.

And a Santos eviction, we should remind you, is far from guaranteed. After the House Ethics committee released an explosive report laying out Santos’ wrongdoing last week, the Republican chair of the panel filed a resolution to expel him. But it’s not yet clear whether the chair will force a vote on that resolution, and Speaker Mike Johnson is noncommittal on voluntarily calling up a Santos expulsion that would trim his already-thin House majority.

Some Republican members of the New York delegation have strenuously tried to distance themselves from Santos and repeatedly called on him to resign. A number of them led the most recent effort to expel Santos from the House, though that push failed to reach the two-thirds threshold required to boot a member.

Democrats aren’t letting them off the hook.

“This is too little too late from self-interested House Republicans from New York,” said former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), who’s running to unseat GOP Santos critic Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) in a new district that largely overlaps with the one Jones previously represented.

Jones, who served on the ethics panel during the last Congress, said he saw enough evidence to boot Santos earlier this year.

Lawler countered that he’s long been ready to get rid of his ethically challenged colleague.

“Unlike Mondaire Jones and the radical left, I’m willing to stand up to members of my own party and call for their resignation and expulsion when warranted. And that’s what I did with George Santos,” Lawler told POLITICO.

Other New York Democratic candidates argue that Santos plays into what they portray as an overall culture of “corruption” on the right.

Former Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen, who’s angling for a rematch with Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) in his Long Island district, called Santos “a symbol of the corruption that has rocked politics in this area for a long time.”

Gillen added that “I will continue to hold Anthony D’Esposito” – another home-state GOP critic of Santos – “and his cohorts responsible for perpetrating this fraud on the electorate.”

She further pointed to reported connections between Santos and D’Esposito, including a past campaign treasurer that the two shared.

National Democrats are echoing that approach. DCCC spokesperson Ellie Dougherty said in a statement that: “Whether it’s on Long Island or in the Hudson Valley or Central New York, we’ll make sure voters know who’s responsible for enabling distrust and corruption ahead of next year’s elections – and that’s New York Republicans.”

A Williams spokesperson pointed to his past cosponsorship of a Santos expulsion resolution, prior calls for Santos’ resignation and his vote to eject Santos. Spokespeople for Santos and D’Esposito did not respond to requests for comment.

— Nicholas Wu

GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Nov. 22, where we are thankful this year for your readership!

JUSTICE IN PRIME POSITION

With Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) passing on a reelection bid in West Virginia, the real action in the Senate race now lies in the Republican primary — and GOP Gov. Jim Justice is in an enviable position, according to a newly released poll of Mountain State voters.

Justice enjoys a 55.7 percent to 20 percent lead over rival Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) in the Republican Senate primary, with 22 percent of those surveyed by American Pulse undecided.

The poll’s big takeaway: “Gov. Jim Justice is far and away the front-runner” and “the most likely next senator from West Virginia.” Another stunning finding from the survey? The governor has a hefty 73 percent approval rating, a level of support rarely seen in modern U.S. politics.

— Anthony Adragna

DEMS DEEM HOSTAGE DEAL ‘GREAT FIRST STEP’

Democratic lawmakers praised Wednesday’s news of a hostage deal and temporary pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas, with many of them calling it a “great first step” toward ending the ongoing war in the Middle East.

“This marks a vital step toward healing shattered families and de-escalating the violence that has claimed thousands of civilian lives,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “I am encouraged that this agreement facilitates a continued truce if Hamas releases additional hostages.”

She added: “It will be a long road ahead as we forge the peaceful future that Israeli and Palestinian children deserve. I am committed to ensuring that the Israeli people can live without the threat of Hamas and that Palestinians have true self-determination. To that end, we must reengage with a peace process that is centered on a permanent two-state solution.”

Both chambers’ top Democratic leaders — Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — vowed to continue to fight for more aid for Israel.

“The Senate will continue working to pass additional humanitarian assistance for innocent Palestinians, and make sure that Israel has the aid it needs to defend itself to ensure Hamas can never again pose such a threat to Israel,” Schumer said in a statement.

Jeffries called the deal “an important step forward” but said “there is much more work to be done.”

Some progressives are still doubling down on calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, despite the deal pausing the fight for four to five days.

“A temporary pause in the violence is not enough. We must move with urgency to save as many lives as possible and achieve a permanent cease-fire agreement,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said in a statement.

Israel hawks like Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), meanwhile, hailed the hostage deal as “important progress” but urged President Joe Biden and Israel not to change their approach to the ongoing conflict. “Israel must eliminate every single terrorist responsible for this war and the atrocities committed on October 7,” he said in a statement.

— Daniella Diaz and Anthony Adragna

‘Tis the season for Beth.

There’s always a DCA slots angle.

Beware the mice at Washington airports!

QUICK LINKS

This congressman was one of the last people to see JFK alive. 60 years later, he looks back, from Scott Wong and Frank Thorp V

The Ukraine funding window may be closing on Biden, from Jennifer Haberkorn and Jonathan Lemire

Donor allegedly offered $20M to recruit a Tlaib primary challenger, from Ursula Perano and Nicholas Wu

MONDAY IN CONGRESS

The House is out.

The Senate is in at 3 p.m.

MONDAY AROUND THE HILL

Quiet.

TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Bruce Brown correctly answered that the Fifth Column was the phrase or term dating back to the Spanish Civil War that is often used to describe plotters seeking to undermine the domestic political order in league with outside forces.

TODAY’S QUESTION just in time for Thanksgiving: Which two senators represent the largest turkey-producing state in the country?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle (which will be Monday, Nov. 27). Send your answers to [email protected].

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each evening.

Follow Daniella on X at @DaniellaMicaela.