DOWN-BALLOT DRAMA: You’ve heard a lot – and will hear a lot more – about the House GOP’s internal battles for No. 1 and No. 3 leadership spots in the majority that it hasn’t formally claimed yet, almost one week after Election Day. But it’s time to dive all the way down-ballot to Republicans’ conference secretary race, which is becoming its own microcosm of the party’s ongoing establishment vs. MAGA vibe.

SO WHO’S RUNNING, THEN? Three official candidates are officially seeking the secretary spot for next year’s still-likely majority. In addition to Reps. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) and Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), both of whose bids we scooped, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, is also in the mix.

And between those three, McClain is viewed as the most viable contender by far. Why?

WE’LL MAKE LIKE ROY AND BE BLUNT: Clyde is not well-liked among his conference colleagues. He has his friends in the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus, but beyond that he’s turned off a broad swath of fellow Republicans with a manner they describe as prickly – not to mention his comparison of last year’s Capitol riot to a “tourist” visit.

One House Republican who recently got a call from the Georgian, presumably to ask for support, quipped that “I don’t know why Clyde’s calling me.”

"We’ve got to have our country work and … I sort of see him as a Marjorie Taylor Greene Junior," this lawmaker said, adding that Clyde “would just run over the moderates” if elected to leadership.

COUNTERPOINT – Clyde characterized his bid as "going well,” but declined to share where he thought his level of support was. He blasted out a letter to colleagues on Friday afternoon trying to make his case.

"We feel very good about where Rep. Clyde is positioned in this race," his spokesperson, Madeline Huffman, said in a statement to POLITICO. "The leadership table should adequately represent the conference’s diverse professional and ideological spectrum."

YOU GO, GLENN NO-GO – Grothman is unlikely to prove a serious threat either, according to interviews with members and aides who described his leadership bid as lacking the strong relationships in the conference that it needs to succeed. (Grothman has been in Congress the longest of the three, but McClain told colleagues Friday that she already has support from a “vast majority” of the conference.)

GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Monday, November 14, where the lame duck reigns.

GROVELLING FOR THE GAVEL? — House Republican leadership elections are scheduled to go ahead tomorrow, but conservatives are pushing for postponement until it is clear which party will control the House. The House Freedom Caucus is mulling a symbolic bid by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) for House Speaker that could prevent House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from securing the 2018 GOP votes he would need on Jan. 3 to clinch the gavel in a GOP-controlled House.

That has the potential to force the Republican Conference to back a consensus candidate, backed by both the Freedom Caucus and other GOP members. Signs are pointing to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who at this point says he’s backing McCarthy.

The vision is a coalition-style leadership arrangement, where every decision about legislation, governance and House operations must be cleared by the Freedom Caucus in order to come to fruition.

The plan is risky and far from finalized. The entire Freedom Caucus is not involved in the McCarthy-toppling proposal (although HFC chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) is involved) and it could flop altogether. Olivia has much more in a preview of leadership elections.

ONE MORE THING — With Clyde vying for conference secretary, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) is looking to take his spot on the so-called Elected Leadership Committee typically reserved for second-termers, her office confirmed to Olivia. The “ELC” is even less well-known to outsiders than the conference secretary gig, but it guarantees proximity to leadership’s ear. Bice is the only known name running for the spot, and is well-liked enough to have a strong chance even if others push for the role.

WHO WILL CONTROL THE HOUSE? — That's still up in the air. There are still 20 races that have not yet been called. 

It would be a remarkable upset for Democrats to keep the chamber and it remains an uphill battle, though they are closer than almost anyone thought possible heading into Election Day. There are five tossup races still on the table and Democrats would need to win all five, plus the three “lean Democratic” seats plus win districts forecasted as “lean Republican” to take control of the chamber.

Republicans are still favored to win the House. Whichever party takes control, they will have a painfully narrow majority which will make even governing a headache.

RELATED READ: After clinching Senate, Dems eye the unthinkable: Holding the House, from Zach Montellaro

REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY? — In the Senate, which Democrats clinched control of over the weekend, some Republicans are also calling for a delay in their own leadership elections. Last night Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined a growing chorus calling for Wednesday’s planned internal elections to be postponed until after the Georgia runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican Herschel Walker.

Last week Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) circulated a letter pressing colleagues to sign onto a postponement of elections. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are also on board with a delay.

The motivation is the disappointing showing for Republicans in the midterms and the party’s failure to claim the majority. Senate GOP leaders indicated Friday they planned to still proceed, and to have a post-election discussion Tuesday at their weekly caucus lunch.

At this point, the elections are on track. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) dismissed the calls for delay on Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation," pointing to most leadership races being uncontested.

"So far, no one's had the nerve to step forward and challenge Sen. McConnell,” Cotton said.

Marianne tracked the GOP response (or, blame game) over the weekend to officially losing the chamber: GOP finger-pointing in every direction as party absorbs election losses

IT’S SCHUMER’S SENATE— With narrow control secured for the new year, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) now must sort out the lame duck agenda. Democrats now have two whole years to keep approving President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, so urgency to churn through a long roster during the lame duck has lifted.

In New York on Sunday, Schumer wouldn’t get specific about the legislative agenda for the lame duck session, but he’s already warned his caucus about the workload.

“There's going to be heavy work, long hours to try and get much done,” he told reporters.

“I'm going to talk to my caucus. I'm going to talk to the Republican leadership and see what we can get done to benefit the American people,” he said Sunday.

Debt limit: Schumer acknowledged that the nation’s debt could be on the lame duck agenda.

"The debt ceiling, of course, is something that we have to deal with and it's something that we will look at over the next few weeks. I have to talk to the leadership," he said Sunday.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also signaled that the House could act during the lame duck. “We’ll see what they contend that they want to do,” Pelosi said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But our best shot, I think, is to do it now.”

House Republicans have proposed that if they take the majority, they would demand spending cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. That strategy could lead the U.S. towards economic disaster if the country defaults on its debt. The threat alone could give you flashbacks to 2011, when the U.S. came within two days of defaulting. Global markets took a dive and the country’s sovereign rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s.

The debt limit is just one piece of a puzzle that we’re calling Fiscal Winter.

“Lawmakers will return to session on Monday barreling at full speed toward a series of high-stakes fiscal hurdles while control of the House remains unsettled. Before year’s end, they’ll have to keep the government open after current funding expires Dec. 16, and tackle Medicare cuts on the horizon — making for a hectic post-election session, given the other fights looming as soon as 2023 begins. And the dynamics of a new Congress are already making legislating even harder,” writes Caitlin Emma.

The five hurdles facing lawmakers upon their return to Washington: 1) Government funding 2) The debt ceiling 3) Ukraine aid 4) Recession relief 5) Medicare cuts.

CONGRESS’ OWN ELECTION MONITORS —The Committee on House Administration has dispatched, as it does every cycle, bipartisan teams of election monitors to districts where there could be a contested election (aka it’s super close). The monitors are House staff who get training from the committee for this nonpartisan assignment.

Monitors are in nearly a dozen districts right now, with more expected to deploy this week. They are present to observe, take notes, ask questions and report their information back to the committee. Though they may be employed by a Republican or Democrat in the House, as monitors they cannot advocate for or against any party or candidate and cannot handle ballots or election equipment. The authority for House Administration to get involved in election monitoring actually comes from the Constitution, which states that “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.” The program isn’t a product of our current climate of election denial – it’s been in place for decades.

PREDICTING PELOSI— In 2018, Pelosi struck a deal, promising that she’d bow out of House Democratic leadership after four more years at the top. But now, with the House still in limbo, she's remaining mum on where she’ll stand in the new Congress.

“My decision will then be rooted in the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus,” Pelosi told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “But none of it will be very much considered until we see what the outcome of all of this is.”

Pelosi said she will “of course” announce a decision by the time Democrats hold their leadership elections Nov. 30.

She told The Associated Press that some of her Democratic colleagues are asking her to stay on. “My members are asking me to consider doing that. But, again, let’s just get through the (midterm) election,” she said.

There is some chatter among House Democrats, even those who are not Pelosi’s cheerleaders within the caucus, that if the Democrats hold a razor-thin majority, she may be the only Democrat with the clout to navigate those dangerous waters. The talk of Pelosi keeping her gavel isn’t just coming from typical allies – even members who have rooted for her to leave are talking about it, though not publically.

ED vs. ELON — Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was fed up with Twitter verifying a fake account impersonating him and Elon Musk’s dismissal of the incident got Markey fired up.

“One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will,” he tweeted.

Make like a tree… A 78-foot tall Red Spruce from Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina is en route to the Capitol now and will arrive on Friday, Nov. 18 to serve as this year’s Capitol Christmas Tree. The tree’s nickname is Ruby.

QUICK LINKS 

A second House Dem is running for campaigns chief after shockingly positive midterms, from Nicholas Wu

How Catherine Cortez Masto clinched the Nevada seat — and the Senate, by NBC’s Natasha Korecki in Sparks, Nev.

Jon Ralston on Nevada politics and Cortez Masto’s victory (which he predicted), from Blake Hounshell at The New York Times

With Democratic Senate sealed, Walker and Warnock try to rev up voters, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Shannon McCaffrey and Greg Bluestein

TRANSITIONS 

FIRST IN HUDDLE: Yuri Beckelman, currently the staff director of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, will be Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost’s (D-Fla.) chief of staff starting in the new year.

Drew Brandewie will be Sen. John Cornyn's (R-Texas) next chief of staff. He's been Cornyn's communications director for seven years and will replace 20-year veteran of Cornyn's office, Beth Jafari, at the end of the week.

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House convenes at 2 p.m. for legislative business, with roll call votes postponed until 6:30 p.m.

The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Maria del R. Antongiorgi-Jordan to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico.

AROUND THE HILL

6:45 p.m. Pelosi holds a ceremonial swearing-in for Rep.-elect Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.). (H-217)

FRIDAY’S WINNER:C. Denise Johnson correctly answered that Patricia Harris was the first African American woman to serve as a cabinet secretary when President Jimmy Carter selected her as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

TODAY’S QUESTION: Of the eleven 21st century lame duck sessions, how many included passage of regular appropriations bills or or continuing resolutions?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]

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Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus