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Hello, friends. It’s a big week for those in Washington, D.C., this week as journalists, politicians, celebrities and the like all prepare for the White House Correspondents Dinner.
And this year, President Donald Trump will be in attendance — the first time he has gone to the event as the sitting president. During his first term and the dinner last year, he declined to attend.
But the party won’t last forever — and lawmakers will need to return to Capitol Hill with fresh eyes on Monday as they race to meet a slew of deadlines on national surveillance, homeland security funding, and more.
— Cami Mondeaux
The Big Idea: Full House? Not in Congress
It’s never easy to be the party in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s even harder when you have a historically small margin that seems to change with every passing week.
The House is made up of 435 members representing the 50 states based on state population and density. Well, it’s supposed to be 435 members. But we actually haven’t seen full capacity in the lower chamber in quite some time.
In fact, not since November 2023 when Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy was sworn into office to replace her predecessor Chris Stewart, who retired from office early. Maloy enjoyed the full 435-member experience for about three days because former New York Rep. George Santos was ousted later that week.
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And since then, we haven’t seen the House at full capacity. There have been ebbs and flows as members have resigned, retired early, ran for another office, or died before their term was over.
Let’s break down the numbers of where we are right now — and how things will never be the same for the House, at least not any time soon.
Five. That’s how many seats are currently empty right now, putting the total number of representatives at 430 members.
That’s broken down between 217 Republicans, 212 Democrats, and one independent (who caucuses with Republicans). With that margin, the lucky number for a majority is 216 — meaning Republicans have two votes to spare for defectors. Any more than that, and a bill could fail on the floor.
Thirteen. That’s how many people have left so far in the 119th Congress, which was officially sworn in last January.
Of those: Six Republicans and seven Democrats.
Four. That’s the number of lawmakers who left office within the last two weeks.
Of those: Three resigned due to alleged ethics violations. The fourth, former Rep. David Scott of Georgia, died unexpectedly.
Five. That’s how many lawmakers have died while in office since last January. Four of them were Democrats, one was a Republican.
For some of those deaths, it’s started to raise questions about how healthy the life of a congress member can be — and whether those who are getting older should retire and step aside for new leadership. Before his death this week, Scott had already filed for reelection and planned to serve out another term.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded to questions about how members can prioritize their health in this job: “Public service is a great honor, but we continue to encourage every single member of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to take good care of themselves, both their physical health as well as their emotional well being. In order for members to be able to serve their communities to the highest degree possible, they’ve got to be healthy.”
Three … or four. That’s the number of lawmakers who have resigned due to alleged ethics violations.
Those three all did so within a one-week time frame: Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, resigned on the same day last week over allegations of sexual harassment toward former staffers. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., resigned on Tuesday over allegations of fraud and stealing FEMA funds.
But there is an honorable mention here: former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, despite being reelected to this Congress, resigned in December 2024 before he could take his seat. At the time, he resigned after being tapped by President Donald Trump as the nominee for attorney general. (He was not ever considered by the Senate.)
But other lawmakers, including his fellow Republicans, surmised he stepped down from office to avoid the release of his own ethics investigation. The House Ethics Committee ended up releasing the report anyway which found “substantial evidence” Gaetz violated “standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Fifty-five. That’s all the other members who have decided not to run for another term.
Some are running for another office such as governor or senator — some have already lost their respective primaries — while others just decided they no longer wanted to be in Congress.
Sixty-three. Which means that 63 is the number of vacant seats that will need to be filled this year. And that’s not even counting the 15 toss-up races where any of the incumbents could lose and be removed from Congress.
And because of redistricting, you also have seven red seats that are expected to flip to blue as well as five Democratic-held seats that are leaning toward Republicans. (Example: One district in Utah was redrawn to be heavily Democratic, so one incumbent — Rep. Burgess Owens, who decided to retire — will have his spot in the four-member House delegation replaced by a Democrat.)
So what does that all mean? Congress is about to look very, very different this time next year. Even if all the 15 vulnerable incumbents won reelection and none of those seats flipped, 14% of the next Congress will be made up of brand-new members.
— Cami Mondeaux
Stories Driving the Week
- Public lands: The White House will work with Utah leaders to ensure the state’s public lands and national parks receive the federal assistance they need to thrive, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said on Monday.
- Downward trends: After months of floating above 50% approval in Utah during his second term, President Donald Trump’s job approval rating dropped underwater in the Beehive State in April, driven largely by flagging support among Republicans and religious voters.
- SAVE to be saved? The Senate is moving away from Sen. Mike Lee’s election bill until further notice as lawmakers scramble to meet a number of deadlines to fund immigration enforcement and renew government surveillance powers. But the Utah senator is not yet ready to surrender.
Kids take over Capitol Hill press corps
It was Bring Your Kids To Work Day this week on Capitol Hill, and some lawmakers were embracing the moment.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., held his weekly press conference on Thursday, and he invited journalists with children to bring them along and ask a question or two. And things got a little spicy at times.
One child opened up the questions with a hot one: “Why do voters view Democrats so poorly?”
It set off laughter among us reporters, who were impressed with her confidence to ask a question even some newly minted journalists might be afraid to ask. (It might be helpful to add her father is Manu Raju, the chief congressional correspondent at CNN, who fed her the question.)
After smiling and taking a beat, Jeffries told her: “That’s a great question.”
He then offered her this as an answer: Voters have a hard time trusting any federal institution right now: “It’s a frustration with Congress is a frustration with institutional political parties, whether that’s Democrats or Republicans.”
“Democrats are not immune from that, and we do have a responsibility to continue to convince the American people that as a party, we’re actually focused on making their life better, on fixing our broken health care system, on cleaning up corruption, on ending this reckless and costly war of choice, and on getting ice under control,” he said.
Jeffries also faced a question from a young starry-eyed “junior reporter” (as Jeffries referred to them) who asked whether the top Democrat would have voted to expel former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus McCormick had she not resigned.
Jeffries gave the same answer he’s given us reporters over the last several days: “She did the right thing in stepping down.”
Other questions were notably lighter. Kids asked him what his favorite candy was (to which he said “sugar-free Hershey’s chocolate,” which I have reservations about), what he wanted to be when he grew up, advice he’d give his middle-school self, and whether he believes the Yankees will actually win the World Series.
One kid simply asked: “What’s next?”
“As Democrats, we’re fighting one battle after another, pushing back against the extremism that we believe is being released on the American people by Donald Trump and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle,” Jeffries said.
I also witnessed some other kids tagging along with their journalist parents as we chased down top Republicans. Two siblings even got to go onto the House floor with Majority Leader Steve Scalise as he cast his final vote for the week.
Another pair of siblings were asked by their parent if they wanted to go ask questions at Jeffries’ press conference, to which they replied: “I wouldn’t understand what they’re talking about.”
Fair enough, kid.
— Cami Mondeaux
Quick Hits
From the Hill: Senate advances immigration funding bill — but future is still unclear. … Virginia approves heavily Democratic map in key race before November. … Senate committee questions Trump’s Fed chair nominee about independence.
From the White House: Trump moves to reclassify marijuana. What does it mean? …
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigns, takes role in private sector. … Kash Patel files defamation suit against The Atlantic for ‘hit piece.’
From the courts: Can a green card holder be deported over a crime? Supreme Court to decide. … Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments in Colorado’s Catholic preschool funding fight.
What’s next
The House and Senate are back on Monday. On the docket for next week: FISA negotiations, DHS funding, possible consideration of the Farm Bill, and more.
As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers. And follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments from the Hill.