Donald Trump is the only one who can keep this Republican Party together, and he is completely disengaged from anything that is happening on Capitol Hill. And so they are just floundering. Welcome to the Powers That Be daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Thursday, April 30th. Today, I'm joined by Leanne Caldwell, who breaks down two major stories in the redistricting wars that broke just yesterday. First, the Supreme Court struck another blow to the Voting Rights Act, ruling that Louisiana has to eliminate a new majority black congressional district. Shortly after that, Republican-led Florida struck back against Democratic states by passing their new congressional map that might erase four sitting Democrats from Congress this year. Leanne also tells me about some ongoing friction between John Thune and Mike Johnson, the two GOP leaders in Congress. Senate Republicans have long rolled their eyes at their House counterparts. But as Leanne explains, the tension these days between the two chambers seems worse than ever. We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode of The Powers That Be. UnitedHealth Group is bringing in-home treatment directly to patients, closing care gaps, identifying risks earlier, and improving patient outcomes. In 2025, patients received over 19 million home visits. Learn more at unitedhealthgroup.com slash commitment. Happy Thursday, everybody, and welcome to The Powers That Be. I'm joined today by my best and the brightest colleague, Leanne Caldwell. We're going to talk about some friction between House Republicans and Senate Republicans. That feels like it's always kind of humming under the radar, but Leanne's got some reporting on Thune and Johnson. We're also going to lead with big news that dropped on wednesday one the supreme court in a six to three basically partisan decision ruled that a louisiana congressional map from 2024 was unconstitutional an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that map created a second majority black congressional district in tandem basically with that ruling florida republicans led by ron desantis passed a new congressional map in Florida. Florida is now, I believe, Leanne, the eighth state to redraw their maps or attempt to redraw their maps before this November's election. As we speak, I just texted a Florida Democrat and said, will these new Florida maps be in place for the primaries this year? Remember, Florida has primaries in August. So they've got to redo these maps, have primaries, then have an election. The goal here, it seems, is to write out four Democrats from the Florida delegation That's a big win for Republicans coming after California and Virginia redrawing their maps for Democrats. What was your reaction to these headlines? I was kind of surprised. I thought Florida had sort of tabled this for a while, but maybe I'm out of the loop in Tallahassee politics. Yeah. After Virginia, I kind of like got reengaged in this. Yeah, Florida seemed like very much a possibility, especially after that. it gives Republicans perhaps back on an even playing field with Democrats. But the news is that DeSantis proposed the maps on Monday. The legislature approved them on Tuesday. They will absolutely be challenged in courts. But Democrats are saying that the courts, it's not an easy case for the courts to uphold, just as Republicans are saying it's not an easy case for the courts in Virginia to uphold the Virginia referendum. And so everything's super political, obviously. But, you know, it was interesting talking to Florida Democrats on the Hill yesterday. They, you know, Kathy Castor, for example, she has the Tampa district. Her district was split into three districts. She is determined to run in Florida 14, her current district, even though it's been divided. It's going to be, you know, I don't know the exact numbers yet, but anywhere from R plus 10 to R plus 12 district when she was in a clearly Democratic district before. And, you know, she's saying like it's not out of the realm of possibility that she still wins, given the political environment for Republicans right now, given the fact that she's represented her district so long. And she pointed to a special election, you know, a couple weeks ago in Florida, there was a lot of attention on that Palm Beach race, you know, the Mar-a-Lago race where a Republican flipped to Democrat. Well, it was a special election in West Tampa, which is a super Republican seat and the Democrat won as well. So you know we see what happens But these redistricting wars are only going to continue Peter So Florida obviously Texas and California are the biggest congressional delegations Both put out new maps this cycle. I'm just struck by the fact that we both have covered or have covered Florida in the past when it was obviously more of a competitive state on the presidential level, sometimes the Senate level. But Republicans currently have a 20 to 8 edge in terms of seats in their congressional delegation. This would, if I'm doing my math correctly, push that from 24 to 4, a 24 to 4 edge in the state, which is just it's just striking that to me, this is just further erodes the Democratic power base that was already eroded in that state. eliminates the possibility of Democrats developing a bench of people who can maybe one day run statewide and win again. And also, you know, one of the advantages, I think, or that people in the Democratic Party want Florida to have, even though they don't, is to have sort of young Latino leaders. And these new maps cut through the central part of the state. If I'm reading this correctly, it divides up the Orlando area, which is heavily Puerto Rican and Democratic leaning into, I think, four different seats. Who else is going to get hit by this in the Democratic Party? Yeah. So I think that the hardest, the biggest challenge for Democrats is the Broward County area. So you have Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has represented that area for over 30 years. You have Jared Moskowitz, who has a neighboring district. And then you have Frederica Wilson, who was Debbie Wasserman Schultz's former roommate way back in the day, on their early days in Congress. And there is most likely going to have to be a member-on-member primary because there's not enough seats for them. And so that's going to be something that's really interesting to watch. I'm also super interested to see if Democrats still spend in the state. just last week, House Majority PAC, of course, the super PAC affiliated with House Democratic leadership, they announced a $20 million investment in Florida because they were feeling good about the state, about their political chances in some races there. And so my question is, House Majority PAC, if you guys are listening, let me know if you're still going to make that investment there, or if Democrats are just going to kind of write it off. I think that that's going to be a determination that's not for today. They'll see how the court case goes, but also how the political environment is in July, August, etc. Before going to break, what's your read on the Supreme Court ruling? Ron DeSantis said, I saw this coming. We knew the court was going to rule this way. It seems like the court currently is just, without officially eliminating the Voting Rights Act, just sort of watering it down. So it feels like these congressional districts that at least Republicans are drawing, they're more able to create districts that don't really pay attention to race. And it sounds like they don't really need to. That's the DeSantis read on it. Is that your read too? Yeah, definitely. I would talk to Republicans and Democrats today. And the fallout is, of course, in Louisiana, they're going to lose at least one seat. The case originated in Louisiana, so that's going to be impacted immediately. Republicans could try to get rid of both Democratic seats there. I'll go kind of state by state, but it's all these southern states who have these lines drawn because of the Voting Rights Act. And so Democrats are expecting Tennessee to also be impacted. There's one Democrat, Democratic seat in Tennessee right now, they expect that one to be eliminated. There's three other states that we don't know if it's going to be impacted this cycle or next cycle. One is Georgia. Ballots have already gone out. People are already voting in Georgia for their primary. In Mississippi, they already had their primary. And in Alabama, their primary is in about two and a half weeks. And so those are three states where it's really unclear if they're going to start over or if they're going to wait until next cycle. But regardless, it is going to ensure that redistricting is not one and done in 2026, because Donald Trump started these redistricting wars, it is going to continue because of the Supreme Court case into 2028. And a source told me that any state with a trifecta, a Republican or Democratic trifecta in 2028 is they expect them to try to redistrict. So we could see a lot more states really just push out the opposing party completely in their in their house races. It also puts so much pressure on you mentioned this politicians, candidates, Republicans and Democrats who have to suddenly raise money run a new district for a primary if they win and raise some more money run again And then as you suggesting wait till the next cycle to see if there a new map You know it just crazy I seeing even out here in Los Angeles, Ken Calvert, who's been jammed into a new district by Prop 50, Republican, represents basically Riverside out here. You know, he is bombarding the airwaves as the true conservative, and then is going to have to turn around in the general a few weeks later and be like, I represent everyone. Maybe not, but it's a crazy whiplash for them. And it's just, man, it's got to be confusing to voters if it's confusing to me right here. Leanne, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, talk a little bit more about Congress from the DC side, including what's going on between House Republicans and Senate Republicans. Here's a shift worth noting. Better health care is care that meets patients where they are. UnitedHealth Group is bringing it directly to living rooms. This is a win for patients managing chronic conditions. And here's the interesting thing. By closing those care gaps, administering in-home exams, and identifying risks earlier, more diseases can be prevented and patient outcomes can improve. In 2025 alone, UnitedHealth Group patients received over 19 million home visits. Learn more at unitedhealthgroup.com slash commitment. One month before the Wright brothers. Oh my God. Please follow and listen to family lore, an Odyssey podcast available now on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Welcome back to the powers of be everybody. I'm talking to my colleague, Leanne Caldwell about politics. Leanne, I was listening to another podcast today. I know you can't believe it. Uh, Jake and Anna's podcast at punch bowl, the daily punch. So I'm going to read to you the last five headlines on their Spotify feed from the Daily Punch. April 21st, Thune's pressure test. April 22nd, Virginia clears path for Dem majority. Well, that's been updated after Florida, but that was a problem for House Republicans. April 23rd, the House GOP's $150 million fall ad blitz. They'd have to spend a lot of money to defend their seats. April 24th. Can House Republicans get some momentum back? And then from Monday, House GOP has an impossible week. From Tuesday, it's all unraveling for House Republicans. Today, Wednesday, the wheels are coming off the House GOP conference. So they're smart. You're smart. We're smart. You know, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that things aren't great for House Republicans right now. But unlike what we're talking about, which is the midterm elections, it sounds like they're just not able to pass stuff in the House. Johnson is very sort of, you know, I guess kind of laid back. He just likes to wait to the last minute to figure out an answer. Maybe he's waiting for President Trump to post something on True Social before he calls for a vote or whatever. I mentioned all of that to ask, do Senate Republicans have their shit together more than House Republicans? because that feels like my read from here, far away in California. Yeah, well, I mean, let's just, I want to clarify one thing that you said, since it just happened minutes ago. They did actually pass a couple things tonight, or, you know, Wednesday night. We're recording this Wednesday night. And that is, you know, a FISA extension, although it has extraneous unrelated things in it that probably can't get through the Senate. And then the budget resolution for so the first step for funding ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. So, you know, there was a major headache for Speaker Johnson. They eventually got it done. He made a million promises to more than a dozen half House Republicans in order to get all this stuff through. Things that he can't promise or things that, you know, just don't matter in the long run. But the problem is, like, while Johnson is dealing with the drama in the House, Senator John Thune is also de facto having to deal with Mike Johnson, who is dealing with the drama in the House. And it is extremely frustrating for Thune for Johnson to keep accommodating this small cadre of House Republicans who know that they have a lot of power because of this tight margin and just kind of creating such chaos. And what making it more complicated the reason the battle between the House and the Senate which always exists but the reason big reason it worse right now is because Donald Trump is the only one who can keep this Republican Party together And he is completely disengaged from anything that is happening on Capitol Hill And so they are just floundering There is everything is a struggle Everything is difficult. And it's just crazy, creating a lot of problems between the chambers and among members. Well, let's talk about the FISA renewal. That's the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that needs to get renewed every few years. It allows the government to basically surveil electronic communications. There's, I believe, a deadline today to pass this. So this seems like a good example to talk about here. Johnson made a bunch of promises, you said, that can't get through the Senate. And so this thing comes up to the Senate and Thune's like, okay, get out the red Sharpie. Is it going to pass tonight? And am I right that this is a good example of what he's dealing with? Like, what are some examples of things, riders on this thing that some Looney Tunes Freedom Caucus person wanted to throw in? So the biggest latest one is when the House passed the FISA bill, they added a digital currency provision to it, which has nothing to do with the original intent of FISA. but Johnson added it, even though Senator John Thune said it was dead on arrival in the Senate, just because he needed to get it past his chamber. He has tried multiple times before to get it passed. He had to do a 10-day extension 10 days ago. And so he was up against this deadline. And so now it's punted to the Senate. The deadline is today. The Senate is most likely going to have to, you know, as of Wednesday night, it was not yet clear what the Senate exactly was going to do. But they're going to have to probably pass an extension. There was talk of a 60-day extension. And so that's just one of the things. And then, of course, there's the DHS funding, where, you know, after there was an agreement 30 days ago, Speaker Mike Johnson put out a press release saying that they are going to pass DHS funding immediately. Well, it's been 30 days, and he has not been able to get it through the House of Representatives. And then Johnson has put a lot of pressure on Thune to pass the SAVE Act, which is impossible in the Senate because there are not eight Democrats who will support the SAVE Act, which is the voting requirements for citizenship and voter ID, etc. So it's just a confluence of things, including must-pass things. DHS has now been shut down for 74 days. The Senate passed it a week and a half ago, almost two weeks ago, and House Republicans are holding it up. So it's frustrating. And again, like I said, Donald Trump is not involved and it's creating chaos. Really quick before I let you go. Yeah. Are John Thune and Mike Johnson pals? Like, do they hang out? They're not the type of people who strike me as like they'd be enemies. But do they have any kind of personal relationship or friendship that you're aware of? um no i was talking to senator mike grounds about this this week and he was said they are very two very different people with two very different personalities and so they didn't really know each other much before before i mean no one knew mike johnson no no and then john thune was kind of tasked by mcconnell last year or when mcconnell was leader to deal with mike johnson and mike Johnson first became leaders. They got to know each other a little bit then. But, you know, Mike Johnson manages up. He tries to save his job from the conservatives and he tries to stay on the good side of the president. And John Thune is less tied to those dynamics and has to more worry about something that has the support of Democrats. So and obviously, Mike Johnson and Donald Trump want nothing passed with the support of Democrats. So it's like, you know, their personalities are totally different. They're both very chill in their very, very different ways. Leanne, let's go back to Googling these new congressional maps that we cannot find on the internet. Good luck to voters finding these new maps. The hardest thing in the world is finding these new midterm congressional maps. Do better, state governments. Thanks so much. Bye, Leanne. Bye, Peter. Thanks so much for listening to another episode of The Powers That Be. As a reminder, The Powers That Be is the official podcast of Puck. We'd like to thank Ben Landy, Liz Goff, and Alex Bigler for their editorial and production guidance. If you like what you hear, please share with a friend. It really helps us keep delivering the inside scoop that only Puck can offer. Follow us on Twitter at Puck News. I'm Ben Landy. See you tomorrow. This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please listen, rate, review, and follow all episodes wherever you get your podcasts. The Powers That Be Daily is executive produced by John Kelly, co-founder of Puck, Bob Tabador, and Ben Landy, executive editor at Puck. Thank you.
