FIRST THINGS FIRST
SO IT BEGINS: The votes from Tuesday’s election are still being counted in dozens of races, but the 2028 Democratic invisible primary is already underway.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)—fresh off reelection to a third full term—will head back to South Carolina twice this month, just days after Democrat Annie Andrews pulled off a historic upset in the state’s Senate race to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
Booker will speak at NAACP events in Sumter tomorrow and Charleston two weeks later, according to an announcement from his political operation.
The trips are notable given Booker’s potential 2028 presidential ambitions and South Carolina’s influential role in the Democratic nominating process. Booker has already visited the state twice this year, including an October swing to campaign for Andrews and other Democrats.
The upcoming appearances give him another opportunity to build relationships with Black voters and influential organizers in a state that could be pivotal to his presidential prospects.
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VIEW FROM THE HILL
AGAINST THE ODDS: The Congressional Black Caucus is projected to have at least 66 members in the next Congress, with the potential to reach 68 pending recounts in Mississippi’s Senate race and NC-03, according to an internal memo I obtained and first reported on this morning. That’s up from 62 in the current Congress. The CBC is actively engaged in both recounts.
The incoming caucus is set to include a record five senators: Booker, Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and newly elected Juliana Stratton (D-Ill.) If Scott Colom holds his slim lead over Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), he would increase the Senate tally to six. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is also poised to become the first Black speaker of the House.
Georgia and North Carolina could have the largest CBC delegations, with six members apiece, although the Tar Heel State’s total depends on the NC-03 recount.
“God is good. White supremacist sycophants tried to unravel decades of blood, sweat, tears and law with their radically delusional and illegal gerrymandering play,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), who serves on the CBC’s executive board, told me this afternoon. “And they got played. They got played by Black voters who always know what time it is.”