News: Will Dems boycott Trump's inauguration again? ‘It’s different now.’

Monday, January 6, 2025

Will Dems boycott Trump's inauguration again? ‘It’s different now.’

Jan 06, 2025

TOP LINE

For some veteran House Democrats, the process of coming to grips with an electoral shellacking includes something unexpected: attending the second inauguration of Donald Trump.

At least a handful of Democratic members who boycotted Trump’s 2017 ceremony plan to attend his next one on Jan. 20, and several more are still undecided on going. It’s the latest sign of the tempering of the resistance movement in the run-up to Trump’s second term.

President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2017.

President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2017. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

Eight years ago, more than 60 members protested by spurning the swearing-in, led by the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). A slew of them will decline to attend again, and they will certainly be joined by newer members who were elected after Trump’s first inauguration. But the reversal by some of the initial boycotters — and wavering from others — offers a window into Democrats’ fatigue and how the party’s opposition to Trump in symbolic ways has softened since his first election.

“It's different now,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who plans to go to the inauguration in January but skipped it in 2017. “I've talked to colleagues who see it differently. I feel like whether we like it or not, this guy was just elected by the country with full disclosure of all of his ugliness.”

For members like Huffman, attendance, not boycott, is a form of defiance: “This time around, I feel like I need to stand there to show that he's not pushing me out of my role.”

Others have different reasons — and political calculations. Two lawmakers who plan to go in 2025 but did not in 2017 have found themselves representing more moderate electorates: Rep. Raul Ruiz’s (D-Calif.) district lurched to the right at the presidential level last year and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) left a Democratic-leaning House district and was just elected statewide in a state that Trump won. Voters, he said in an interview with 12 News, “sent a very clear message in this last cycle that they want an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to work together.”

Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), who participated in the boycott in 2017, has since joined Democratic leadership. She also plans to attend this time.

“I'm probably going to go,” said Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), who skipped it in 2017. The Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol would be a reason to bow out, he said. “The other side of me says, ‘He won.’ I'm a member of Congress, and I should go. And if I'm curious as to why the country made the decision they did, maybe it would be good for me.”

Trump’s second ceremony is two weeks away, and a more organized movement could still form. But some of those who are skipping his inauguration for a second time acknowledged there is not the same level of protest as in 2017.

“I think it's more of a personal decision at this point in time,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who plans to boycott again.

Among those joining her: Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Don Beyer (D-Va.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramilia Jayapal (D-Wash.) — all of whom represent solidly blue districts.

Happy 2025! I’m Ally Mutnick and I’ll be your Score author for a bit now that Madison has moved on to cover all things New Jersey. Thanks to Nicholas Wu for helping with today’s Topline. Please send any and all thoughts, tips and feedback to amutnick@politico.com and find me on X at @allymutnick.

Days until the 2025 election: 302

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CAMPAIGN INTEL

DECISION TIME FOR DEWINE — Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, a Republican, has emerged as the “leading contender” to fill Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Senate seat, NBC News’ Henry Gomez reports. Gov. Mike DeWine will select Vance’s successor, who will hold the seat until a 2026 special election. It’s not clear if Husted, who has been angling to replace the term-limited DeWine, wants the job. Both men went to visit Trump last month at Mar-a-Lago.

Other possibilities, per Gomez: former state GOP chair Jane Timken and Ohio state Rep. Jay Edwards.

SOMETHING SPECIAL — There is a trio of special elections in Virginia on Tuesday — and an upset in either of the two Democratic-leaning seats could threaten the party’s narrow control of the state Senate and the state House of Delegates. One contest is to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), who was elected to Congress last year, and the other is to fill the seat of state Del. Kannan Srinivasan, who won the Democratic nomination for Subramanyam’s state Senate seat.

“Democratic losses in either Loudoun County seat could throw control of the state Senate to Republicans or force a power-sharing agreement in the state House of Delegates, where Democrats had reclaimed control after the 2023 elections,” per the Associated Press’ Robert Yoon. But both are reliably Democratic seats. The third special is to replace Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.), who resigned after besting former Rep. Bob Good in a GOP primary last year.

SITTING IT OUT — Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall said he won’t run for governor in 2026, according to the Associated Press. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, is in her final term.

MAYBE MAYBE MAYBE — Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) “who broke with his party over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, is exploring an independent bid for Virginia governor or lieutenant governor this year,” per the Washington Post’s Laura Vozzella. Riggleman lost his seat in a party nominating convention in 2020 after officiating a same-sex wedding. A governor run could pit him against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, whom he endorsed in her last bid for Congress.

THE DNC DIARIES — Ken Martin, the chair of the Minnesota Democratic Party, and Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democrats, have emerged as front-runners to lead the Democratic National Committee. And the race has delved into “disputes over donor influence, personality conflicts and past slights and jealousies,” rather than an examination of Democrats’ widespread losses last November, per Reid J. Epstein of the New York Times. Martin is running on a pledge to center power and resources out of individual state parties.

Meanwhile, “Wikler’s supporters include a host of D.N.C. officials who have been perturbed at Mr. Martin for creating a group of state party chairs that has competed within the national committee for influence.” The billionaire megadonor Reid Hoffman is backing Wikler.

Aides to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris declined to say whether or not either would back a candidate for DNC chair.

THE CASH DASH

MONEY MOVES — Allies of Trump have raised a whopping $200 million since his November election ”for a constellation of groups that will fund his inauguration, his political operation and eventually his presidential library, according to four people involved in the fund-raising,” the New York Times’ Kenneth P. Vogel, Maggie Haberman and Theodore Schleifer report. The Make America Great Again Inc. super PAC will benefit from the fundraising and Trump’s team plans to use that vehicle again to aid Trump allies running for office and oppose his detractors.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Kamala... I just wanted to say your name properly in the Senate." — Former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said to Harris as the latter swore in new senators on Jan. 3.

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