INSIDE D.C. WITH JOHN GIZZI NEWSMAX WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT
Democrat McCain in Congress? • Amid rumors Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., will run for governor, Democrats think they can flip his 1st District seat in the Phoenix suburbs. Since he entered Congress in 2011, Schweikert, a stalwart conservative, has had close calls at the polls. He won reelection
in 2022 by less than 1 percentage point and by just over 4 percentage points last year. An open seat would almost certainly mean a crowded GOP primary and possible Democrat pickup. One name that pops up
as a Democrat prospect is McCain — either Navy veteran Jack McCain or Marine veteran and Army National Guard officer Jimmy McCain, sons of the late Republican maverick Sen. John McCain. The brothers both backed Kamala Harris for president in 2024. While the McCain name carries little weight these days among Arizona Republicans, it is revered among Democrats. Either Jack or Jimmy
would be a formidable candidate in an open 1st District.
Voting Rights Shake-Up • Conservatives believe that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting and is being litigated in several states, mostly in the South, is being misused
54 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2025
by Democrats to force state legislatures to draw districts along racial lines to favor Democrats. The Supreme Court is
expected to rule on whether race can be a factor in redistricting in a Louisiana case and whether private individuals or only the Justice Department can sue over violations of Section 2 in a separate Arkansas case. Rulings that strike
down racial redistricting would likely lead to GOP- run legislatures and apportionment panels in the states considering redrawing U.S. House lines that eliminate many “minority- majority” districts — all of which are held by Democrats — and guarantee GOP control of the U.S. House.
Trump, McConnell Agree on Successor • President Donald Trump and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have certainly had their differences, but one thing they apparently agree on is who should replace the Kentucky Republican when he retires next year. Bluegrass GOP sources
say both will eventually endorse former State Attorney General Dan Cameron, an erstwhile McConnell staffer who became Kentucky’s first- ever Black nominee for governor in 2023. Although Rep. Andy
Barr, another GOP Senate hopeful, is also an alumnus of McConnell’s staff and is a
stalwart Trump supporter, both the president and McConnell reportedly feel the election of Cameron would give the party a spokesman with national potential. The third candidate
in the all-important GOP primary next year is Nate Morris, a multimillionaire businessman and MAGA conservative who has upset several party leaders with spirited attacks on McConnell.
Iran White House Pipeline • In discussing the Iranian regime and his opposition to it, Trump never specifically mentions its
exile community in the U.S. or the desire of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) — the largest such group — to have “regime change” in Tehran. But that group and its supporters throughout the U.S. have several indirect pipelines to the president. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are both friends of Trump who have close ties to NCRI and have endorsed their events in the U.S. and abroad.
Retired Army Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy on solving the Ukraine war, is also considered an NCRI ally.
Insiders Head Overseas
• The surprise choice of White House personnel chief Sergio Gor to be ambassador to India and special envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs is a sign that more of President Donald Trump’s inner circle will be heading overseas to lead key embassies. Gor, 38, is a fierce
Trump loyalist who, as one veteran international correspondent put it, “can get the president on the phone at any hour.” Trump has already named similar loyalists for other key diplomatic perches — notably Kimberly Guilfoyle, former girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., to Greece, and Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, to France. Watch for Trump insiders to fill still-vacant slots in Germany, Pakistan, and South Korea.
GOR
ANDREW HARNIK/GETTY IMAGES
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
