In today’s edition … What Jim Jordan’s win says about the GOP … We ask what you want Congress to priotitize … but first …
Can Democrats deliver on corruption?
Democrats won key elections this month in part by running on curbing corruption in Washington.
Democratic candidates repeatedly pointed out how Donald Trump’s family broadly expanded its crypto business interests while Trump was in office, and how the president made more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency in 2025, according to financial records. Democrats also raised concern that political insiders, and even lawmakers, might use privileged knowledge to profit from prediction markets. And they attacked billionaire GOP donor Elon Musk for being a special government employee when he oversaw DOGE early in Trump’s term.
Speaking to my colleague Mariana Alfaro, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California) summed up the message like this: “People can’t afford to pay the gas and the groceries because Donald Trump is ripping off the American people.”
Trump and his allies say they did nothing wrong and blame President Joe Biden for high costs. Now, congressional Democrats are preparing to investigate Trump’s finances. But top progressives in Washington say that’s not enough, and that the party needs to keep its campaign promises by passing actual legislation.
“The midterms demonstrated that from every corner of the country and amongst every group of people, Democrats, Independents, and many Republicans, there is a deep and growing anger at the level of corruption in Washington,” said Neera Tanden, the longtime head of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank at the center of many Democratic legislative initiatives.
CAP is pushing a proposal — aimed at incoming members of Congress, but also presidential hopefuls — full of new rules and regulations to curb corruption that it says Congress should pass.
The proposal includes:
- A ban on trading individual stocks for all branches of government and requiring the use of blind trusts and approved index funds
- Barring officeholders from launching or backing their own crypto products
- Prohibiting all federal employees and contractors from participating in prediction markets
- Curbing presidential self-enrichment with a 100 percent tax on any presidential income other than their government compensation, holdings in a blind trust, and regular real estate income from preexisting holdings
- Allowing states and taxpayers to challenge potential corruption via the courts
- Banning anyone worth over more than $100 million from being a special government employee, unless they divest from all assets in the area they will be working
- Prohibiting anyone with more than a 1 percent stake in an entity that has received more than $10 million in government contracts over a five-year period from working in a government position that oversees or regulates that industry
The push also includes language to make presidential pardons more transparent, including written certification of all people advocating for the pardons and any financial relationships between the pardon recipient and the president’s family, business or political network.
If the proposals sound familiar, that is intentional: They are directly tied to recent news stories around the president and his family, from Trump’s aforementioned crypto business to accusations that the president traded favors for pardons (accusations he denies).
“President Trump has launched an all-out war on fraud across the entire federal government, holding criminals accountable and saving taxpayers billions of dollars,” said Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson. “The Democrats in Congress have refused to do anything to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in our government.”
The American public certainly sees corruption not only as a problem, but as something running rampant in Washington.
Gallup found in a 2026 survey that a whopping 89 percent of Americans said government corruption was widespread.
Tanden acknowledged that polling shows voters think both Democrats and Republicans are corrupt, but she argued that “this is a moment in time where Democrats can demonstrate that they are different.”
“What people are very hungry for is ensuring this level of corruption cannot happen again,” Tanden said.
Though corruption messaging worked for Democrats this year, Republicans have capitalized on it, too. Trump’s entire argument in 2016 was, essentially, that the system was rigged against the voters, and Hillary Clinton represented the establishment that has benefited. Voters mostly agreed, and Clinton lost.
A similar antiestablishment anger helped Democrats pick up four Senate seats and 49 House seats after the Watergate scandal, expanding their majorities in both chambers. The elections were the greatest Democratic showing since World War II and centered on combating corruption. New members from these midterms were called “Watergate babies” because their wins were tied to the backlash.
Tanden and others argue that the same sentiment is prevalent right now.
“This was Watergate numbers, and the common thread is the corruption,” Rahm Emanuel told me last week, when asked about Democrats’ sizable victory. “And what the Democrats should do is deal with it by passing comprehensive ethics reform.”
Emanuel, who is considering a 2028 run and positioning himself as an ideas guy in a field of better-known Democrats, argued it would be a “missed opportunity” if Democrats don’t hold all of Washington accountable with new rules for both parties.
“Be the party that cleaned it up,” Emanuel said, arguing that Americans see all of Washington — including the courts and Congress — as corrupt, not just the president.
Defend the Vote, the progressive outside group that pushed candidates in 2026 to focus on how corruption had become an economic issue because it was costing voters money, has already started pushing members it helped elect to back anti-corruption reforms.
This week they hosted a dinner welcoming new members of Congress, which included a discussion about how the elected officials need to follow through on their campaign messaging.
“New members and incumbents all understand the mandate and the urgency. A stock trading ban is a popular starting point,” said Adam Bozzi, a Democratic operative and adviser for Defend the Vote. “Members are motivated to take action, and there’s a lot of work happening right now among advocates and Members on what these reforms will look like.”
Trump has sent mixed signals about how willing he is to work with a Democratic Congress. He could easily veto any anti-corruption legislation Democrats pass.
But Tanden said that makes it even more imperative for Democrats to work on the issue, using any veto to energize voters, arguing that “this will not happen” again with a Democrat in the White House.
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From across the newsroom
- Hegseth impeachment effort is blocked by House Republicans, from Tara Copp, Dan Lamothe and Noah Robertson.
- Inside the fight to build — or block — Trump’s triumphal arch, from Dan Diamond.
- Spy scandal highlights contradictions at heart of Trump’s China policy, from Cat Zakrzewski, Warren Strobel and Isaac Arnsdorf.
- Fed chair needs friends in Congress as inflation fight drags on, from David J. Lynch.
- The job market is tough for younger workers. This group is thriving, from Shira Ovide and Federica Cocco.
- Appeals court says VOA director was fired illegally by former head Kari Lake, from Scott Nover.
What I’m watching
Republicans in the House have a new leader: Rep. Jim Jordan, the combative Ohio congressman best known as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee who oversaw investigations into Democrats.
My colleagues Mariana Alfaro and Theodoric Meyer reported that Jordan pitched lawmakers on being a bulwark against the investigations Democrats are likely to undertake once they take power in January, promising an aggressive defense of Republicans, including Trump, his family, and top administration officials.
There was plenty of inside baseball in this vote, as it effectively puts to bed a 15-year rivalry between Jordan and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, who also ran for the top spot.
The trend this pick represents is telling. Combined with Trump’s decision to elevate Stephen Miller, his controversial, caustic top aide, and you have the makings of a Republican Party in Washington that is more prepared for battle over the next two years, not one that is changing its tactics after massive losses.
In your local paper
The Blade (Ohio): Gov. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, has begun the process of commuting multiple death sentences in his final days as governor.
Rough Draft Atlanta: The college football playoffs are changing again, expanding to 24 teams starting in the 2027-28 season. It is yet another example of the upheaval happening right now in college sports.
Virginia Mercury: When the Virginia constitution was written in 1776, the authors could conceive of only one kind of governor: a man. But Virginia elected a woman governor last year, and she is now running a state whose constitution identifies her as a he.
From you
Many of you were in support of the effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which now seems unlikely to move forward this year. But that feeling was not universal.
“Do a head count first. If conviction is at best a long shot, devote energies elsewhere. I would prefer not to see the word ‘exonerated’ attached to a nasty piece of work like Hegseth,” added Dan Silvia.
“Pete Hegseth needs to go – whether by impeachment or some other means,” wrote Doris P. Mabrey. “For the country’s sake, it would be best if he resigned. I doubt that the Senate will convict him even if the House impeaches him. Who knows what Trump will do.”
Some of you worried impeaching Hegseth would just be a distraction, however.
“Hegseth is a disgusting and pathetic individual who should never have been confirmed. But impeaching him is an empty gesture. Dems should save their political capital for trying to end the Iran War, and limiting future presidents, by going at Trump’s war powers directly,” wrote Craig H. Mellow.
“As long as Hegseth’s impeachment is done by the lame duck House, it could help to distract him from his video war game fantasies. Outgoing senators and Republicans in recovery mode might be persuaded to convict him, but the new Congress should prioritize affordability and exposing corruption,” concluded Bill Hosp.
Send a reply
Democrats have a long list of priorities when they take control of Congress next year. We previewed a focus on curbing corruption in this newsletter. What would you like to see Congress focus on first next year? And why? Let me and your fellow Early Brief readers know at [email protected].
Thanks for reading. You can follow me on X at @merica.
The post Democrats won by running on corruption. Now people want them to deliver. appeared first on Washington Post.
