A fitting close-out to a day of wary celebrations

Rubén Gallego, newly sworn-in Senator from Arizona, held a party for supporters, friends, family and colleagues, in a DC night spot. Mark Kelly was there, too, accompanied by a big guy who told me he was Mark's bodyguard. I said I hadn't known that Mark had to reach out to the New Jersey mafia to get himself a bodyguard, who was none other than New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. Brief speeches were given by Booker, Mark Kelly, and two who were also at Elissa Slotkin's party an hour earlier: Gary Peters and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.



No one is under any illusions. As of today, Chuck Schumer, who spoke at Hirono's party, is no longer Senate Majority Leader. Now, it is Republican John Thune of South Dakota. The dark times have officially begun, though the lights don't go completely out for another 17 days. But, as Elissa Slotkin said in her speech, this was not time to surrender, but to fight back hard, do what we can to stave off whatever horrors the Republicans are cooking up. 2026 may not be around the corner, but it is not too soon to be thinking about it. As awful as the near future looks like it could be, we have some very good people on our side who will be trying to stave off the worst of things.