Sean Cooksey

Catholic | husband | dad | former Counsel to @VP, @FEC Commissioner, and Senate staffer | @NatlParkService fan.

A personal account. Posts are my own.

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

Oh no, Aakash Singh has been caught being awesome and great at his job again. Incredible scoop.

[Ken Dilanian @KDilanianMSNOW]

New: After a wave of DOJ departures, a call for a “wartime footing,” to push Trump’s priorities. U.S. Attorneys across the country were told to buy in fully or “reflect as to whether this is still the job that you want.”

With @CarolLeonnig @MSPaulaReid

https://t.co/M0TaRBdFIy

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

Is End Citizens United a scam PAC? Many people are asking.

[Leigh Ann Caldwell @LACaldwellDC]

New for @PuckNews
End Citizens United, that Dem PAC that is ubiquitous with eliminating corporate and dark money in politics, is under more scrutiny for how its spending its money---and for using the same tactics that it shuns. Only a fraction---less than 4 percent---of their money raised has been spent directly on candidates.
https://t.co/PUrNqi22RB

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

🤡

[Teddy Schleifer @teddyschleifer]

Choose your emoji here

[Polymarket @Polymarket]

JUST IN: Maryland activist helps block a $5B AI data center planned for the site of an abandoned shopping mall that closed 24 years ago, after gathering over 25,000 signatures.

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

We are incontrovertibly back.

[Alex Isenstadt @axiosalex]

SCOOP: May Mailman, a close Stephen Miller ally, is returning to the White House in a temporary role to help the new chief of staff with operations and staffing as he puts his team in place

https://t.co/9VdVmFBIPP

[Manu Raju @mkraju]

Cornyn’s office releases photo of his meeting with Talarico today

[Katie Miller @KatieMiller]

I’ll take a cup of whatever coffee Todd Blanche had this morning.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

When being just and honest comes at a price, pay it. When forgiving seems like a defeat, forgive. When everyone tells you to think of yourselves first, do not be afraid to put yourselves in the last place. Be willing to give up time, money, comfort and plans to serve others. May those who see you find themselves asking: “Why do they live in this way? Where do they get this freedom? Why do they love one another so much?” #ApostolicJourney #Uruguay

[Smirkley @Smirkley]

Here is a quadrant chart using CNN’s exit poll. It shows what issues hurt Republicans, by how many voters called each issue crucial and how they voted. Cost of living (49%, D+34), corruption (55%, D+28), & Iran (34%, D+46) made people vote D. Only immigration (36%, R+15) helped Rs.

[Julia Black @mjnblack]

whew https://t.co/hsTYHPnEgP

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

The only major voter issue that Republicans won:

[JD Vance @JDVance]

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.

So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."

Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.

But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.

Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:

1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)

In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.

The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.

If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.

But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

The important takeaway from this election is that it confirms all my priors. Just like I thought it would.

[Ro Khanna @RoKhanna]

DEI is back!

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

Two general observations:

(1) Under the Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7, it's likely an unwaivable conflict of interest for a law firm to represent a client in a conspiracy investigation where the law firm itself is implicated.

(2) The crime-fraud exception removes attorney-client privilege when you engage in a conspiracy with your law firm.

[Sadie Gurman @sgurman]

The Justice Department has sent letters to more than a dozen people telling them they might be targets in its criminal investigation into the potential manipulation of the Alaska Senate race, including top Democratic lawyer Marc Elias. https://t.co/EquvmvfFQn

[Mike Fragoso @mike_frags]

Fascinating. While we’re on campaign
finance, who paid Caplin’s legal bills for Dan J. Sullivan? Was there ever an answer on that?

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

Alaska's Decoy Dan hired Caplin & Drysdale for his campaign lawyers, according to FEC reports, where CLC President Trevor Potter is a Senior Counsel. Was Potter involved? Has anyone asked?

[Campaign Legal Center @CampaignLegal]

The president says he controls the PAC MAGA Inc. That’s illegal. But it's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the scope of campaign finance abuses nationwide. New @PostOpinions op-ed from former FEC chairs @thetrevorpotter and @EllenLWeintraub. https://t.co/BVtOyart8s

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

"and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad."

[Sam Robinson @samueljrob]

“None of this matters,” says Abdul El-Sayed, next to Jim Clyburn. El-Sayed, who is being hounded by a swarm of national reporters, says he doesn’t think about U.S. Haley Stevens.

[Sean M. O'Brien @TeamsterSOB]

Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien here. Just voted in the State of Florida for the first time, and very proud to have cast a ballot for @SenAshleyMoody. Sen. Moody has been extremely helpful working with the Teamsters to protect workers’ pensions, defend good-paying jobs, and support well-funded union apprenticeship programs. The Teamsters look forward to working with Sen. Moody in her role on the Senate HELP Committee to pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act and get this critical legislation signed into law to protect American workers.

[Sean Cooksey @SeanJCooksey]

"No, no, wait, not OUR party!"