Can the G.O.P. Survive Losing Lindsey?

**Mariana Sotomayor** (0:02)
They were really hoping that Lindsey Graham would come in this week and start to talk to Democrats to try and pass a yearly defense funding bill. Graham was supposed to be the guy to bridge those divides.

**Peter Hamby** (0:17)
Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Tuesday, July 14th. Today, I'm joined by Mariana Sotomayor with a look at Lindsey Graham's sudden death over the weekend and how his absence in Washington leaves Republicans and Donald Trump without a veteran, well-liked senator who knew how to play the inside game in DC at a time when old school politicians like Graham are becoming more and more rare. We also discuss why Trump is still demanding that Republicans on the Hill pass the Save America Act, his restrictive voter ID law, even if that seems impossible to do before the midterms. We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode of The Powers That Be.
Happy Tuesday, everybody, and welcome to The Powers That Be. Happy Bastille Day to all of you who celebrate Bastille Day, of course. At least there's a World Cup game on today. I'm joined by my colleague, Mariana Sotomayor, my best and the brightest colleague, our savvy Capitol Hill whisperer, because there's a lot of news on the Hill this week. Obviously, the big, big one, well, there's, geez, there's not a big, big one.

**Mariana Sotomayor** (1:46)
This is too much.

**Peter Hamby** (1:47)
There's too much. Lindsey Graham died on Sunday. That's big. It leaves vacancies on powerful committees. Henry McMaster, the governor of South Carolina, just appointed Graham's sister, Darlene, to fill out the remainder of his term, while there's jockeying underway to have a special election to fill his seat for six full years, because Graham was up this year and he had just won his primary.
RIP, Lindsey Graham. In politics, you were a legend.
There's the case of the missing Mitch McConnell that we're going to talk about. There's that. Geez, what else is going on, Mariana?

**Mariana Sotomayor** (2:24)
I mean, the House is basically frozen. They haven't been able to do anything for two weeks, and that could continue on and on and on.

**Peter Hamby** (2:33)
Okay. Well, we'll get to the House stuff in a second. I guess let's start with the Senate.
Where to begin? Let's see. Committee vacancies. Lindsey Graham was obviously a powerful member over many, many years of the Judiciary Committee.
Controversially, voting, controversially for conservatives at least, voting to confirm several Democratic Supreme Court nominees. But famously, explosively changed the tide on the Kavanaugh nomination in real-time during those hearings. Graham was supposed to be the next chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He's also on the Budget Committee, so leaving these big holes on both committees, both very powerful committees, at an important time. And by the way, there could be a Supreme Court vacancy in the next couple of years. Anyway, Lindsey Graham will not be there, lending his voice to those debates. So who steps in?

**Mariana Sotomayor** (3:32)
There are a number of people who are now jockeying for the vacancy that Graham holds, and that goes even beyond what committee he was serving on. I was talking to someone today who kind of described what Graham meant as if you envision a completely built Jenga tower, and you're taking out little pieces, and then you take that one out, and then everything falls apart. That's how senators feel at this time, and we'll get into all of that. But to your question on committees and how his vacancy is definitely going to affect what could happen, you mentioned judiciary. So he was up to be the next chairman of judiciary. That's a post that he had previously held in a Republican majority. So now that he is gone, the next in line would have been John Cornyn, who of course will no longer be serving in the Senate, as he was not chosen by Texans to continue serving there. So that brings in this completely new generation of leadership. Mike Lee is third in line, Republican from Utah, libertarian. Lee Ann has written so much about how Republicans in the Senate just completely dislike him, do not trust him. So that's not really going to bode super well. He could also choose to be the top Republican on another committee. So if he chooses to go off and lead energy, that means that Josh Hawley could be the next top Republican to lead judiciary.
Listen, these are younger folks, but also ones who are very ready to fight and sometimes don't agree with the Trump administration. So it would be interesting to see all of these different dynamics at play.