Steve Stivers

Democrats in Southern California faced a real threat of not making the general ballot in certain races before Tuesday’s primaries. But no one saw that coming in the Central Valley.

Democrats laser-focused on three races in Southern California, but not on the 10th District in the Central Valley, held by Republican Rep. Jeff Denham. 

The two men leading each party’s House campaign committees will meet Thursday to discuss the use of hacked materials in campaigns, they said at a Wall Street Journal/NBC News event Thursday morning. 

“We want to try to figure out if there’s a way to come together on all this stuff,” National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers of Ohio said at the event at the Newseum that featured the chairmen of the House and Senate campaign committees. 

An Ohio man who sent threatening voicemails to Ohio Republican Rep. Steve Stivers was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

E. Stanley Hoff, 69, sent a series of threatening voicemails to Stivers, who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, criticizing the House Republican agenda, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

We’re all over Capitol Hill and its surrounding haunts looking for good stories. Some of the best are ones we come across while reporting the big stories.

There is life beyond legislating and this is the place for those stories. We look for them, but we don’t find them all. We want to know what you see, too.

Updated Wednesday, 12:04 a.m. | Former Republican state Sen. Debbie Lesko won the special election in Arizona’s 8th District on Tuesday night, but her victory margin for a seat that President Donald Trump easily carried in 2016 appeared to be relatively slim.

The Associated Press called the race with Lesko leading Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, 53 percent to 47 percent in early ballots, which accounted for an estimated 75 percent of the total votes cast, according to the Arizona secretary of state’s office. The seat opened up after former GOP Rep. Trent Franks resigned in December amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers had a message for House Republicans on Tuesday morning: keep talking about the tax overhaul.

The Ohio Republican presented attendees at a GOP conference meeting with polling that showed voters have not heard from them lately about the tax overhaul, according to a source with knowledge of the discussion. Stivers “implored them to continue to sell it,” the source said.

Updated 12:41 p.m. | Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Charlie Dent announced Tuesday that he would resign from Congress “in the coming weeks,” adding later that his last day would come sometime in May.

Dent, a moderate who was first elected to his 15th District in 2004, had already announced he was not running for re-election. In a statement Tuesday that was also posted on Twitter, he said he decided to leave the Hill early “after discussions with my family and careful reflection.” 

House Republicans’ most prolific fundraiser is vowing to continue to do all he can to help them keep the majority in the midterms.

But Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s announcement Wednesday that he doesn’t want to be a part of that majority next year has only crystalized the perception that the House GOP is in for a drubbing in November.

Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold resigned Friday, roughly four months after news broke that he had settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with taxpayer money.

“While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it’s time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve,” Farenthold said in a statement Friday. He said he sent a letter to GOP Gov. Greg Abbott resigning his position effective 5 p.m. Friday.

Rep. Ryan A. Costello’s decision to retire has put Pennsylvania Republicans hoping to hold on to his seat in a bind, and they’re now weighing whether to back the only Republican candidate left in the race.

GOP leaders from Chester County will hold a conference call Thursday to discuss supporting Republican Greg McCauley, a tax lawyer who also filed to run in the 6th District before Costello announced his retirement, according to Val DiGiorgio, the state and Chester County GOP chairman. The county GOP was previously backing Costello, having announced its endorsements in February.