Five years later: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful holiday break.

In today’s edition, Ryan J. Reilly examines how President Donald Trump is seeking to recast the history of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Plus, Steve Kornacki looks ahead to the next special House elections on the calendar.

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— Adam Wollner

Five years after Jan. 6, Trump is rewriting the narrative around the Capitol siege

Analysis by Ryan J. Reilly

Five years after he and his allies tried and failed to overturn the results of the 2020 election, President Donald Trump is using his time back in the White House to take a series of actions aimed at erasing or rewriting the Jan. 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump mass-pardoned Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in office. Justice Department officials and FBI agents involved in the massive investigation and prosecution were fired. Dozens of other supporters involved in efforts to overturn the election results have been pre-emptively pardoned.

The White House launched a page on its official website today dedicated to Trump’s narrative, claiming the protesters were peaceful in 2021 and it was the police response that escalated tensions. A timeline reads: “Stolen Election Certified,” and restated claims that former Vice President Mike Pence was trying to sabotage Trump when he refused to stop the certification of electoral votes.

Pence said on X that Jan. 6 was a “tragic day,” but that it “became a triumph of freedom when, after Capitol Police quelled the violence, leaders in both chambers in both political parties reconvened the very same day and finished democracy’s work under the Constitution.”

Anniversary march: Meanwhile, pro-Trump demonstrators gathered near the Capitol today. Flanked by a small group of pardoned Jan. 6 defendants, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio said that they’re calling for “retribution” against members of the media as well as prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases and continue to work at the Justice Department.

At the Capitol: House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s office said the legally required plaque to honor police officers who protected the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is “not implementable” and won’t be hung as mandated by law.

What Trump is saying: During remarks to House Republicans at the Kennedy Center, Trump repeated his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged.” (He also warned that Democrats would try to impeach him again if they gained control of the House in this year’s midterm elections.)

Read more →

Previewing 2026’s special elections

For very different reasons, two House special elections emerged on the horizon today.

In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp set March 10 as the date for voters in the state’s 14th District to replace Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned her congressional seat yesterday. The special election will amount to a jungle primary, with all candidates running on the same ballot regardless of party. If no one clears 50% on March 10, a runoff between the top two finishers would be held four weeks later.

The seat is all but certain to remain in Republican hands. The district, which is a mix of rural north Georgia and expanding Atlanta exurban sprawl, voted for President Donald Trump by 37 points in both the 2020 and 2024 elections.

Meanwhile, tragic circumstances will trigger a special election in California’s 1st District, following the sudden and unexpected death of GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa. These two vacancies leave Republicans’ House majority at 218-213 for the time being.

California state law gives Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom some wiggle room on when to schedule the special election for LaMalfa’s seat. He has two weeks to issue a proclamation setting a date; the soonest the election could come after that would be 18 weeks later — which would be sometime in mid-to-late May. The latest it could be held would be mid-July.

The 1st District that LaMalfa represented takes in vast expanses of rural and mountainous northeastern California and is anchored by the cities of Redding and Chico. Trump won it by 25 points in 2024, so like with Georgia’s 14th District, Republicans will be the prohibitive favorites to retain the seat.

But the question is whether there’ll be much interest from candidates or either party. Under California’s new mid-decade congressional lines, which were drawn up by Democrats and approved by voters in November, the 1st District will be broken up, with its component pieces attached to overwhelmingly Democratic districts. So while the special election will be held under the old, GOP-friendly lines, the winner (assuming it’s a Republican) would realistically have nowhere to run for a full term this November.

In addition, there are two other House special elections already on the books. A runoff is set for Jan. 31 in Texas’ 18th District, the Houston-based seat last held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner. Since both candidates who advanced to the runoff are Democrats, the party is already assured of retaining the seat. And in April, voters in New Jersey’s 11th District will pick a successor to Democrat Mikie Sherrill, who was elected governor in November.

So far this Congress, Democrats have been posting significant improvements in special elections relative to the 2024 presidential result. That trend makes them the clear favorites to retain Sherrill’s seat.