WASHINGTON — If it’s Thursday ... Breaking news: WNBA star Brittney Griner released from Russian custody in prisoner swap. ... President Biden delivers remarks on the economy, union workers and retirees. ... The Jan. 6 committee plans to release final report, vote on criminal referrals on Dec. 21, per NBC’s Ryan Nobles, Haley Talbot and Ali Vitali. ... The U.S. Supreme Court searches for middle ground in North Carolina redistricting/elections case. ... And the House Ethics Committee investigates Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
But first: Not a single Georgia county flipped between Democrats and Republicans from the Jan. 2021 Senate runoff (which Raphael Warnock won with 51.0%) and the Dec. 2022 runoff (which he won with 51.4% — and counting), according to an NBC News Political Unit analysis.
And just two of the state’s 159 counties — Baldwin and Washington — changed party hands from the Nov. 2022 general election to Tuesday’s runoff. (Those two counties went for Republican Herschel Walker in November and then to Warnock in the runoff.)
That’s it.
And it underscores just how polarized and unchanged our politics has been since Donald Trump’s presidency.
Another way to look at this: Democrats won competitive Senate contests in every state that President Joe Biden carried in 2020, with just one exception — Wisconsin.
That status quo is why the midterms turned out to be so disappointing for Republicans.
Yes, they won back the House (barely); they won in congressional districts Biden carried in California and New York; and they held on to Wisconsin’s Senate seat and flipped Nevada’s governorship.
But that’s it.
Outside of those slight movements, nothing really changed from 2020 — or Jan. 5, 2021.
Data Download: The number of the day is … 2
That’s how many Georgia counties flipped from supporting Republican Herschel Walker in November to backing Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in December. They include Baldwin and Washington in the central part of the state. Warnock also carried both counties in the Jan. 2021 runoff.
Their sparse populations help explain the shifts. Walker won 49.6% of the vote in Baldwin in November — with just 7,416 votes. Warnock won fewer votes (7,007) in December, but took 50.6% of the overall vote and won the county. In Washington, Walker won 3,904 votes, or 50.3% of the total vote, in November. But in the December runoff, Warnock won 3,753 votes to Walker’s 3,665, giving him a victory in the county.
The counties’ flips also underscore GOP Gov. Brian Kemp’s impact at the top of the ticket in November. Kemp won Baldwin by 7 percentage points and Washington by 6 points, even as Walker narrowly carried them.
Other numbers to know:
3 years: The length of a sentence for a Jan. 6 rioter who warned of a “siege” on the Capitol if the electoral certification didn’t “go right.”
242 pages: The length of a new report from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about the country’s early coronavirus failures.
30 years: The amount of prison time a Ukrainian ex-lawmaker who the U.S. believes was a Russian agent, could be facing for trying to influence the U.S.’ 2020 presidential election.
2: The number of congressional committees seeking more information about the impact Jared Kushner’s business interests may have had on decisions he may have made regarding U.S. foreign policy.
2 million: The age of the oldest DNA yet discovered, which allowed scientists to peek into what life was like in northern Greenland centuries ago.
18 years-old: The age of Jaylen Smith, the new mayor of Earle, Ark., who became the youngest Black mayor in the country’s history.
Headline of the day
Additional items marked classified found in Trump storage unit
Eyes on 2024: Dems spike the football, GOPers point fingers
Tuesday’s Democratic victory in the Georgia Senate runoff has led to a predictable response — a Democratic victory lap and Republican recriminations.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took a victory lap Wednesday, praising the party’s “great candidates” over “MAGA Republicans,” and looked toward 2024, where he said President Biden would be “very helpful” to Democrats during a cycle with a tough Senate map.
Reporting on the other side of the aisle, the NBC News Capitol Hill team heard a list of complaints from Republican lawmakers in the wake of their loss.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune blamed former President Trump’s “obsession with the 2020 election” for becoming “an albatross and a real liability.”
Retiring Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt told NBC that “candidates matter. And I think we’ve lost two or three or four races we didn’t have to lose this year.” Retiring Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy echoed that message.
But some disagreed — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said that “the Trump factor helped some and hurt some,” and Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said that there’s “just no way to ever tell” whether Trump’s presence was helpful or hurtful to Republicans.
In other 2024 news:
Heads up, Atlanta TV stations: The AP explores how Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win in the Georgia Senate runoff secures the state’s battleground status going into 2024.
McCormick for Senate round two?: The AP also reports on how Trump’s struggles in 2022 changes the landscape for Republican David McCormick, who ran against Trump’s endorsed Mehmet Oz and is considered a top Senate candidate for 2024.
Donor dinner party: Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is hosting a dinner with some top donors after his decisive re-election as he weighs a potential run for president, the Washington Post reports.
Search party: NBC News’ Scott Wong reports on one of the most important first tasks for newly minted Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, picking someone to lead the DCCC.
Soros opens his wallet: After spending millions on the 2022 midterms, Politico reports that Democratic donor George Soros made a $50 million donation to a Democratic super PAC earlier this month, a sign that Soros will continue to wield his influence in 2024.
ICYMI: What else is happening in the world
Peru’s Congress voted to impeach the country’s president, Pedro Castillo, just hours after he vowed to dissolve the body.
Along with its final report, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol plans to issue criminal referrals.
Officials say that service members who have been kicked out of the military for refusing to get a Covid vaccine should be allowed to rejoin.
A special report from NBC News examines one major effect of the Great Salt Lake drying up: toxic dust.
