Sen. John Thune and Rep. Jim Jordan
WHAT HAPPENED: Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to keep Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as their leader in the 120th Congress, even though the GOP lost its majority in this year’s midterm elections. Thune was reelected by acclamation after a closed-door meeting. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and several other conservatives had pushed to postpone the vote, but Johnson acknowledged there was no clear alternative to Thune. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso was also reelected as whip. Neither faced a challenger. On the House side, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) defeated Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana by a 106-73 secret-ballot vote to become the next Republican leader. Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota won reelection as whip, beating Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, and Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan kept her post as conference chair. Rep. Brian Jack of Georgia was elected to chair the National Republican Congressional Committee.
WHY IT MATTERS: Thune, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, will remain one of agriculture’s most influential voices in Congress as he moves to the minority. He will still hold considerable leverage as long as the Senate maintains its 60-vote threshold for advancing legislation. In the House, Jordan will lead a Republican conference that has not been this small since the 1990 elections, while Democrats prepare to take the gavels of the committees that oversee agriculture and food policy with the largest majorities since the Obama administration.
WHAT’S NEXT: House Democrats will meet Nov. 18 and 19 to elect the leadership team that will run the chamber in the 120th Congress. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is the favorite to be the party’s nominee for speaker; the full House will vote on that when the new Congress convenes in January. Unlike minority leader elections, which require only a majority of the votes from the party in the minority, the Speaker election requires a majority of the full chamber. Jeffries has publicly backed Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) for majority leader, which would make her the first woman in the job. The majority leader runs the floor and is an additional leadership position for the majority party. Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) has formally announced a run for majority whip.
In the Senate, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said yesterday that he will run for Senate Majority Leader in the next Congress, setting up a challenge to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since 2017, quickly responded, saying he welcomes “discussion about the future of our caucus” while adding, “I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader.” It will be the first contested election for Senate Democratic leader in decades. While most Democratic senators have either said they are supporting Schumer or are undecided, Van Hollen has at least two backers: Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and Sen. Bernie Sanders. The No. 2 job will also change hands, since Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is retiring at the end of this Congress. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii is the favorite to succeed as majority whip.
WHAT HAPPENED: Ten days after Election Day, a small number of congressional races still have no projected winner. Ballot counting continues, and some districts are getting ready for possible recounts. NBC News’ Decision Desk hasn’t yet projected winners in 11 House districts, while other tallies put the count at about a dozen. The Associated Press does not call races until there is absolutely no scenario in which a losing candidate could win.
THE REMAINING RACES: In the Senate, Alaska is the only race still open after the AP called Mississippi for Democrat Scott Colom. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in first-choice votes. Tens of thousands of early and absentee ballots have yet to be counted, and a winner may not be known until Nov. 18.
In the House, the uncalled races include several Republican-held seats in districts the GOP usually wins easily:
- North Carolina: Four races remain undecided, the most of any state, and Republican incumbents were being challenged in each one. They are the 3rd (Greg Murphy), 5th (Virginia Foxx), 7th (David Rouzer), and 10th (Pat Harrigan) districts. While Rep. Murphy’s race has not yet been called, he has publicly conceded to Democrat Jake Johnson. Rep. Foxx currently trails in her race with over 99% of votes counted, while Rouzer and Harrigan lead with over 95% of votes counted.
- Colorado’s 4th: Incumbent Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is trailing her Democratic challenger, Eileen Laubacher.
- Tennessee’s 4th: Democratic challenger Victoria Broderick was leading Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais by just 280 votes with 99% of the votes counted.
- Minnesota’s 1st: About 300 votes separated the top two candidates with an estimated 99 percent of votes counted, with Republican Rep. Brad Finstad narrowly behind Democrat Jake Johnson.
- New York’s 1st and 2nd: Both Long Island districts remain uncalled. Reps. Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino lead.
- Alaska At-Large: Incumbent Nick Begich (R) leads the four-person field. If no candidate gets a majority, a ranked-choice tabulation will take place on November 18.
- California’s 4th: Democrats are guaranteed to keep the seat; whether incumbent Mike Thompson keeps his job remains to be decided.
- Louisiana’s 5th and 6th districts are also uncalled, and both will go to a runoff. 27
WHAT’S NEXT: Decision Desk HQ forecasts that Democrats will hold their biggest majority since the 1990s — at least 259 seats. Nov. 18 is the next key date. Alaska will run its ranked-choice tabulation for both the Senate race and its at-large House seat if no candidate tops 50% of first-choice votes. The same day, House Democrats begin their leadership elections. In North Carolina, there are no automatic recounts, but candidates may request a recount if the margin between candidates is one percent or less of the total votes. Louisiana’s two House races are headed to runoffs.
WHAT HAPPENED: Democratic control of both chambers of Congress will trigger major changes on the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, where new leadership and heavy turnover could reshape the congressional farm-policy agenda heading into 2027. In the Senate, Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar won the Minnesota governor’s race and will leave the Senate. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet is considered a leading contender based on committee seniority. Current Chairman John Boozman of Arkansas would become the top Republican.
In the House, current Ranking Member Angie Craig is leaving Congress, opening the Democratic race for the committee’s top spot. The winner of the Democratic top-spot race would become chairman. The Democratic candidates are California’s Jim Costa and Ohio’s Shontel Brown. Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina is also expected to announce that he will run for the chairmanship. On the Republican side, current Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson has reached the party’s six-year leadership limit and is seeking a waiver to continue as the top Republican. Georgia Republican Austin Scott is also seeking the post.
NCC’s TAKE: “NCC has always worked with leaders on both sides of the aisle, and we stand ready to work with and educate new Members in the 120th Congress,” said NCC President Harrison Kircher. “We congratulate all of this year’s winners and look forward to welcoming new members to Washington and showing them how America’s chicken farmers and processors put an affordable, nutritious protein on families’ tables every day. Before we look to 2027, we are eager to work with Chairmen Boozman and GT Thompson, and ranking members Klobuchar and Craig to pass an important Farm Bill in the lame duck.”
WHAT’S NEXT: The committee chairs and ranking members will be settled through each party’s internal process over the coming weeks. That includes the Senate Democratic leadership vote expected in early December.
The Senate Ag Committee marks up the Farm Bill in August
WHAT HAPPENED: With Republicans set to give up control of both chambers in January, GOP leaders are trying to get a five-year farm bill done in the lame-duck session. “Obviously, there are a lot of things out there that need to be done. I’d like to figure out a pathway to get the farm bill done,” Thune told reporters on Monday. He also cautioned that passage would depend on “what we have the votes to do and then the time on the clock to do.” The House passed a farm bill 224 to 200 in April. The Senate Agriculture Committee passed a farm bill on a party-line vote in September. To pass the Senate, the bill will need 60 votes, meaning at least seven Democrats would be needed to move it forward.
WHY IT MATTERS: There are several provisions in the bill that would positively impact chicken producers, including adding hot rotisserie chicken to the SNAP program, provisions for poultry health and disease monitoring programs, support for broiler exports, and natural disaster assistance.
WHAT’S NEXT: The main sticking point is about how long states get before they must help pay for SNAP benefits. Senate Ag Chairman John Boozman says a one-year postponement is the final offer, while the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, says at least a two-year delay is needed. There is precedent for a lame-duck deal: in 2018, Democrats flipped the House, and the Republican-controlled Congress passed the 2018 farm bill in December during the lame-duck session. Boozman says he believes there’s enough time to get the bill across the finish line by year’s end. Congress is scheduled for roughly five weeks of lame-duck work before adjourning on December 18. Both chambers are out of session for the week of Thanksgiving. If no deal comes together, the farm bill will pass to a Democratic-led Congress and new Agriculture Committee leadership in January.
WHAT HAPPENED: Lawmakers must pass a government funding bill before Dec. 11 to avoid another shutdown. Congress used a stopgap spending bill to keep federal programs running after the new fiscal year began Oct. 1. The House has passed all of its 12 bills through committees and three bills through the House floor (including Ag/FDA funding). The Senate has not passed any individual bills, but it began releasing text this week for negotiations with Republicans in the lame-duck session.
WHY IT MATTERS: Appropriations bills fund important functions at USDA and other federal agencies. Whether Congress passes an omnibus bill for full FY2027 or a short-term funding patch will affect whether the government shuts down heading into the holiday season.
WHAT’S NEXT: Congress must move by December 11 on either a full-year or short-term funding agreement.
U.S. total broiler slaughter data for the week ending November 7, 2026, is estimated by USDA’s Poultry Market News Service to be 167,928,000 broilers, a 4-percent decrease from the same week a year earlier.
The 4-percent decrease in slaughter compares with a 1-percent increase in eggs set in the United States 10 weeks earlier, and no change in chicks placed 7 weeks earlier in the United States. USDA’s latest Broiler Hatchery report can be viewed here.
| U.S. Eggs Set, Chicks Placed, Broiler Slaughter Report | ||||||||||
| Week ending | Eggs set | Chicks placed | Eggs set | Chicks placed | Broilers slaughtered | |||||
| change from | change from | 10 weeks previous | 7 weeks previous | |||||||
| 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | ||||||
| -000- | % | -000- | % | -000- | % | -000- | % | -000- | % | |
| Oct | ||||||||||
| 3 | 243,244 | 100 | 189,261 | 98 |
253,586 | 102 | 196,464 | 102 | 170,627 | 98 |
| 10 * | 243,095 | 101 | 190,604 | 103 |
252,434 | 101 | 195,176 | 101 | 172,328 | 100 |
| 17 | 242,571 | 102 | 193,082 | 102 |
250,870 | 101 | 194,483 | 101 | 172,933 | 100 |
| 24 | 245,695 | 103 | 188,345 | 99 |
249,495 | 100 | 193,413 | 100 | 168,505 | 98 |
| 31 | 245,584 | 100 | 189,148 | 101 |
252,010 | 101 | 195,127 | 100 | 167,853 | 97 |
| Nov | ||||||||||
| 7 | 243,992 | 100 | 188,317 | 101 |
250,272 | 101 | 194,499 | 100 | 167,928 | 96 |
| 14 ** | — | — | — | — |
248,652 | 99 | 192,940 | 99 | — | — |
*Columbus Day Holiday Weekend
**Veterans Day Holiday Week
