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By Will Steakin, Adam Wren and Dasha Burns |
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner Good Monday morning and welcome back to Playbook. Bernie Sanders is about to unload on the Democratic establishment, but before getting to our interview with the leader of the party’s insurgent left, let’s take a moment to mark our relaunch. In our note last night, we recalled the string of big scoops and agenda-driving coverage we’ve landed since taking the helm of Playbook earlier this summer. There’s much more indispensable coverage to come of the personalities and policies that will shape both parties’ paths to recapture or maintain power in November and through 2028. Stay in touch, and thanks for reading. In today’s Playbook … — Bernie Sanders says Dems are their own biggest obstacle to a Senate majority. — The House heads back to Washington with one big priority and very little time. — The Boldfaces: Abdul El-Sayed, Hasan Piker, Mike Rogers, David Sirota, Matt Bennett, Scott Bessent, Kevin Warsh, Barack Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Natalie Harp and more.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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THE ENEMY WITHIN: It's not Hasan Piker that Bernie Sanders is worried will tank Democrats’ chance at keeping a critical Michigan Senate seat. It's Democratic Party leaders, who he believes are rooting for Abdul El-Sayed to fail. “I think there are a few who would say, ‘You know what? It’s not worth it,’” Sanders said in an exclusive interview when Playbook asked if there are Democrats who want to see El-Sayed lose. Sanders said those Democrats view El-Sayed and other progressives in his mold as “a threat to oligarchy” and a “threat to American foreign policy and our continued support for the extremist [Benjamin] Netanyahu government in Israel.” “You’re talking about a small number of people who are at the head of the Democratic Party. You're talking about the donor class,” Sanders added. “Are they less than enthusiastic about Abdul? Yes, they are.” El-Sayed faces growing pressure not just from Republican opponent Mike Rogers, but also his own party over his ties to Piker, the popular socialist Twitch streamer, which in recent days has brought a cascade of criticism from Democrats — from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, to DNC Chair Ken Martin and Sens. Cory Booker and Elissa Slotkin. Sanders isn’t joining them. “Like every other podcaster in the world, he says dumb things that people should reject,” Sanders said, before casting the nonstop focus on Piker as an effort by Republicans to distract voters from economic issues. “Apparently it works when you and others talk about Mr. Piker,” Sanders said, criticizing the media attention on the streamer’s relationship with El-Sayed. Watch more from Sanders’ response on the Piker attacks Sanders’ advice to El-Sayed: “Stay on the issues that impact working families in Michigan,” he said. “Do that, you're gonna win — and I think he will.”
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El-Sayed spent the weekend working to build bridges with skeptical Jewish Democrats, and as Playbook reported first, apologizing for past comments. He’s so far declined Democrats’ calls to condemn Piker, saying he has no plans to campaign with the streamer again. And while he’s downplayed Piker’s relevance, who he’s now calling a “social media person in California,” the attention hasn’t waned. But Sanders’ concern represents a broader anxiety coursing through the progressive left: that some establishment Democrats see an El-Sayed defeat as a way to halt the insurgent momentum many consider a liability ahead of 2028. David Sirota, the longtime Sanders aide and 2020 campaign speechwriter, spoke plainly: “If the Democratic leadership could find a way to win the Senate and have Abdul lose, I’m sure they would take that bargain.” An El-Sayed loss, Sirota said, could be sold by the establishment as evidence that the left’s agenda is too risky for battleground voters. “A disciplined political party that didn’t want to undermine somebody like Abdul would not validate and elevate those, what I would call bad faith attacks, would not want to add gas to that little fire,” Sirota told Playbook. Moderate Democrats reject that premise. “The idea that Democrats are trying to get a Dem Senate nominee to lose is preposterous,” Third Way's Matt Bennett told Playbook. “Everyone in Democratic politics understands the task before us between now and November: beat Republicans and put a check on Trump. There are real factional differences inside the party, but post-primaries we are setting those aside in service of that goal,” Bennett added. Beyond November we asked Sanders who he sees as the movement’s heir. We got a few names: Greg Casar, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib and, of course, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. One name Sanders notably did not mention? Potential 2028 progressive presidential candidate Ro Khanna. Watch for the full interview later this week in POLITICO Magazine, where Sanders lays out where he sees the next opportunity for progressives, the impact of AI and more. On today’s Playbook Podcast: Sanders and Will discuss the establishment pushback against his movement, the progressive candidates punching above their weight and the Michigan race that will partly determine the party’s future in November and beyond. Watch on YouTube
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THE DOWNLOAD |
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THE HOUSE RETURNS: Republicans are back in Washington today with just one major item topping their agenda — passing a government funding bill to stave off a shutdown until after the midterms, POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy and Jordain Carney write. The stopgap will likely hit the floor tomorrow. Other possible votes next month include Russia sanctions and a censure of Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.). Beyond that, the House doesn’t have much on its near-term to-do list. So some members hope they’ll be sent home earlier than Oct. 1 to hit the campaign trail. If hard-liners gum up the floor, an early exit becomes likelier.
- 2027 dreaming: A minimum of eight open spots on House Energy & Commerce next Congress have already elicited some public campaigning from members who want to join, including Reps. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Bob Onder (R-Mo.) and many more, POLITICO’s Kelsey Brugger reports.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Ad it up: WinSenate PAC, the affiliate of the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer-backed Senate Majority PAC, is launching a $4.5 million ad campaign statewide and on digital in Michigan against GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers’ support for the Iran war. “The endless war in Iran is costing us all,” says the narrator in the 30-second spot. “Rogers claimed it would end quickly, but we keep paying the price.” Watch the ad
- VP JD Vance heads to Sterling today to campaign with Michigan Republicans at a MAGA Inc. event. But Rogers will also have to win back Arab Americans who veered Republican two years ago and have since grown disillusioned with Trump over Iran and Gaza, POLITICO’s Samuel Benson and Aaron Pellish report. Islamophobic broadsides against El-Sayed haven’t helped.
JUST VANCE: Later tonight, the VP will take the stage for a closed-press speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit in Las Vegas — a high-stakes opportunity to patch up his relationship with skeptical pro-Israel donors, Sam writes in. “This will not be an easy crowd for him, and I think it's good that he's coming,” said Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), who has been critical of Vance’s stance toward Israel. “He’s said a lot of things that make folks like me and people in this room nervous. … Hopefully he'll address that.” G20 HITS AMERICA — SPOTTED: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh flying together from Joint Base Andrews to Asheville, North Carolina, where the U.S. is hosting a high-stakes G20 meeting with finance ministers amid renewed strikes in Iran and spiking trade tensions with Canada. Pic
- Aside from the swirl of economic strains, controversy is circling around Russia’s potential participation, the barring of South Africa’s delegation and Treasury’s denial of credentials to reporters from NYT, WSJ and Bloomberg.
HAPPENING TODAY: Vance’s anti-fraud task force is hitting Detroit. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, task force vice chair Andrew Ferguson and other officials will hold a news conference on anti-fraud measures related to the trucking industry in Detroit at 10:30 a.m., according to an announcement first shared with Playbook.
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Rob Sand makes the case for an “outsider” Democrat In the latest episode of On the Road, Jonathan Martin meets Rob Sand at the Iowa State Fair for a conversation on one-party control, rural voters, Democratic strategy and how Sand says he would govern with a Republican legislature.
Watch now. |
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THE FRONT PAGE |
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SURVEY SAYS: Working-class Americans are broadly skeptical that politicians of any stripe really want to help them rather than just making promises to win their votes, Erin Doherty and Anna Wiederkehr report from the latest POLITICO Poll. Democrats have a meager advantage: Thirty-eight percent of working-class people say they’re best represented by Dems, compared to 32 percent for the GOP. One-third group is out of work, a plurality assign responsibility for the economy to Trump rather than Joe Biden, and the Iran war is not popular. JOIN THE SURGE: POLITICO’s newest newsletter, launching today, is Surge — your global guide to the rising electricity demand that’s galvanizing industries and power players across the world. Lead author Benjamin Storrow explains in today’s edition how politicians from British PM Andy Burnham to French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen to Trump himself are increasingly threatened by the politics of electric bills.Sign up for Surge here
- MAHA takes Iowa: One way or another, the Hawkeye State is about to have a governor who faults industrial agriculture for its rising cancer rates — and Big Ag and its Republican allies are reeling,per POLITICO’s Ellie Borst. MAHA-backed candidate Zach Lahn is now putting Iowa Republicans in the same vice that’s bedeviled the Trump administration throughout its second term: wedged between the demands of MAHA activists and the interests of agricultural and chemical companies that hold deep sway with the party. And the issue is rippling through other races in the battleground state.
- Powerless: From the U.S. to Europe, electric rates are quickly becoming as potent a source of political angst and power as gas prices have long been, POLITICO’s Benjamin Storrow reports. It’s a crucial part of the stateside data center debate. And rising electric demand is reshaping the political map: It’s helped oil prices from spiraling even higher during the Iran war.
AROUND THE WORLD: Australia’s right-wing nationalist One Nation party scored a historic byelection victory, snatching a seat from Labor for the first time. More in Canberra Playbook
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A message from Anthropic:  
How a small pathology lab is giving more patients next-day answers |
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5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW |
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1. THE WAR HEATS UP AGAIN: For the first time in a month, the fighting in Iran is back on. The U.S. attacked Larak Island after it said it observed Iran readying to deploy rockets that would place mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran retaliated overnight with missiles aimed at U.S. troops in Jordan, which were intercepted. This burst of fighting appeared to be fairly limited so far. But Bessent is pressing ahead with economic pressure: He’ll unveil sanctions on another bank this week to squeeze Iran, he told AP’s Fatima Hussein. 2. CASH DASH: Barack Obama will be on Martha’s Vineyard today for a fundraiser to benefit Eric Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee. More from the Washington Examiner 3. E-RING READING: Conservative veteran influencers have taken on secret civilian roles in Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon, WaPo’s Dan Lamothe and Tara Copp scooped. Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter and Thomas Anderson have been housed within Anthony Tata’s office, helping to bolster the Defense secretary’s online messaging and go after his enemies. DOD declined to delve into details about whether they’re influencing policy or being paid by taxpayers.
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4. VENEZUELA LATEST: Amid diminishing oil stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Trump announced he’ll use supplies from the new deal with Venezuela to replenish it. 5. DEPORTATION DIGEST: CBS’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez revealed the scope of ICE’s latest third-country deportations — more than 100 people from around the world sent to Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone over 10 days.
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Follow the politics of rising power demand POLITICO Surge is here. This free daily newsletter tracks how AI, data centers, electrification and grid pressure are reshaping energy policy, infrastructure and climate politics.
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Rahm Emanuel, a former ambassador to Japan and potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, and his brothers Ezekiel and Ari are donating $500,000 to fund the training of 11 pediatric doctors and 36 pediatric nurses from An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) — paving the way for the opening of the first pediatric health care facility in northern Palestine, according to details first shared with Playbook. They made the donation in honor of their parents Benjamin, a pediatrician, and Marsha Emanuel, a radiology technician. Emanuel told Playbook it’s part of what he calls “health care diplomacy: Kids and families get great care and doctors and nurses train together learning from each other, building hopefully a lifetime of trust.” KNOWING NATALIE HARP — “A conservative California upbringing paved Natalie Harp’s way to Trump,” by the LA Times’ Ana Ceballos and Hannah Fry: “Their mother taught them at home using educational materials written from a biblical worldview. The family would attend services regularly at Shadow Mountain Church in El Cajon … As that relationship [with Trump] took hold, the California family bubble she’d been raised in was bursting behind the scenes, culminating with her father’s suicide in July 2020.” ENGAGED — Annie Grayer, senior reporter at CNN, and Ellie DeGarmo, lawyer at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, got engaged Aug. 22 in Sagaponack, New York, surrounded by family and close friends. They met in 2024 at a brewery in D.C. Pic, via Mark Kopko Photography WEEKEND WEDDING — Sam Ropa, a PhD candidate at Princeton and a Dan Kildee alum, and Gabbi Chwae, a teacher at the Pennington School, got married Saturday in their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Miranda Ganter officiated. The couple met shortly before their first job in politics together, on Cal Cunningham’s North Carolina Senate campaign. Pic … Another pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Charles Baldis, special counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and Daisy Baldis welcomed Minerva “Minnie” Belle Baldis on Friday. She joins big sister Athena. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) and Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) … Tommy Vietor of Crooked Media … Ryan Ellis … Brian Johnson of Veterans Guardian … Scott Shalett … Lauren Fine … NYT’s Tom Kaplan and Patrick Healy … Kim Hefling … Ed Goeas … Mattie Duppler of Forward Strategies … Alex Schriver … POLITICO’s Paul Demko and Daniel Barnes … Justin Myers of Blue Leadership Collaborative … Leland Vittert and Elena Isella of NewsNation … States Newsroom’s Jennifer Shutt … CNN’s Josh Campbell … Kaylin Minton … Bennett Resnik … Andy Richards of the AFL-CIO … Danielle Lindsay of the American Conservation Coalition Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Giuseppe Macri and deputy editor Garrett Ross.
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