| | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | |  Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) raised a massive $6.2 million in the two months since he launched his Senate campaign. | Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Photo | CASH DASH — It’s that time of year: Second-quarter fundraising totals are starting to roll in fast and furious, showing which contenders are building impressive war chests (or not) ahead of closely contested races. Reports are due July 15. Nothing so far comes close to Rep. ADAM SCHIFF’s (D-Calif.) record-breaking $8.1 million to run for Senate, though: Democrats love to spend on a safe-seat hero. The notable numbers we’ve seen today: — Texas: Democratic Rep. COLIN ALLRED raised a massive $6.2 million in the two months since he launched his Senate campaign, and he transferred another $2.4 million from his House campaign account, The Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek scooped. To put this haul into perspective: BETO O’ROURKE, the last Democrat to try to take down GOP Sen. TED CRUZ — and no fundraising slouch himself — took nine months of campaigning to raise that much money. — Wisconsin: Democratic Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN landed more than $3.2 million last quarter, which her campaign calls a record for a non-election year in a Wisconsin Senate race, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bill Glauber reports. — Missouri: LUCAS KUNCE, one of two prominent Democrats seeking to take on GOP Sen. JOSH HAWLEY, raised $1.2 million last quarter, per The Kansas City Star’s Daniel Desrochers. — Pennsylvania: Democratic Sen. BOB CASEY pulled in more than $4 million for his reelection bid, the best fundraising quarter of his career, his campaign announced today. He now has almost $6 million on hand. More from the AP Yass king: At the same time, the Pennsylvania Rising leadership PAC — launched by DAVID McCORMICK as he considers a Republican bid against Casey — raised over $1 million from May 2 to June 5, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Benjamin Kail reports. The vast majority of that was in the form of a $1 million donation from billionaire megadonor JEFFREY YASS. Keys to the Keystone State: Casey hasn’t forgotten the journalist who first compared his personality to oatmeal: the Philly Inquirer’s TOM FERRICK. “So, that was a low point,” he tells The Messenger’s Dan Merica in Pittsburgh. (There’s also this fun exchange: “He’s like the least sexy politician in America … but he’s the biggest winner in Pennsylvania,” one operative says. When read the quote, Casey responded: “That wasn’t my wife, was it?”) Merica also reports that Casey’s expected to make China a central piece of his campaign if McCormick is the nominee, much like MEHMET OZ did against him in last year’s Senate primary. JUST POSTED — “Nevada Republican Sam Brown likely to launch Senate campaign to unseat Democrat Jacky Rosen,” by NBC’s Natasha Korecki: An announcement is coming Monday. SCARY STUFF — New prosecutor filings allege that TAYLOR TARANTO, the Jan. 6 defendant arrested last week, previously drove a weapon-stuffed van near BARACK OBAMA’s house after DONALD TRUMP posted Obama’s address on Truth Social, Kyle Cheney reports. His arrest concluded “a week-long period in which his erratic and menacing behavior escalated the urgency from law enforcement to find him,” including threats he allegedly issued to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Rep. JAMIE RASKIN (D-Md.). His livestreamed threats to Obama, whose house Taranto said he might try to enter via sewers, finally got him arrested when he drove into Kalorama. OUR NEW CLIMATE REALITY — “Tuesday was the hottest day on Earth since at least 1979,” as far back as records stretch, per WaPo’s Leo Sands. “As a result, some scientists believe July 4 may have been one of the hottest days on Earth in around 125,000 years.” Good Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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Explore more possibilities with the metaverse. | | | TRUMP CARDS THE INVESTIGATIONS — Special counsel JACK SMITH subpoenaed the Arizona secretary of state’s office in his investigation into Jan. 6 and the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the Arizona Republic’s Mary Jo Pitzl reports. The subpoenas came as recently as May and were complied with. They sought more information about two lawsuits claiming election fraud from the Trump campaign and from KELLI WARD. But it seems that Smith still hasn’t reached out to then-Gov. DOUG DUCEY. ELITE STRIKE FORCE TEAM — LIN WOOD, a Trump attorney who played a role in trying to reverse the 2020 election, has moved to retire from legal practice in the face of possible disbarment hearings. More from Newsweek 2024 WATCH BRUTAL FOR FRANCIS SUAREZ — The Messenger’s Adrian Carrasquillo is out with a new story that makes the Miami mayor look like something less than a rising GOP star: Many South Florida Republicans and others who have followed his career for a while consider Suarez a fraud, a joke and a “bumbling villain.” They say Suarez “exaggerates his record and takes credit for the policy wins of his predecessors” in a largely ceremonial office — to say nothing of ongoing federal corruption probes and other legal woes in his orbit, and a failed cryptocurrency gambit. “He’s a no-show mayor,” says TOMAS REGALADO, his GOP predecessor. “If he gets to the White House, I am sure he would be a no-show president.” One notable name not dumping on Suarez: ANA NAVARRO, who tells Carrasquillo, “There’s a special place in hell for Cuban-Americans, in particular, who because of personal vindictive agendas and envy, attack Francis.” OUT OF ORDER — In the NYT Magazine, Ross Barkan dives deep into the DNC’s messy efforts to reorder the presidential primary calendar, including the shock inside the room when President JOE BIDEN strong-armed the party into putting South Carolina first for 2024. Chair JAIME HARRISON “is sanguine about all of it,” but he “has to try to play mediator between angered state Democrats and a White House that expects fealty from the national organization.” Many battleground state party chairs like Harrison, but Biden’s inner circle ultimately calls the shots, and Dems in red states wish they got more attention. At the stake in next year’s schedule is not just which states exercise their power, but what vision of the Democratic Party prevails.
| | | | JOIN 7/11 FOR A TALK ON THE FAA’S FUTURE: Congress is making moves to pass the FAA Reauthorization Act, laying the groundwork for the FAA’s long-term agenda to modernize the aviation sector to meet the challenges of today and innovate for tomorrow. Join POLITICO on July 11 to discuss what will make it into the final reauthorization bill and examine how reauthorization will reshape FAA’s priorities and authorities. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | THE WHITE HOUSE COCAINEGATE UPDATE — “Cocaine found in White House near where guests enter West Wing,” by WaPo’s Tyler Pager and Peter Hermann: “White House staffers are authorized to give guests tours of the West Wing, which often occur at night or on weekends. Guests are required to go through security screening before entering the White House complex and then asked to leave their phones in small boxes just before entering the West Wing. Officials said the substance was found near these boxes.” MORE POLITICS THE COMEBACK BIDS — Former Rep. MONDAIRE JONES today jumped into the Democratic primary for New York’s 17th District, teeing up what’s expected to be a hard-fought primary and general election in a swing seat, as News 12 Westchester’s Tara Rosenblum and Lee Danuff scooped. In his launch video, Jones casts himself as a working people’s advocate who takes on corruption in Washington, protects abortion rights and boosts police funding. He’ll take on LIZ WHITMER GEREGHTY, Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER’s sister, in the primary, where she’ll likely position herself as more moderate than Jones. Both are vying to take on GOP Rep. MIKE LAWLER, who flipped the seat last year. — Nebraska state Sen. TONY VARGAS announced he’s running for Congress again, teeing up a potential general election rematch with GOP Rep. DON BACON, KETV-TV’s Vonn Jones reports. Bacon, the rare moderate Republican who’s been able to win several times in the Omaha swing seat, fended off Vargas by fewer than 3 points last year. Vargas said he’ll focus on helping the middle class. BIG ENDORSEMENT — Rep. RYAN ZINKE (R-Mont.) today backed TIM SHEEHY for Senate, the latest piece of Republicans’ full-court press to anoint Sheehy and keep Rep. MATT ROSENDALE from winning the nomination, Fox News’ Aubrie Spady scooped. Zinke at one point considered running himself, which would have set up a rematch of his 2014 House contest with Rosendale. Instead, he’s looking to stop Rosendale a different way.
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | BEYOND THE BELTWAY BUCKEYE BULLSEYE — Ohioans will almost certainly vote in November on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion access, after advocates today filed nearly twice the number of required signatures to get it on the ballot, The Columbus Dispatch’s Jessie Balmert reports. As of now, it’ll be the biggest abortion vote of the year anywhere in the U.S. SECTARIANISM WATCH — “Conservatives go to red states and liberals go to blue as the country grows more polarized,” by AP’s Nicholas Riccardi in Star, Idaho: “Americans are segregating by their politics at a rapid clip, helping fuel the greatest divide between the states in modern history. … Colorado and Idaho represent two poles of state-level political homogenization. Both are fast-growing Rocky Mountain states that have been transformed by an influx of like-minded residents. Life in the two states can be quite similar … But, politically, they increasingly occupy two separate worlds.” HOT ON THE LEFT — “How the Steel City became a vanguard of the progressive movement,” by NBC’s Allan Smith in Pittsburgh: “Progressive candidates are in the middle of an eye-opening winning streak over more moderate Allegheny County Democrats who for decades had a firm grasp on power around Pittsburgh. … Allegheny County progressives say their path to power offers a roadmap for how left-wing activists can expand their coalition outside of the nation’s biggest cities.” THE ECONOMY THE NEXT BIG THREAT — Hundreds of thousands of UPS workers could go on strike later this summer after talks broke down early today, which would upend the supply chain and disrupt the economy, Bloomberg’s Ian Kullgren reports. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UPS still have until the end of the month to make a deal, but getting members to ratify it will take time too, and right now the sides are at an impasse over pay and cost-of-living increases. The White House says it’s in touch with both parties.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | MEDIAWATCH YOWZA — WaPo’s Will Sommer has new details on that mysterious vanished GQ profile of DAVID ZASLAV: The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO’s team complained to GQ after it was published, prompting the magazine to rewrite parts of the story significantly. When reporter JASON BAILEY requested that his byline be removed from the article as a result, GQ decided to pull it down entirely instead. LOOSENING UP — C-SPAN still can’t bring its own cameras into the House chamber like it did during the speaker’s race, but Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY has given the network greater use of cameras, making C-SPAN more fun, Semafor’s Kadia Goba writes. “Viewers now get a broader glimpse of Congress in action.” But C-SPAN wants more, as “nothing has changed outside of the new perspectives from the House Recording Studio.” POLICY CORNER CLIMATE FILES — “The EPA is racing to spend $27 billion the GOP wants to repeal,” by WaPo’s Maxine Joselow: “The Biden administration is rushing to spend billions of dollars in the Democrats’ climate law before January 2025 … Yet little-noticed language in the Inflation Reduction Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to spend $27 billion by Sept. 30, 2024 — a much earlier deadline — or return the money to Congress. At issue is the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund [known as a green bank], which will provide $27 billion worth of grants to states, territories, tribes and others for projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. … House Republicans already have the program in their crosshairs.” PLAYBOOKERS TRANSITIONS — Mark Miller has rejoined the Pacific Legal Foundation as senior attorney. He previously was chief of staff and general counsel for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. … Perham Gorji is now a partner with DLA Piper’s litigation practice. He previously was deputy chief counsel of litigation at the FDA. … Ashleigh Maciolek will be a policy associate for the Brennan Center for Justice. She previously was a research associate at the Center for American Progress. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Nathan Tek, deputy spokesperson at State, and Maricel Abalos, administrative assistant at Capitol Dental, welcomed Mariastella “Ella” Abalos Tek last night. She came in at 6 lbs, 15 oz and 19.5 inches. Pic Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.
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