| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast, Adam Wren and Megan Messerly discuss the gerrymandering fight’s spillover into Texas’ Senate race, Donald Trump’s new federal law enforcement sweeps of D.C. and what to make of the potential meeting of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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| Happy Friday. It’s Adam Wren. Get in touch. In today’s Playbook … — How the gerrymandering fight is scrambling one of 2026’s marquee Senate races. — The White House announces that federal law enforcement will start patrolling the streets of D.C. — In a drastic military escalation, Israel intends to take military control of Gaza.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Texas state Rep. James Talarico's stock is soaring, even as he has yet to officially announce a Senate bid. | Eric Gay/AP Photo | DEEP IN THE HEART: Over a matter of days, the gerrymandering melee that began with President Donald Trump pressuring Texas Republicans to redraw their maps mid-cycle and secure him a U.S. House majority in 2026 has radiated outward in every direction from the Lone Star State’s borders to envelop all of American politics. The fight has consumed state capitals from California to New York; sparked bomb threats in Illinois; attracted the attention of presidential aspirants; provoked in-person lobbying of wary GOP state electeds by VP JD Vance; prompted fears of a wipeout among blue-state House Republicans and red-state House Democrats alike. Now, it’s beginning to shape the battle for the Senate. And nowhere is that more the case than Texas itself. Republican and Democratic candidates are maneuvering in frenetic ways — some more effectively than others — to win the attention primary as the national spotlight shines on the state. The attention economy that’s reshaping our politics is colliding with this crucial Senate race, and there is a clear flywheel that’s tipped off: more attention leads to money, volunteers and potentially voters. “Any politician is always looking to see how to increase your profile,” Dave Carney, a Republican strategist who advises Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, tells Playbook. But the candidates' strategies to do that sharply differ — offering a window to the way politics has changed in 2025. LET’S START ON THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE: State Rep. James Talarico, who could announce a Senate bid later this month, has become something of an unofficial spokesperson for those members of the Texas House Democratic caucus who fled the state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to push the new maps through. Since arriving in Illinois, Talarico has done at least 48 interviews with media outlets — including cable news, national broadcast networks and popular podcasts, according to a person familiar with Talarico’s comings and goings. It’s important to understand why. “The attention economy is defining everything about our politics right now, for good and for ill,” Talarico told Playbook last night at 11:53 p.m. Eastern, his final interview on a day that began with a bomb threat. When we caught up with Talarico, he had, in his words, “just put together an explainer video that I just posted an hour ago on Tiktok and Instagram, where basically, there's no thrills to it. I’m just looking into the camera and trying my best from my old middle school teacher days of just like, ‘Let me break this down. Like, what is redistricting?’” Talarico has done the nightly news broadcasts for NBC, CBS and PBS NewsHour, hits on NewsNation and CNN and MSNBC and “The Bulwark” and “Pod Save America” — not to mention tons of interviews with local TV affiliates. Talarico’s fundraising has seen an uptick, according to the person familiar. His stock is soaring, even as he has yet to officially announce a Senate bid. Then there’s Colin Allred, the former NFL linebacker and three-term representative who lost a Senate run against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz nine months ago and is making another run in 2026, this time for the seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn. As the Texas redistricting rodeo has dominated the last few weeks of political news, Allred has taken an altogether different approach. While his campaign promoted an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” earlier this week, he has not been anything approaching ubiquitous in the coverage. Since Allred isn’t a member of the legislature, he’s not locked in a hotel in suburban Chicago, and remains in Texas, where he’s taking a more old-fashioned, in-person approach to the campaign — hosting a voting rights event at a predominantly Black church in Houston on the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and testifying at a redistricting hearing. Asked whether he is losing the “attention primary” to Talarico, Allred pushed back on the premise. “I am supportive of the folks who are out there, and I think that we should be talking about it,” he told POLITICO’s Liz Crampton. “The more people hear about what's happening, the better.” It’s possible that Allred may prove successful. But the delta between Allred’s somewhat conventional campaign strategy and Talarico’s Trump-era “attention is power” approach is notable — as is the seeming gap in the passion each of them is inspiring among the state’s energized and enraged Democratic base right now. “I don’t think it’s any secret that Colin is probably not off to the strongest start,” former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke — himself a potential 2026 candidate — told Texas Monthly this week.
| | | | A message from American Beverage: No spin. No judgments. Just the facts from the experts.
When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you decide. That's why America's beverage companies have launched GoodToKnowFacts.org – a new website that puts easy-to-understand details about the ingredients in our beverages right in your hands, all in one place. For over 140 ingredients, you can find common uses, alternative names and ongoing safety assessments from food safety authorities at GoodToKnowFacts.org. | | | | | 
Texas AG Ken Paxton has run to where MAGA eyeballs are as he seeks to harness the redistricting fight for his political gain. | Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images | ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE: A similar gap exists on the right, as Cornyn faces a primary challenge from Texas AG Ken Paxton. Senate Republicans would much prefer Cornyn, worrying that Paxton could lose to a Democrat in the general under the right conditions. But Paxton has adapted to our new, disruptive attention-based political era. He has run to where MAGA eyeballs are. Yes, that means doing hits on Fox News, but it also means going into less-mainstream media appearances, including as a guest on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. “We had you really early on this — before it got kicked off,” Bannon told Paxton in a gerrymandering-centric appearance earlier this week, effectively vouching for his MAGA bona fides. Cornyn has taken a more institutionalist approach. Perhaps his most prominent foray into the redistricting fight came in the form of a sternly worded letter to the FBI asking for their help in tracking down the absconding Texas Dems. To be fair, that move was successful in generating its own earned media and resulted in the FBI approving a request to locate the contingent of quorum-breaking Democrats, though it remains unclear what that means in practicality and the FBI is declining to comment, as POLITICO’s Gigi Ewing writes. Cornyn is also using tactics that have failed against Paxton in the past, POLITICO’s Andrew Howard sharply observes. In May, Cornyn's campaign launched a website attacking Paxton titled CrookedKen.com, highlighting a number of Paxton’s flaws. The site's content is almost identical to a website rolled out by George P. Bush during his primary race against Paxton in May 2022, called KenTheCrook.com. Bush’s political team had a lot of overlap with Cornyn’s, and Paxton won that primary by more than 30 points. Cornyn declined an interview with Playbook. “Every campaign I was ever on, including in 1980, our objective was to get in the local paper when we visited it, and get on the local radio station, and get on TV as much as possible,” Dave Carney, the Abbott strategist, told Playbook. “The difference between that — which is the exact same strategy, get as much attention as you can earn — now is: There's 600,000 … places to get noticed.” REDISTRICTING ROUNDUP … Alabama: The state “must use independently drawn congressional maps that created a second Black-majority district more favorable to Democrats in the state for the rest of the decade, a federal court said Thursday,” reports POLITICO’s Aaron Pellish. California: A number of Texas Democratic legislators breaking quorum will meet in California today with Gov. Gavin Newsom, state legislative leaders and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. A presser is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET. … The LA Times looks at the House Republicans most at risk of losing their seats if a Democratic gerrymander hits the Golden State. Florida: Sunshine State Republicans are considering implementing new gerrymandered House maps that could net the GOP ”as many as five” seats, per WaPo’s Kadia Goba and colleagues. More on Florida from POLITICO’s Gary Fineout Texas: Paxton wants Illinois to serve his arrest warrants on Texas Democratic legislators, per the Texas Tribune.
| | | | A message from American Beverage:  
America's beverage companies are making it easier than ever to find transparent information about the ingredients in your favorite beverages. Learn more at GoodToKnowFacts.org. | | | | MAGA IN POWER WASHINGTON ON ALERT: The White House announced last night it will mobilize federal law enforcement officers to patrol and police D.C., POLITICO’s Ben Johansen reports. The new operation — set to last seven days, with the “option to extend as needed” — comes as Trump has threatened to federalize the city and take over its police force in response to an attempted carjacking that injured a staffer in the Trump administration. The White House says that the focus will be on “high traffic tourist areas,” and that among those federal officers deployed will be Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Protections — two subsets of ICE. Per the administration’s statement, federal officers will be identified, in marked units and highly visible. Related read: “Pirro takes aim at D.C.’s crime laws, calls them ‘absurd’” by WaPo’s Jenny Gathright and Meagan Flynn FED UP: Trump announced yesterday that he’s tapping Stephen Miran, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, to temporarily fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors that was created upon the resignation of Adriana Kugler, POLITICO’s Sam Sutton reports. Miran will be able to fill out the remainder of her term, which ends on Jan. 31. “In the meantime, we will continue to search for a permanent replacement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. What to know about Miran: He’s been an outspoken critic of the Fed’s decisions, and last year wrote a report for the Manhattan Institute in which he advocated giving the president the ability to remove members of the Board of Governors at will, per Reuters’ Howard Schneider. He has also slammed the Fed for what he called “groupthink” on monetary policy, regulatory overreach and a lack of accountability. IMMIGRATION STATION: The DOJ last night filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, asking it to lift a judge’s order “that limits immigration raids in the Los Angeles area based on broad criteria such as speaking Spanish or gathering at locations day laborers often congregate,” POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report. … A federal judge ruled to stop construction for two weeks on Florida’s so-called Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention facility due to “ongoing environmental harms,” POLITICO’s Kimberly Leonard reports from Miami. Another federal judge in Maryland issued a block to Trump’s birthright citizenship order, finding it unconstitutional, WaPo’s David Nakamura writes. … And the Trump administration is preparing plans to detain immigrants at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, the nation’s largest maximum-security facility, which was once known as the U.S.’ bloodiest prison, per WSJ’s Michelle Hackman and Roshan Fernandez. THE PENTAGON’S CULTURE WAR: The U.S. Air Force will deny transgender service members who served 15–18 years the chance to retire early and will instead force them out of the service without any retirement benefits, Reuters’ Phil Stewart scooped. “Multiple service members had already been approved for early retirement, but those approvals were rescinded.” WHAT SOUTH FLORIDA IS READING: “Trump doubles reward to $50 million for arrest of Venezuela’s president to face US drug charges,” by AP’s Joshua Goodman: “The Trump administration is doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine.” THE EPSTEIN FALLOUT: Despite fervent denials from the administration, the much-discussed Wednesday night meeting between Vance, AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel did happen — but the location was changed to the White House, rather than the VP’s residence, where CNN had earlier reported it was set, CNN’s Kristen Holmes reports. They discussed a range of topics, including the ongoing fallout from the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Meanwhile, some of Epstein’s victims say DOJ’s handling “smacks of a cover up,” POLITICO’s Erica Orden writes. They further warn that the Trump administration’s treatment of Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell risks “undoing the only measure of justice the victims received from a sex trafficking ring that, by the government’s own account, harmed more than 1,000 girls and young women,” Erica writes. THE PURGE: Another wave of firings has hit the FBI, as former acting director Brian Driscoll, Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office Steven Jensen and Washington-based Special Agent Walter Giardina were all asked to leave, Josh and Kyle write. “Many of those purged have been targeted due to their roles in the FBI’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. The vast probe involved agents, analysts and technical experts across the country.” MOOD MUSIC: “MAGA world swallows a difficult truth: Arresting Trump’s opponents is easier said than done,” by POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney: “It’s a familiar refrain for Trump’s second term: The far right lusts to see prominent Democrats or Trump adversaries hauled off in handcuffs, only to be let down when their revenge fantasies run into reality.”
| | | | Did you know Playbook goes beyond the newsletter—with powerhouse new co-hosts at the mic? Tune in to The Playbook Podcast every weekday for exclusive intel and sharp analysis on Trump’s Washington, straight from Jack Blanchard and Dasha Burns. Start listening now. | | | | | AS THE WORLD TURNS THE CRISIS IN GAZA: Israel’s security cabinet approved a proposal to take over Gaza City, pushing forward a plan that the IDF is preparing to implement, Axios’ Barak Ravid reported late last night. “The goal is to evacuate all Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the central camps and other areas by Oct. 7. A siege will be imposed on the Hamas militants who remain in Gaza City, and at the same time, a ground offensive will be carried out in Gaza City,” a senior Israeli official told Axios. On the ground: Satellite imagery shows the IDF already building up its troops and positioning itself near the border with Gaza for a ground invasion, per NBC’s Courtney Kube and colleagues. The humanitarian disaster: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Fox News that the U.S. plans to quadruple the number of humanitarian aid sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and “operate them as much as 24 hours a day to get more food to people,” per WaPo’s Karen DeYoung. The timeline for this expansion remains unclear, but it comes as the U.S. arranged a meeting between the GHF and senior U.N. aid officials, Axios reports. “The only decision in the meeting was for both sides to de-escalate public attacks in the media against each other.” Meanwhile, in Lebanon: “U.S. plan sees Hezbollah disarmed by year-end, Israeli withdrawal,” by Reuters’ Laila Bassam TODAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE: Trump will meet today with Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, culminating in a trilateral signing of a peace deal at 4:15 p.m., at which the two countries will sign a joint declaration ending nearly four decades of conflict and expanding bilateral ties with Washington. More from POLITICO’s Felicia Schwartz and Eric Bazail-Eimil ABOUT FACE: Trump said yesterday afternoon that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, regardless of whether a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy happened first — a 180-degree turn after the White House indicated that a Putin-Zelenskyy summit would have to happen first, POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Felicia Schwartz report. Though Trump told European leaders that he planned to meet with Putin — and do a trilateral with Putin and Zelenskyy — it’s still not clear when that will be. Russia said the meeting could happen as soon as next week, but some differences are already emerging in how both sides are characterizing the meeting, CNN’s Kevin Liptak and colleagues write.
| | | BEST OF THE REST LOSING THE FARM: “Trump teased a solution for farmers. It’s likely not coming soon,” by POLITICO’s Myah Ward and Jake Traylor: “Trump keeps saying he’ll solve the politically fraught problem of reconciling the need for undocumented farm labor with his mass deportation plan. But the White House does not appear close to a policy decision — and farmers are getting frustrated with the delays. … Even as angst grows among the nation’s farmers, no new policy is imminent, according to White House aides, farm lobbyists and people familiar with the discussions.” THE LONG TAIL OF THE DOGE: The Federal Student Aid ombudsman inside the Department of Education now has a backlog of more than 27,000 complaints on student loans after the office lost two-thirds of its workers, NBC’s Tyler Kingkade scooped. … The FAA is hoping to hire 9,000 air traffic controllers by the end of 2028, but there are still fears that won’t be enough to ease the agency’s shortage, WaPo’s Ian Duncan writes.
| | | | Policy moves fast—stay ahead with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant. Effortlessly search POLITICO's archive of 1M+ news articles, analysis documents, and legislative text. Track legislation, showcase your impact, and generate custom reports in seconds. Designed for POLITICO Pro subscribers, this tool helps you make faster, smarter decisions. Start exploring now. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Rob Bresnahan bought a private million-dollar helicopter in 2024, but it hasn’t appeared in his personal financial disclosures, NOTUS’ Dave Levinthal reports. The iconic rainbow-colored Kennedy Center Honors ribbon is “likely” to be redesigned for the Trump 2.0 era, CBS’ Jennifer Jacobs reports, and could be replaced by a “black or gold ribbon.” Kristi Noem took issue with South Park’s mocking of her. “It’s so lazy to just constantly make fun of women for how they look,” she said. “It’s only the liberals and the extremists [who] do that.” OUT AND ABOUT — The Progressive Policy Institute hosted its Space and National Security Policy Happy Hour last night at Hawk ’N’ Dove, bringing together Hill staff, industry leaders and journalists. SPOTTED: Mary Guenther, Matthew Pezzella, Jack Kiraly, Kayla Renner, Jo-Anne Sears, Erin Neal, Chris Leuchten, Chris Anderson, John Lynch, Graham Harwood, Jeff Foust, Jason Kim, Jessica Noble and Micah Maidenberg. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Olivia Webb Kosloff is joining American Economic Liberties Project as a senior fellow. She most recently was the editorial lead for the Bio + Health fund at Andreessen Horowitz. TRANSITION — Grady Thomson is now an account executive at BerlinRosen. He previously was a comms coordinator for the Treasury Department. WEEKEND WEDDING — Pat Adams, comms manager at the White House, and Rachel Jag, associate deputy AG at the DOJ, got married Saturday in St. Louis. They met while working for then-Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.). Pic via Sarah Klump White … SPOTTED: Shane Harris, Jim Beley, Aly Beley, Nick Perrine, Kisa Motiwola, Brian Nieves, Jordan Fox, Chris DeLorenz, Spencer Fox, Brandon Smith, Louis Senn, Alexa Vance, Clay Shoemaker, Kristen Ziccarelli, Hilton Beckham, Allison Schuster, Garrett Wade, Beatrice Brooke and Miller Carbaugh. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Ron Klain … CNN’s Kylie Atwood … former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin … Virginia Heffernan … Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group … Jay Gertsema … ABC’s Claire Brinberg … Jonah Seiger … Morning Brew’s Josh Sternberg … Samantha Cantrell of Rep. David Kustoff’s (R-Tenn.) office … George Tzamaras of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (65) … JoJo Duchesne of Rep. Adam Gray’s (D-Calif.) office … David Friedman … Catharine Cypher … Jackson Diehl … Hayley Matz Meadvin … Michael Toner … Mike Dankler … CBS’ Lance Frank … former Michigan Gov. Jim Blanchard … David Bass of Raptor Strategies … Bipartisan Policy Center’s Joe Walsh … Ted Thompson of Easterseals … Paul Brandus … Tyler Bowders … POLITICO’s Daniela Falvo Bredenkamp … Marc Ambinder … NationBuilder’s Matt Trujillo … Eric Brakey … American Conservation Coalition’s Sarah Rosa … Kern Williams … Euractiv’s Matthew Karnitschnig … Habib Durrani 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 Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from American Beverage: When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, we know you make the decisions.
That's why America's beverage companies are empowering you with the choices you want and the information you need to decide what's best for your family.
Good to Know is a new transparency initiative from America's beverage companies. At its center, GoodtoKnowFacts.org puts easy-to-understand information about the ingredients in our beverages right in your hands, all in one place. For more than 140 ingredients, you can find common uses, alternative names and the safety behind our ingredients, including what food safety agencies around the world say.
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