THE TROOP TUSSLE: Illinois and Chicago escalated the legal battle against President Donald Trump’s troop deployments this morning, filing a suit to block the administration from sending the National Guard into Chicago. The document details: The complaint states that the “deployment of federalized troops to Illinois is patently unlawful” and asks the court to “halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard of the United States, including both the Illinois and Texas National Guard,” per CNN’s Dakin Andone. The lawsuit comes after Trump ordered hundreds of soldiers in Texas to move for “federal protection missions” in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, NYT’s Julie Bosman and colleagues report. Happening soon: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is expected to address the situation in a news conference at 3 p.m. Eastern. The response: State leaders quickly pushed back against Trump’s plan to send more troops into Democratic-led cities, calling it “unwarranted and un-American,” POLITICO’s Jacob Wendler reports. Resistance is increasing, with many arguing that the move is politically charged and harmful to local communities. Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is taking action against the deportation efforts and is planning to sign an executive order for “ICE Free Zones” to prevent agents from accessing city property. On ICE: ICE is stepping up its recruitment efforts, spending millions on ads in cities like Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta to convince local officers to join in on Trump’s deportation plans, AP’s Thomas Beaumont and Rebbaca Santana report. … And journalists in Chicago are suing DHS and ICE for force used on reporters, per Kyle. SCOTUS WATCH: As the Democratic-led challenges to the Trump administration’s push into U.S. cities continue to pile up, the Supreme Court kicked off its new term today, where some of the issues being litigated over the crackdown are sure to wind up. The next eight months at the court are certain to test some of the biggest policies of the Trump administration — not the least of which cover immigration. But the most consequential decisions will cut at the heart of the reach of government power and the executive branch, as NYT’s Ann Marimow and Abbie VanSickle write. On Day One, the high court has already handed down major decisions, declining to hear an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, WSJ’s Corinne Ramey reports. The justices also declined to hear arguments on an appeal from Laura Loomer on her lawsuit against social media platforms for removing her account, per CNN. Order of operations: Come November, the justices will hear oral arguments on the legality of Trump’s far-reaching tariff agenda. Then in December, they’ll weigh how much control Trump can exert over independent agencies. Looking ahead to January, they’ll consider whether Trump has the authority to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook. Also to come are challenges to elections and campaign finance, trans athletes and conversion therapy. But first up is the debate over a six-year old Colorado law that bans conversion therapy on gay and transgender minors, which will be heard tomorrow, CNN’s John Fritze writes. Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop us a line at rumansky-castro@politico.com and abianco@politico.com.
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1. SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked in a stalemate as day six of the government shutdown stretches on. There’s little sign of any headway that would advance a funding bill through Senate votes, set for 5:30 p.m. today, POLITICO’s Mia McCarthy writes. Top leaders on both sides aren’t talking to each other, meanwhile both sides are convinced they’ll win the messaging battle. As our colleague Meredith Lee Hill writes, “Buckle in — this shutdown might last a while.” Johnson chatted with top Democratic appropriator Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) this morning, about facilitating bipartisan negotiations on the 2026 fiscal appropriations process — but only after the shutdown ends, Mia reports. “[If] we break this impasse and we put these bills together — we have three of them in conference committee right now — whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor,” Johnson said. Murray responded on X that the only path forward is Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaking with Democratic leadership on the ACA subsidies. 2. 2025 WATCH: Election Day is next month, but there’s a Republican primary tomorrow for a special election in Tennessee to fill the seat vacated by GOP Rep. Mark Green. Candidates have duked it out to determine who is the most aligned with Trump — a debate that was mostly settled last week when the president threw his support behind Matt Van Epps, NBC’s Owen Auston-Babcock reports. The general election isn’t until December, but with Trump and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) both carrying the district by about 20 points in 2024, the GOP primary is the one to watch. Trump is doing a tele-rally tonight with Club for Growth to support Van Epps and spur momentum ahead of tomorrow, WaPo’s Patrick Svitek reports. Meanwhile, on the West Coast: Voting has officially begun in California for the special election to decide whether to adopt the reshaped congressional maps that could add five new Democrat-held seats ahead of next year’s midterms, per AP’s Michael Blood. 3. THE G-WORD: Michigan Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is locked in a three-way primary race to replace Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), has changed her stance on Gaza and is now calling it a genocide, Playbook’s own Adam Wren reports. Speaking to voters yesterday, McMorrow said she wouldn’t welcome support from pro-Israel lobby AIPAC and that she supports a block of offensive arm sales to Israel. Asked if the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a genocide, McMorrow said “based on the definition, yes.” Watch a video of the exchange 4. TRAIL MIX: We’ve got a roundup of all the latest campaign launches, fundraising numbers and endorsements that landed this morning. New campaign launches …
- Jesse Jackson Jr. will announce another bid this week to represent his old seat in Congress, now being vacated by Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), POLITICO’s Shia Kapos reports. It comes after Jackson abruptly exited his seat in 2012 and became embroiled in a corruption scandal.
- Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden has a new primary challenger from the left: state auditor Matt Dunlap, who announced his campaign today, per POLITICO’s Andrew Howard.
- Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) launched a bid for Texas Senate today, following months of speculation that will set him up for an already heated primary battle with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and state AG Ken Paxton, POLITICO’s Brakkton Booker writes.
- Amy McGrath launched another Democratic bid for Kentucky Senate today, looking to replace the retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell after losing the Senate race to him in 2019, per POLITICO’s Cheyanne Daniels.
- Brooke Pinto, a D.C. Council member, launched a bid to challenge D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, WaPo’s Meagan Flynn reports. She is the second Democrat to primary Norton.
Fundraising figures …
- Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) and former football coach Derek Dooley, two Republicans vying to unseat Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) next year, both reported nearly $2 million in fundraising since entering the race this summer, AP’s Jeff Amy reports.
- Luke Bronin, the former mayor of Hartford challenging Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) in the Democratic primary, has raised $1.2 million since his campaign launch two months ago, Axios’ Andrew Solender reports.
Endorsement watch …
- David Hogg’s PAC, Leaders We Deserve, made its first endorsement against an incumbent House Democrat, backing Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid against Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), per WaPo’s Dylan Wells.
5. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Negotiations are underway in Cairo as delegations from Israel and Hamas meet to discuss a possible release of all of the hostages in Hamas custody, on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the war. But officials predict that the hammering out of details for a hostage and prisoner release that could bring about a ceasefire will not go quite as quickly as Trump is hoping, Reuters’ Ahmed Fahmy and colleagues report. Israel’s lead negotiator won’t join until later this week, depending on how the negotiations develop. Another thorny issue for the negotiations is the retreat of Israel from parts of Gaza. Israel has agreed to an initial withdrawal line, but Hamas may contest it during talks. Gaza, two years later: “Ravaged by War: Trying to Survive Gaza’s Present, Hoping for a Future,” by NYT’s Ben Hubbard and colleagues 6. REVENUE REALITY CHECK: Trump claims he secured $17 trillion in investments from his new tariffs, tax cuts and other relationships with political leaders and CEOs, AP’s Josh Boak reports. “But based on statements from various companies, foreign countries and the White House’s own website, that figure appears to be exaggerated, highly speculative and far higher than the actual sum. The White House website lists total investments at $8.8 trillion, though that figure appears to be padded with some investment commitments made during Joe Biden’s presidency.” 7. EYES ON IOWA: With Ian Roberts, the now-former Des Moines Public Schools superintendent, facing federal charges for possessing firearms while being in the United States without legal status, Iowa Democrat Jackie Norris — who chairs DMPS and is running to replace retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst — is facing the spotlight, Playbook’s Adam Wren reports. Roberts resigned from his post last week and on Thursday was charged in federal court with possessing firearms while in the U.S. illegally “just days after he was pulled over and fled from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents” and later arrested, per the AP. His attorney has said he will plead not guilty. Roberts was hired as superintendent by the DMPS board chaired by Norris in 2023. The board said it “intends to pursue legal action against a consulting firm it says it hired in 2023 to conduct a search for a new superintendent,” per ABC. In the wake of the news regarding Roberts, Norris pulled down ads and canceled travel, calls and multiple campaign events ahead of this quarter’s fundraising deadline. But Norris made a brief virtual appearance at one event last Tuesday night to thank supporters, according to her campaign. Norris’ campaign said it learned of Roberts’ arrest soon after it happened — which was the first time she or the board became aware of Roberts’ immigration status. Adding to Norris’ headaches, days before the charges against Roberts were brought, her husband John, a former Polk County administrator, lost a wrongful termination lawsuit that was brought by a former county HR director, who claimed that Polk County leaders — including John Norris — libeled him. Asked to comment about her fundraiser attendance amid the school board fallout and her husband's defamation case, Norris campaign spokesperson Jackson Smith told Playbook: “This is just another shameless attack from Ashley Hinson who has spent the last 5 days trying to capitalize off this crisis for her own political gain.” In response, a Hinson spokesperson said, “Jackie’s incompetence in hiring a criminal illegal alien to lead Iowa’s largest school district is certainly a political issue — it’s disqualifying. Jackie isn’t fit to serve in any elected office.” In addition to Hinson, Iowa Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek, Democratic state Sen. Zach Wahls and former Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Director Nathan Sage are also running for Ernst’s seat. 8. GUM IN THE GEARS: “How some veterans exploit $193 billion VA program, due to lax controls,” by WaPo’s Craig Whitlock and colleagues: “Taxpayers will spend roughly $193 billion this year for the Department of Veterans Affairs to compensate about 6.9 million disabled veterans on the presumption that their ability to work is impaired. … Yet The Post found that millions of the claims are for minor or treatable afflictions that rarely hinder employment, such as hair loss, jock itch and toenail fungus. … The investigation exposed an increasingly costly disability program prone to rampant exaggeration and fraud, which make it harder for veterans with legitimate claims to get their benefits processed.”
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TRANSITIONS — Zack Cooper has joined Beacon Global Strategies as senior adviser in its Indo-Pacific practice. He previously worked at Armitage International. … Anisha Singh is now working in advocacy at the Legal Aid Justice Center. She previously worked in the Department of Labor. WEEKEND WEDDING — Macy Gardner, managing director at P2 Public Affairs, and Drew Erickson, a sales representative for Alliance Material Handling, got married on Friday at Historic Whitewood in Powhatan, Virginia. Pic by Salar Media … Another pic … Highlight video … SPOTTED: Calli Cooper, Lindsey Curnutte and Jeff Naft, Mike Marinella, Delanie Bomar, Nick Puglia, Michael Felici, Hayley Edmonds, Shelby Hanson, Alexandra Valdes, Lauren Socarras, Patrick O’Connell, Robert Meyer, Mackenzie Harms, Xavier Clegg, Lexi Barilotti, Kyle Martinsen, Julia Friedland and George Kaplanidis. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Anisha Singh, of the Legal Aid Justice Center, and Karthik Rau, sales manager at Leídos DSI, recently welcomed baby girl Aliya. She joins big brother Ayaan. Pic BONUS BIRTHDAY: Charlotte Rock of the General Catalyst Institute. 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 deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. |
