| | | |  | | By Adam Wren | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray On today’s Playbook Podcast: Adam and Megan Messerly discuss the immigration messaging struggle — and new polling that offers Democrats a window to win on the issue.
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| Good Monday morning. It’s Adam Wren. Seven of the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 teams hail from the Midwest. It’s about to get uncomfortable. Looking at you, Iowa and Nebraska. Send me your predictions. STILL WATERS: Forget the calls for generational change. The 87-year-old Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is running for reelection — and if Dems flip the House, she’s nearly guaranteed to become House Financial Services chair again, POLITICO’s Jasper Goodman reports. That would make her the oldest-ever leader of the panel grappling with novel areas like cryptocurrency, and some Dems worry about the optics. But most say she’s still sharp. In today’s Playbook … — Can Democrats regain their footing on immigration? — SCOTUS will hear the latest election case with big implications. — Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz nears.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | All eyes this week will turn to the latest attempt to fund DHS as the department shutdown enters its sixth week. Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to put a funding bill on the floor as the shutdown prepares to shatter the record for the longest-ever funding lapse for any federal agency. That vote will likely come Thursday, two sources tell POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill. There's also a GOP resolution in support of DHS that will likely come up Thursday, too. Republican negotiators are frustrated that Democrats haven’t responded to the updated offer the Trump administration delivered Friday night, POLITICO’s Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus report this morning. President Donald Trump may have further complicated their efforts after he tied any DHS deal to passage of the SAVE Act. It’s a significant development, because the White House previously said DHS funding was — er, safe — from his threat to not sign any bills until SAVE passed. (“The President was referring to other bills, not DHS funding. If the Democrats do the right thing and pass funding for DHS, the President will, of course, fund the agency,” the White House said in a statement circulated earlier this month.) More from POLITICO’s Inside Congress How does the White House square the circle? A spokesperson did not respond to a request for clarification. Republicans have been able to peel away a handful of Democrats to pass the DHS funding bill two times already, but it's still stalled in the Senate where talks for a possible deal are ongoing. Until now, Republicans didn’t have demands of their own. Now, Trump has added his own. Will Democrats take that opening to label him as the obstructionist?
| | | | A message from Venture Global: Who says Americans don't build big things anymore? Through innovation, Venture Global is delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time. That's Venture Global. That's Unstoppable Energy. ventureglobal.com | | | | All told, it represents another loss of yardage for Republicans on immigration, an issue that was once among their strongest. The latest CBS News Poll shows Trump upside-down by 10 points on the issue, with only 45 percent approving and 55 percent disapproving. When asked earlier this month whether immigration still breaks in the GOP’s favor, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) responded bluntly: “No.” Can Democrats capitalize on those fumbles? A new push launched today by the influential and heterodox Democratic think tank Searchlight wants to clear the way to do exactly that, seeking to seed the 2026 political ground toward helping Democrats take back the issue. Searchlight is rolling out a new report — “No More Back Doors: Recapturing the Public’s Trust on Immigration," shared first with Playbook — arguing both parties have presented voters with “a kind of a false choice between the chaos at the border that was such a significant part of the first three years of the Biden administration, and now the kind of lawless cruelty in our interior cities that has been the hallmark of this Trump administration,” said Blas Nuñez-Neto, a senior policy fellow at Searchlight. “This is an issue where Democrats have won in the past and where we can win again,” said Searchlight founder and president Adam Jentleson, the John Fetterman and Harry Reid alum. “And clearly we've made enormous gains over the past few months because the public is rightfully outraged at what they've seen from the Trump administration. But the big question for Democrats now is, are we just going to give all those gains back, or can we consolidate and capitalize on the opportunity that we've been handed?” A full two-thirds of voters — 66 percent — say that the current immigration system is broken, according to the poll. Searchlight commissioned polling by Tavern Research, which conducted the 1,502-person online survey to back the new agenda. See the polling To recapture the public’s trust on immigration, Searchlight notes, Democrats “need to create a modern, functioning immigration system that is unforgiving to those who cross the border illegally but generous to those who go through an orderly legal process.” It espouses an immigration policy undergirded by three principles: 1) “Restricting illegal border crossings to ensure we never see another surge.” 2) “Enforcing our immigration laws humanely but firmly in the interior.” 3) “Providing legal opportunities for law abiding migrants who are here to remain in the United States, and for those who want to come to do so in an orderly manner.” Some 51 percent of voters believe that when immigrants who are ordered removed cannot be deported to their home country, they should be deported to any third country. The report also notes that voters “hated the border chaos of the Biden years but are recoiling from the lawless cruelty President Trump unleashed in our cities.” Expect to see the framework filter through Democratic campaigns. So, what does a winning message for Democrats in 2026 sound like? “We welcome immigrants — but come the right way, or not at all,” Jentleson told Playbook.
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| | | | JUDICIARY SQUARE MAILING IT IN: What exactly is “Election Day,” what does it mean to “cast” a ballot, and is there a meaningful distinction between “selection” and “election”? In Watson v. Republican National Committee, the answers to those seemingly simple questions are contested legal terrain. And now the Supreme Court will wade in at 10 a.m., its latest election case with potential ramifications for the midterms, Playbook’s Eli Okun reports. The details: The dispute centers on mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received afterward. In Mississippi, a pandemic-era change now provides a grace period of five business days for those ballots to arrive. More than a dozen other states and territories do the same, to varying extents. But the GOP has challenged Mississippi’s law, arguing it violates the uniform federal Election Day set by Congress. Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart will argue for the state, and Paul Clement for the RNC. The Trump administration will also weigh in, with Solicitor General John Sauer joining oral arguments on the RNC’s side (a week before he argues the big birthright citizenship case). “It’s important for the American public to have finality and confidence and trust in their electoral system,” including a quick count and a clear end to Election Day, RNC general counsel and Mississippi GOP Chair Mike Hurst told Playbook. As the law’s challengers see it, accepting late-arriving ballots diminishes people’s confidence in election integrity and opens the door to weakening election security. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, is defending the law. His office declined to comment while litigation proceeds but has argued states should decide. Other election officials have warned that striking down the law, and others nationwide, runs the risk of disenfranchising thousands of Americans who at least sent their votes in by Election Day. It would also sow chaos in election planning, the law’s defenders argue, with only a few months until absentee ballots must be finalized. The context: The inescapable backdrop to today’s oral arguments is Trump’s yearslong campaign of false voter fraud claims, despite the fact that there is still no evidence of widespread fraud in U.S. elections generally or mail voting specifically. The Senate’s ongoing debate over the SAVE America Act was recently jolted by Trump’s demand that extensive new limits on mail voting be added, with military service members excepted. The potential stakes are high, but not necessarily easy to parse. Democrats have generally used mail voting more, particularly since its surge during Covid. But it’s also a longstanding practice in conservative-leaning areas of some states, like rural Nevada. To the RNC, asking voters to get their ballots in by Election Day is eminently reasonable — and not about politics. “I think it really belittles and talks down to the American public” to argue that people can’t do so, Hurst said. “They can figure this out.”
| | | | POLITICO's Economy Summit Join POLITICO’s Economy Summit on March 25 for discussions with government and industry leaders about the policy decisions that will determine tomorrow’s market risks and opportunities. Hear from Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Gary Cohn, and more. RSVP to attend in person or virtually. | | | | | WAR REPORT TENSE MOMENT: Tonight marks the 48-hour deadline that Trump set over the weekend for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face fresh U.S. attacks on its power plants. If he goes through with that threat, an unyielding Iran warned yesterday, the strait would be “completely closed.” (Tehran claimed that it’s not closed currently, though most maritime traffic has effectively stopped.) An attack on civilian infrastructure, like the one Trump threatened, might violate international law or constitute a war crime — and put military leaders who receive the order in an unenviable position, one legal expert tells AP’s Collin Binkley. A battle for Hormuz? That’s what some U.S. and Israeli officials now forecast, WaPo’s Greg Miller and colleagues report from Tel Aviv. “Those Marines aren’t coming for decoration,” one Israeli official says. Reopening the strait and calming energy markets could become the Trump administration’s new goal, if the war — now in its fourth week — can’t achieve the other U.S. aims of ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regime change. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that only nuclear war could definitively end Iran’s nuclear program. Well-oiled machine: The administration is dispatching top energy officials to Houston for the CERAWeek conference this week to meet with oil industry executives and foreign dignitaries, POLITICO’s Ben Lefebvre and colleagues report. “If there’s one message the industry wants to deliver to the administration, according to interviews with half a dozen energy industry executives and foreign diplomats planning to attend the event, it’s this: People need to know when the conflict that is already causing major damage to their world order will end.” Divides on the right: Joe Kent, having resigned from the administration in protest, told WaPo’s Dan Lamothe that his MAGA-media tour over the past week is meant to ensure that Trump supporters hear from anti-war voices. Meanwhile, the MAGA wing skeptical of the war was aflame last night over Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) “Fox News Sunday” comments likening the Kharg Island fight he wants to Iwo Jima. Condemnations — and reminders of that battle’s heavy toll for U.S. troops — rolled in from Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Matt Walsh and more. The next war? Don’t sleep on what’s happening in Cuba, where several U.S. officials told The Atlantic’s Vivian Salama and Sarah Fitzpatrick that Nicolás Maduro’s ouster in Venezuela could be a “dry run” for Havana. “Everything, they cautioned, depends on Trump and his willingness to challenge another regime while still fighting in Iran. But preparations on several fronts are well advanced should he decide to proceed.” Though Cuba got power back on for part of the country after a U.S. blockade triggered another blackout, the squeeze is taking a serious toll.
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| | | | BEST OF THE REST POTUS ON THE ROAD: Trump will travel to Memphis today for an event focused on fighting crime in the city, including his deployment of the National Guard there, per NewsNation’s Rob Taub. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be there too. Trump is set to speak at 1 p.m. FIRST AMENDMENT WATCH: Following a federal judge’s ruling that struck down Pentagon restrictions on journalists, NYT reporters are set to get their credentials back today, Status’ Natalie Korach reports. BIG CHEESE: Rahm Emanuel, fresh off attending Saturday’s Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, campaigned in Wisconsin yesterday for Democratic candidates ahead of a key Supreme Court race and a competitive congressional contest, POLITICO’s Shia Kapos writes in. The former Chicago mayor and potential presidential candidate sees the Wisconsin races as part of a larger effort to engage voters ahead of what he called “a critical moment” for Democrats. Emanuel was in Milwaukee to rally support for Chris Taylor ahead of the April 7 judicial election. After Milwaukee, Emanuel was headed to Madison to campaign for Rebecca Cooke, who narrowly lost her last bid for Congress. And today, he’s attending a town hall in La Crosse. “There’s palpable anger, frustration, disappointment and anxiety” among voters he meets, Emanuel told Shia. “Anger at what’s happening in Washington. Disappointment that nobody’s getting anything done. Frustration with the constant gridlock. And real anxiety about the future.” MEGATREND: “Washington ignores America’s fiscal cliff,” by Axios’ Neil Irwin: “Across parties and policy areas, you’d never guess that the U.S. faces fiscal constraints created by its high-and-rising public debt, ballooning deficits without precedent in times of prosperity, and a looming entitlement spending crisis … Consider, instead, recent policy developments that will meaningfully affect the fiscal picture for the worse.” BATTLE FOR THE BALLOT: “Trump’s voter crackdown reaches college campuses,” by POLITICO’s Bianca Quilantan: “While Trump’s push for a partisan elections bill faces several bottlenecks on Capitol Hill, his administration has spent months quietly chipping away at programs designed to boost turnout among a voting bloc Republicans say lean Democratic.” CHECK OUT THE POLITICO PUB AT CERAWEEK: For the first time ever, the signature POLITICO Pub is hitting Houston for CERAWeek by S&P Global this week. Starting today at 3 p.m. Central, join the POLITICO crew on the ground in Houston for can’t-miss conversations with TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque, Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, TC Energy CEO François Poirier and National Energy Dominance Council Executive Director Jarrod Agen. All programming will be livestreamed here. Badged CERAWeek attendees, click here to register and secure your spot.
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➡️ Get on the Invite List | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Gail Slater has found her landing spot after leaving her role as the Justice Department’s top antitrust enforcer. The former assistant AG is now competition and technology policy chair at American Compass, the growing think tank focused on conservative economics. Slater, a populist who reportedly had tensions with more corporate-friendly DOJ officials, is also a National Economic Council and JD Vance alum. HISTORY LESSON — Outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a big new statue of Christopher Columbus was erected, part of the White House’s semiquincentennial celebrations, per the N.Y. Post. It was created in part from pieces of the Columbus monument in Baltimore that racial justice protesters tore down in 2020; when Baltimore declined to install the new one, the White House took it instead, the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations said. HOT TOPIC — The Bulwark’s Lauren Egan takes on the question of whether Democrats need to run more hot people for office, which she reports Democratic strategists are actually talking about. “Foundational brunch time conversation” in D.C., says Yemisi Egbewole. Send us your picks for the hottest under-the-radar candidates Dems and Republicans should elevate: playbook@politico.com. SCENE SETTER — “A very 2026 weekend at the D.C. bar where bettors could ‘monitor the situation,’” by WaPo’s Maura Judkis: Polymarket’s Situation Room pop-up “was heavily populated by young, broccoli-cut, press-shy dudes. Several people, when asked by a reporter, ‘So, what brings you to this party?’ began with, ‘Can this be off the record?’ A couple of people said they worked in the Trump administration.” CROWD-SOURCING — Kat Abughazaleh, a few days after her narrow loss in an Illinois Democratic congressional primary, asked Bluesky for tips on turning/being 27. MEDIA MOVES — NOTUS is adding Kadia Goba to cover congressional Republicans and the White House and Igor Bobic to cover the Senate, Status’ Natalie Korach scooped. Goba previously worked at WaPo. Bobic previously worked at HuffPost. … Lisa Ruhl is now director of video and streaming strategy at The Washington Examiner. She most recently worked at The Hill. TRANSITIONS — Hannah Rawles is joining X Strategies, Alex Bruesewitz’s firm that powers Trump’s outside social media assets, as digital director. She previously worked for Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.) and is a Marco Rubio alum. … American Oversight is adding Andy Carvin as director of investigations and Jacquetta Van Zandt as director of partnerships and strategic initiatives. Carvin previously worked at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, and is an NPR alum. Van Zandt most recently worked at The Partnership Inc. … … Rachael Goldenberg is now a principal at Tavern, a political media and intelligence company. She most recently was chief of staff to Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.). … Maddie Barbee is now national finance director at the NewDem Action Fund, the campaign arm of the New Democrat Coalition. She previously worked at The Next 50, and is a DCCC and National Multifamily Housing Council alum. … Salah Goss is now chief program officer at the Skoll Foundation. She previously founded Impulse 52 and is a Mastercard alum. … Rich Harrington is now policy adviser at Waymo. He previously worked for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. WEEKEND WEDDINGS — Michael Beyer, comms director for Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ reelect and a Tim Kaine alum, and Jake Krupa, a Tulane professor, got married in Michael’s native New Orleans over the weekend. They met in New Orleans through a mutual friend. — Marie Smeallie, director of external affairs and fundraising at Kimball Stroud & Associates, and Tyler Harned, VP at Columbia National Real Estate Group, got married Saturday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, with a reception at the Sulgrave Club. They met through mutual friends at an Elton John concert. Pic, via Nicholas Woodall … Another pic … SPOTTED: Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.) and John Delaney, Janice and Shawn Smeallie, David and Kellie Urban, Justin and Rachel Brindger, Manus and Theresa Cooney, Chris Israel and Erin Streeter, Julie Philp, Kimball Stroud and David White, Steve Ross, Liz Sizer, Tim and Sally Roemer, Travis and Niki Tygart, David Fuscus and Holly Page. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) … Theresa Winegar … Ryan Grim … POLITICO’s Paul McLeary … Suzanne Turner … Johnny DeStefano of Utility Strategic Advisors … Kevin Kallaugher … Evan Keller … Maggie Gage of OneMain Financial … Alec Gerlach … Paul Neaville of the Markham Group … Mike Franc … Shane Seaver … McKinsey’s Tara Maller … Nita Chaudhary … AFL-CIO’s Drew Waxman … former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson … Michael Caputo … APCO Worldwide’s Joanna London … Boeing’s Shaun Lara … Abby Kohlman … Alma Caballero … Ian Koski … Cole Rojewski … Keturah Hetrick … Stephanie Cuevas 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. Correction: Friday’s Playbook included an outdated work affiliation for Logan Booth.
| | | | A message from Venture Global: Who says Americans don't build big things anymore? Through innovation, Venture Global is delivering American energy at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time. That's Venture Global. That's Unstoppable Energy. ventureglobal.com | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Canada Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
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