Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Grindr’s political power play

Grindr’s political power play

Apr 22, 2026

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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco, Irie Sentner and Makayla Gray

On today’s Playbook Podcast: Jack and Dasha pick over last night’s redistricting referendum in Virginia, and the (increasingly remote) prospects of a swift peace deal with Iran.

Good Wednesday morning. This is Jack Blanchard. Drop me a line.

HOT MEDIA SCOOP, via Dasha — Shawna Thomas, the top executive producer who helped lead “CBS Mornings” for five years before leaving the network last month, is joining MS NOW as political director. In her new role, Thomas will oversee coverage of political campaigns and appear on air across all MS NOW platforms. “It’s no secret that I’ve missed Washington, D.C. and this is a homecoming of sorts,” Thomas told Playbook, citing previous work with MS NOW’s Luke Russert and Peter Alexander. It’s the latest in a series of hires for MS NOW since last year’s divorce from NBC.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Inside Grindr’s political power play: Grindr, the LGBTQ+ dating app, has ramped up its political presence in Washington as it seeks to flex its influence muscles on a range of policy priorities. The app’s ambitions have grown since Trump’s return to office, having poured $1.6 million into its influence operation since registering to lobby federal lawmakers a year ago, Playbook’s Irie Sentner reports.

Party night: The scale of Grindr’s influence will be on full display Friday, when the app hosts its inaugural White House Correspondents Dinner weekend party — for which Democrats and Republicans alike have been clamoring to get an invite. “We’re planting a flag,” top Grindr lobbyist Joe Hack tells Irie in an interview.

The glitzy bash — held in a $9 million, 10-bedroom Georgetown mansion — is one of the buzziest fetes of the upcoming weekend, and the guest list has been closed for more than a week. “The interest level has been insane,” Hack said. Though he declined to provide a preview of expected attendees, he teased that “very high level people from both sides” RSVP’d. “We’ll see if they come,” he said. Read more on Grindr’s political push from Irie

In today’s Playbook …

— Dems take the lead in the redistricting wars, but a shootout looms in Florida.

— Scott Bessent is among six Cabinet secretaries facing congressional hearings.

— And lawmakers make moves toward a DHS shutdown endgame.

DRIVING THE DAY

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: The 2026 redistricting wars will shift to Florida next week for a final showdown after last night’s pivotal Democratic victory in Virginia. Voters in the commonwealth backed a blue-inked House map that aims to give Dems a 10-1 victory this November, in a state still considered red only two decades ago.

But it was close: With the final votes still being counted last night, the victorious “yes” side netted just 51.5 percent. And Virginia Republicans are fuming after being outspent by a margin of roughly three to one, POLITICO’s Erin Doherty and Aaron Pellish report, incredulous that super-wealthy GOP backers didn’t swoop in with cash that could’ve tipped the balance.

Important caveat: This isn’t (quite) over yet. The Virginia decision could yet be nullified by the state Supreme Court in the coming weeks — though even plugged-in Republicans admit the chances are slim.

The bigger picture: For those not keeping track, the new Virginia map would push Democrats into a narrow +1 lead nationwide, if every district that’s been redrawn since Republicans first launched their gerrymandering push last summer goes as expected. Republicans picked up an expected nine seats in total — five in Texas, two in Ohio, one in North Carolina and one in Missouri. Democrats picked up 10 — five in California, four in Virginia, plus one in Utah, which was redrawn by the courts.

It’s hard to see these totals as anything other than a colossal failure for Donald Trump and the GOP, who sunk significant time, resources and political capital into a nationwide gerrymandering battle that — nine months later — they’re losing.

Gloat mode: “When they go low, we hit back hard,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last night. The Democratic base, furious with party leadership for not fighting Trump 2.0 harder, will be cheering from the rafters. Jeffries — whose chances of becoming Speaker are improving with every passing day — emerges as one of the night’s big winners.

Also feeling good: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who would have blown all her honeymoon capital if this redistricting push had gone down; and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose own redistricting gambit last summer spurred Democrats’ retaliation — earning him kudos from the party base every time it’s back in the headlines. (Here’s his latest victory lap from last night.)

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Last chance saloon: Republicans’ last hope of salvaging something lies in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis called a special session next week to discuss redrawing the state’s electoral map. Last night’s result puts pressure on DeSantis to deliver, with Republicans confident a redraw in the Sunshine State could deliver an extra two or three red seats. “To my friends in Tallahassee,” former White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said last night, “it’s time to respond to what we saw tonight in Virginia with a redistricting plan that reflects Florida’s true partisan lean.”

But there’s concern about what a redrawn Florida map might mean for some of the party’s House incumbents, Playbook’s resident Miamian Ali Bianco writes in. Recent special elections in South Florida (including one in Palm Beach itself) offered up eye-catching Democratic wins and overperformances, raising fears among some Republicans that redistricting could backfire.

Eyes on the 305: “Look no further than Miami,” Ali writes, “which is proving yet again to be one of the must-watch areas this cycle. There’s FL-27 represented by Maria Elvira Salazar — high up on the DCCC’s list of districts to flip. Or FL-26 under Mario Diaz Balart. Or FL-28 under Carlos Gimenez, where Dems have increasingly chattered about their odds. GOP strategists are eyeing two to three seats across the state, but even as they look to minimize the presence of Florida’s blue spots, it’s Miami’s incumbents whose districts might get diluted in the process.”

Even some of Trump’s closest allies in Florida are worried. MAGA influencer Laura Loomer — who famously has the president on speed dial — told Ali this month that with DeSantis moving forward with redistricting, “he’s going to take away from the strongholds.”

Ready to Ron? DeSantis already postponed the special session once, and with no new maps officially on the table it’s still far from certain how this will play out. Florida’s constitution bans overtly partisan redraws of maps, Ali notes — a jab we’ll be hearing from every Florida Democrat in the coming days. The flip side is that Florida has one of the fastest growing populations of any state in the last few years. And DeSantis argues the state was already victim to a significant undercount in the last census.

But even if Florida moves their way, Republican hopes that redistricting could deliver something close to a double-digit boost in House seats this fall lie in tatters. GOP recriminations were well underway last night. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican-turned-independent targeted by California Democrats’ gerrymander, told my POLITICO colleague Blake Jones that the battle never should have begun. “I think the whole thing is a mess,” he said. “It's shaking public confidence in our elections.”

The view from the White House: With Republicans now privately admitting they face a fight even to hold the Senate, Trump’s closest aides are moving fast to get election-ready. POLITICO’s Myah Ward and colleagues report this morning on efforts to “put the band back together,” as one person close to the White House puts it, with key figures from the fracturing 2024 Trump coalition like podcaster Joe Rogan, and senior members in the MAHA movement, invited to the Oval Office for private talks. “There is a crew inside the White House that realizes that … they have to listen to the groups when the president’s popularity is down,” said a person close to the administration.

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WAR AND PEACE

NATO “NAUGHTY LIST” REVEALED: The Trump administration developed a “naughty and nice” list of different NATO countries, as it considers ways to punish allies who refused to back the Iran war, POLITICO’s Jack Detsch and Paul McLeary report. The list places allied nations into different tiers, they report, with a focus on their contributions to the alliance. Diplomats are unclear what the consequences for lower-tier allies will actually be.

TODAY’S ESSENTIAL VIEWING: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will be among a raft of Cabinet secretaries testifying on the Hill today, with Dems planning to grill both men on how Trump’s war in Iran destabilized the global economy and sent gas prices soaring. Bessent is before Senate Appropriations at 10 a.m., and Wright follows at 2:30 p.m. (Also appearing today: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, HHS Secretary RFK Jr., Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins.)

Speaking of the war economy: Dems are seeking to hammer their point home today with the release of two new Senate Joint Economic Committee reports — shared first with Playbook — that show families paid more than $16 billion more for gasoline since the onset of the war, and spent $2,300 more on average due to inflation since Trump took office. Republicans would no doubt suggest they dig out equivalent data for the Joe Biden presidency.

Today’s high-profile Senate hearings come in the wake of what critics brand another “TACO Tuesday,” with Trump extending the ceasefire with Iran (and his blockade of its ports) just a few hours before the truce was due to expire. VP JD Vance indefinitely postponed his trip to Pakistan for a second round of talks. The official U.S. position is that it's waiting for a formal response from Iran, and that a deal is still on the table.

But don’t be surprised if this latest “pause” lasts a while, per WSJ’s Summer Said and colleagues. As last night’s deadline approached, “officials said [Trump] seemed wary about restarting hostilities and prolonging a conflict that is deeply unpopular with the American public,” the WSJ reports. The plan now is to “maintain pressure on Iran indefinitely until they make a concrete offer to the U.S. After that, the president could gauge whether negotiations could proceed or if he would have to order a new wave of strikes on the Islamic Republic.”

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ALSO ON THE HILL

PREPARE FOR VOTE-A-RAMA: Senate Republicans are preparing to start a marathon voting session to kick off consideration of Trump’s $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill, POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes report. Some GOP aides expect the vote-a-rama to begin tonight, setting up an early Thursday finish; others believe it won’t begin until tomorrow. Once Senate Republicans adopt the budget, House GOP leaders will need to decide whether to try to pass separate legislation to fund the rest of DHS, or wait until the Senate passes the immigration enforcement piece and then take both up together. More from POLITICO’s Inside Congress

The expected votes come after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the department will run out of money to pay its employees by the first week of May, per NYT’s Madeleine Ngo and Michael Gold.

I SPY … A COURT BATTLE: “A government spy program may outlive its deadline — and face a secret court fight,” by POLITICO’s John Sakellariadis. When is a deadline not really a deadline? “The White House can continue using Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for several months after its sunset,” John reports, “but doing so could spark a quiet legal battle with U.S. tech companies.”

MOMENT OF RECKONING: “The House Ethics Committee is at a crossroads. Members say they’re ready to make some changes,” by POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs. Yesterday’s resignation by scandal-struck Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was the third departure of a House member inside a week. Now “even members who sit on the House Ethics panel wonder if they’re doing enough to keep bad actors at bay,” Hailey reports.

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BEST OF THE REST

NUNES GONE: Former Rep. Devin Nunes is out as CEO of Trump’s social media company in a major shake-up, POLITICO’s Declan Harty reports. Trump Media & Technology Group, the Truth Social parent company, said in a statement that Nunes would be succeeded by Kevin McGurn, an adviser to the company who now becomes interim CEO. It did not offer a reason for Nunes’ unexpected departure.

DOJ JAW-DROPPER: The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted last night on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. The SPLC said it “will vigorously defend ourselves, our staff, and our work” against what it described as false allegations. Full story via the AP

NOT AWOL: “Patel lashes out at press over story painting him as drunk and AWOL,” by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein: “Appearing before reporters for the first time since The Atlantic exposé was published last week, a defiant [FBI Director Kash] Patel framed the story as part of a deliberate effort to disparage him, pointed to the libel suit he filed Monday against the magazine and warned other journalists they could be next if they echo the allegations.”

MEET THE SHADOW ADMIN: Documents submitted as part of a legal fight against the Trump administration appear to back up claims that officials delegated leadership of FEMA to an outside contractor under multiple ethics investigations, POLITICO’s Hassan Ali Kanu and Eric Bazail-Eimil report.

CHIEF KEITH? Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s exit this week as Labor secretary is surfacing a belief held by many at the agency that acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, her former deputy, was running the show all along, POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek reports.

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TALK OF THE TOWN

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK — Linh Mai, the baby elephant at the National Zoo, is making her public debut today. She’s the first elephant calf born at the zoo in nearly 25 years — and her story of being rejected by her mother, and then adopted by another elephant who never had calves of her own, is enough to melt even the hardest heart. If you can’t make it to the zoo in person, catch Linh Mai on the Elephant Cam

IN MEMORIAM — “Dan Eggen, who shaped politics coverage at The Post, dies at 60,” by WaPo’s Matt Schudel: “Mr. Eggen was at the center of much of The Post’s most sensitive and high-profile stories and projects during his nearly three decades at the paper. He was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for investigations into the network behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and he later was a key editor on the paper’s Pulitzer-winning reporting on Russian election interference in 2016 and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

TRANSITION — Rebecca Brocato is joining Oritain as chief government affairs officer for the Americas. She previously founded and led Stony Run Advisory, and is a Biden White House alum.

ENGAGED — Seiichiro Nakai, press secretary for Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Sally Hayes, a manager at EY, got engaged this past weekend at the Spanish Steps in Kalorama. They met in D.C. four years ago and had their first date at Bar Charley. Pic

WEDDING — Stacey Dec, an editor at POLITICO, and Anthony Palandro, an engineer at X-Energy, got married on April 11 at Holy Rosary Church in D.C., with a reception at Eastern Market. They met in the summer of 2019, when Anthony, soon after moving to the D.C. area, bought a drink at the bar Stacey worked at while interning in Dupont. Pic, via Untamed Hearts Photography … Another pic

OUT AND ABOUT — The Recording Academy last night hosted its annual GRAMMYs On The Hill Awards, honoring Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.). Performers included GRAMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated artists including Cordae, Molly Tuttle, Israel Houghton, Grace Potter, Maggie Rose and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. SPOTTED: Patrick Leahy, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Morgan McGarvey (D-Ky.), Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Ron Estes (R-Kan.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) … Marathon Strategies’ Allie Peck … NYT’s Helene Cooper … CNN’s Arlette Saenz … Don Graham … Alondra Nelson … POLITICO’s Dana Nickel and Lauren DeCarlo … Semafor’s Elana Schor … Eugene Scott … WaPo’s Sari Horwitz … Joe Pounder of Bullpen Strategy Group … James Kvaal … Matt Korade … Christopher Jennison ... Sarah Hunt of the Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy … Patrick Rucker … Wade Henderson … Expedia Group’s Elisabeth Goodridge … Ted Ellis of the America First Policy Institute … Bob Reid … Allegra Kirkland … Anastasia Dellaccio ... SKDK’s Josh Dorner … former Reps. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) ... Dahlia Lithwick ... NewsNation’s Rob Yarin … Andrea LaRue ... Chung Seto … Julie Whiston … Yasmina Vinci of the National Head Start Association … Comcast’s Natalie Munio … Mark Braden … Glenn Simpson ... Brian Forde … Gaurav Agrawal … Mitch Vakerics of Veritas Health Policy … Andrew Taverrite … Rob Hotakainen … L2’s Paul Westcott

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Corrections: Yesterday’s Playbook misspelled Lisa Kashinsky’s name. It also misstated Sam Green’s previous employment. He worked at the State Department and the NSC.

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