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By Dasha Burns, Will Steakin and Adam Wren |
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner Good Tuesday morning, it’s peak summer fair season and we’re watching candidates butter up constituents (and everything else) in Iowa. Send us your best snack-on-a-stick tip and get in touch. In today’s Playbook … — Zach Lahn will test Iowa’s appetite for MAHA in the midterms. — The primary field heats up for both sides in Florida. — The Boldfaces: RFK Jr., Alex Clark, Byron Donalds, Cory Mills, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chris Wright, Harold Hamm, Jon Ossoff, Abdul El-Sayed, James Talarico, and more.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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FAIR GAME: The battered, buttery retail politics on display at the Iowa State Fair this week should be kryptonite for a MAHA candidate. But Zach Lahn, the Republican running for governor on a MAHA platform, says he gets an annual exemption to indulge in fair food. So what’s his preferred poison? “I’m gonna pull an Anthony Fauci here and plead the Fifth. I can't disclose that information,” Lahn joked to Playbook. Lahn defied a Donald Trump endorsement in the primary, overcoming Rep. Randy Feenstra and offering perhaps the clearest evidence yet that the MAHA pilot is becoming more than just a MAGA spinoff. From pesticides and food additives to water quality and chronic disease, Lahn helped prove MAHA can shape GOP primaries, give candidates rare permission to break with Trump and potentially become a decisive constituency in the 2026 midterms and beyond. Lahn’s campaign will test that theory — and the coalition’s figurehead intends to pass. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will join Lahn on the trail in Des Moines today — the latest in a Trump administration parade of top officials stumping in the battleground state including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, VA Secretary Doug Collins and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. It’s a fresh sign the administration is taking Rob Sand’s threat to turn Iowa’s governor’s mansion blue seriously, even as Lahn’s own success has at times depended on distancing himself from Trump. “A lot of Iowa voters see [Kennedy] as a person who helped put the cancer crisis on the map,” Lahn campaign consultant Luke Thompson told Playbook. “And that includes very conservative voters, who would be skeptical of the scion of America’s liberal aristocracy were he not so obviously passionate about and committed to tackling these problems.”
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A message from The Alzheimer's Association: 9 in 10 Americans say they want a simple test for Alzheimer’s. When asked whether Medicare should cover these tests, the support is nearly identical across party lines: Republicans 90%, Democrats 93%. The bipartisan Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act will allow Medicare coverage for Alzheimer’s blood screenings, enabling early treatment. Congress has acted to allow Medicare coverage for mammograms. Now, it’s Alzheimer’s "mammogram moment." Congress must pass the ASAP Act. |
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The stop is one of eight for RFK Jr. over a 10-day swing across Iowa, Minnesota, and Florida, according to a senior White House official. “‘Bobby Unleashed’ is our motto in the West Wing,” the official told Playbook. “We want him guns blazing.” The same official pointed to a series of recent policy announcements, including a new childhood vaccine schedule and updated GRAS standards, as indication that the White House is serious about mobilizing MAHA. (The latest CDC data shows the percentage of kindergartners getting vaccine exemptions ticked up to its highest level ever last school year, at 4.2 percent, per CNN.) “Big food was pissed. We had a lot of CEOs calling. But it was the right thing to do for MAHA,” the official said. “We helped HHS in the rollout and comms strategy for both, because we realized how important it is to continue to message to this constituency heading into the midterms.” It’s also damage control following the administration’s executive order protecting glyphosate, the active ingredient in the widely used weed killer Roundup. Alex Clark, a popular voice in the MAHA movement, told Playbook she’s been sounding the alarm that Republicans are in danger of losing the MAHA vote ahead of November — pointing specifically to the pesticide issue. “The administration didn’t take these cries from moms on pesticides seriously enough,” said Clark, host of the Culture Apothecary podcast. “What I have witnessed is my audience, which are largely conservative moms … saying they’re not voting. Period.” It’s especially a concern in Iowa, where counties that use the most glyphosate are “hot spots” for non-Hodgkin lymphoma — a cancer that affected Lahn’s dad. It’s part of the reason Lahn did what most candidates rarely do: he broke with Trump. “That same day [that Trump signed the EO] I came out opposing it,” Lahn said. “The issues we're talking about here with our high cancer rates, our water quality issues are two of the most foundational issues that the state of Iowa is facing right now, and I'm not going to waver from those.” On today’s Playbook Podcast: Dasha and Will discuss what ‘Bobby unleashed’ says about MAHA’s power within MAGA, and POLITICO campaigns reporter Erin Doherty zooms in on Jon Ossoff’s very hands-on messaging strategy.
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A message from The Alzheimer's Association:  
A simple blood test can detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear, enabling significantly more effective treatment. Medicare can cover it with the ASAP Act. |
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THE DOWNLOAD |
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ELECTION DAY: Floridians head to the polls today after a contentious campaign season in a number of key Republican primaries, POLITICO’s Gary Fineout and Kimberly Leonard preview from Tampa. Rep. Byron Donalds leads a fractious gubernatorial bunch, Rep. Cory Mills is trying to stave off a serious challenge, and multiple open congressional seats have splintered fields. Some Republicans are also nervously watching turnout. And Democrats have a fraught primary of their own as Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz tries to hop to a new district.
- For those keeping track: Trump voted by mail again in today’s Florida primary, POLITICO’s Gary Fineout scooped, despite declaring last month that mail voting is “inherently corrupt.”
- Election Day elsewhere: Alaska’s Senate primary has been overshadowed by Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign shakeup: She fired the campaign manager and a deputy last week, NYT’s Kellen Browning and Tim Balk report. There are also contested top-four primaries for House and governor. And in Wyoming, Republicans have competitive races for House and governor that will test Trump’s endorsement and the GOP’s ideological direction.
OVER A BARREL: Energy Secretary Chris Wright will be in Hobbs, New Mexico, today to tout domestic oil production — even as his statements about how much oil is moving through the Strait of Hormuz significantly outstrip nonpartisan trackers’ estimates, POLITICO’s Scott Waldman reports. And the war may ramp up anew: Iran will move to a “fully offensive” stance, a top official told Reuters’ Parisa Hafezi and Katharine Jackson. Trump’s threat to “bomb the shit” out of Oman has congressional Democrats planning a new war powers resolution, per Axios’ Andrew Solender.
- Knowing Harold Hamm: The close Trump ally has quietly combined his Domestic Energy Producers Alliance with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, potentially teeing up Hamm to lead one of the most important oil industry trade groups, POLITICO’s Mike Soraghan reports.
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Where energy, tech and policy connect POLITICO Surge launches August 31 with reporting and analysis on rising power demand, AI infrastructure, electrification, grid constraints and the politics shaping energy’s next chapter.
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THE FRONT PAGE |
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ALWAYS ON MESSAGE: “Inside Ossoff’s meticulously viral campaign,” by POLITICO’s Erin Doherty and Alec Hernandez: “[B]ehind his bold persona on the trail is a senator who is hands-on in all aspects of his campaign, including messaging. Democrats in Georgia and beyond who have worked with [Sen. Jon] Ossoff or seen him behind-the-scenes say he is meticulous about how he communicates and the details of his campaign’s work.” AD IT UP: As primary season nears an end, a pair of Democrats in competitive House races are upping the ante with their first negative TV ads against GOP opponents. In Arizona, JoAnna Mendoza is putting $300,000 behind a spot that ties Rep. Juan Ciscomani to Trump and says he “has no spine.” And in Ohio, Rep. Marcy Kaptur goes after Derek Merrin as a “corrupt insider” in a $110,000 spend focused squarely on First Energy, electric rates and data centers. RACE FOR THE SENATE: In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is launching a positive six-figure ad campaign that calls him “as Michigan as you get” and talks about making the state great again — even ending with Jesse Watters saying, “You gotta respect Abdul because he beat the machine.” (Yes, it’ll air on Fox, and yes, you hear Bernie Sanders too.) Watch it here
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5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW |
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1. CAMPAIGN TRAIL MIX: Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon told Bloomberg the Justice Department will send out roughly 1,000 poll monitors in November. … Trump will head to South Carolina on Friday to campaign for GOP Sen. Darline Graham. … The L.A. Times’ Noah Goldberg has the astonishing story of Median Strategies, which put out fake polls “as a short term social experiment” to see how misinformation could spread through the online ecosystem. (One answer, in this case: The California Post.)
2. FOR YOUR RADAR: Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) is now under House Ethics investigation for alleged “inappropriate sexual contact with a House staffer,” per POLITICO’s Chris Marquette. He’s admitted consensual affairs but said he broke no rules or laws. 3. BREAKING UP IN VEGAS: Another Trump U.S. attorney has to leave her post, as a federal appeals court ruled Sigal Chattah had been illegally selected for the job in Nevada, per The Nevada Independent. It’s the second such appellate court to castigate the Trump administration for its practice of tapping interim U.S. attorneys to avoid Senate confirmation. But the admin said it’s taking this to the Supreme Court. 4. AROUND THE BEND: Amid a major outcry over construction in Big Bend National Park, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott backed off, for now. Scott said the work will pause for him to go and examine the situation in person. More from The Texas Tribune 5. ONE TO WATCH: Speculation surrounding a potential 2028 presidential run by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has democratic socialists in New York wondering if City Councilmember Chi Ossé could mount a Senate bid, Hell Gate’s Holly Pretsky reports.
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Now live: Canberra Playbook POLITICO's free daily briefing on Australian federal politics: the agenda, the players and the moves that matter, before the working day starts.
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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THE VANDAL SCANDAL — Federal prosecutors are going to unusual lengths to try to keep Melissa Farris, alleged vandal at the World War II Memorial, locked up pending trial on felony charges, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein reports. After a judge rejected their bid yesterday, prosecutors quickly appealed (to Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg!). It’s a notably aggressive approach from U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, who’s been under pressure from Trump for not acting on his unsupported claims about vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. WHAT KASH PATEL IS READING — In the latest twist of the FBI HQ relocation saga, a federal judge barred the Trump administration from jettisoning the planned move to Maryland, per the NYT. He ruled that the FBI’s new plan to switch to the old USAID space in the Ronald Reagan Building improperly lacked congressional buy-in. The legal fight will surely continue. AFTER LEAVITT — Trump doesn’t seem to be moving quickly to name a replacement for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and is instead considering having Cabinet officials rotate through the briefing room after she leaves, CNN’s Kristen Holmes and colleagues report. TOP TALKER — Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has seen all the online chatter about her tattoos, and she’s unbothered: “Everybody just needs to relax,” she said last night on her new YouTube podcast. “This wasn’t even the dumbest thing Washington has ever done before lunch.” MEDIA MOVES — Stat is adding Nicholas Florko as a reporter covering trust in science and Margaret Manto as a D.C. reporter covering the FDA. Florko previously worked at The Atlantic. Manto previously worked at NOTUS. TRANSITIONS — Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Justin Zorn are launching a strategy and comms firm, Unlikely Majorities, focused on “building unexpected political and cultural coalitions to advance goals Americans share,” from clean energy to more healthful food and environments. … Ella Nilsen is now VP at Echo Communications Advisors, helping the firm expand in New England. She previously covered clean energy policy and politics at CNN and is a Vox alum. … Jack Leonard is joining the Institute for the American Worker as government relations coordinator. He previously worked for the House Education and the Workforce Committee. WEDDING — Mike Maloof, deputy policy director for the Republican Governors Association, and Grace White, D.C. chief of staff to Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), got married Aug. 8 at the Dunes Club in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Pic WELCOME TO THE WORLD — McLaurine Pinover, head of comms at the Office of Personnel Management, and her husband recently welcomed a baby. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) … Austan Goolsbee … Erik Wemple … WSJ’s Sadie Gurman … Jason Furman … Treasury’s Lincoln Foran … Scott Haber-Katris … Bryan Greene of the National Association of Realtors … Megan Scully … former Reps. Toby Moffett (D-Conn.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) … Bert Peña … POLITICO’s Jesse Naranjo … Lee Hudson … CNN’s Simone Pathe … Roger Zakheim … DSCC’s Nico Starr … Lizzy Letter … Jordan Baugh … former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner … Bob Woodruff … Jules Polonetsky … National Park Service’s Mike Litterst … Connie Hair … Ben Wermund … Robert Lynch … Bill McCormick … Mary Anne Bradfield … Grace Sedlazek of the Herald Group … Gerald Wallace … Paris Dennard … Meera Kallupura … Laurie Doane 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: Yesterday’s Playbook inaccurately described the amount of money raised or contributed to the Democratic Party by Sen. Mark Kelly. It is $10 million.
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A message from The Alzheimer's Association: The ASAP Act is a “mammogram moment” for Alzheimer’s — an opportunity to make early detection the standard of care. When Congress enabled Medicare coverage for routine mammograms, screening rates soared and breast cancer deaths dropped significantly. That early investment led to earlier detection, better outcomes and improved quality of life.
Congress can deliver this same breakthrough for those with Alzheimer’s through the bipartisan ASAP Act, which would allow Medicare to cover a simple blood test to detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear. Until Congress acts, Medicare cannot cover dementia screening tests. But fewer than 10% of people receive a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment when today’s FDA-approved treatments are significantly more effective. Expanding access to blood-based screening will help more patients receive an early diagnosis, and the opportunity for earlier, more effective treatment. Congress must support the ASAP Act and appropriate Alzheimer’s care. |
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