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By Adam Wren |
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With help from Eli Okun, Ali Bianco and Irie Sentner Good Sunday morning. It’s Adam Wren. Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) cellphone number is already a joke on the campaign trail. “We demand lower prices,” Pete Buttigieg said in Concord last night at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner. “Best they can do is give out Tom Cotton’s cellphone number.” Get in touch. START YOUR SUNDAY HERE: MAHA supporters are increasingly training their ire on top organizer Tony Lyons, whose PAC has raked in just $1 million of the $100 million he said he’d spend on allies in the election, POLITICO’s Amanda Chu reports. Some grassroots figures fume that the movement has been co-opted by corporate forces despite having Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary. “We’re talking about millions of voters who just fell into our lap like manna from heaven, and we’re just gonna let them walk away,” warned MAHA influencer Alex Clark. Lyons didn’t respond for comment.
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DRIVING THE DAY |
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The 2026 trail is an opportunity for Pete Buttigieg to refine his campaign message: connecting concrete cost-of-living concerns to the more abstract need for reforming the political system. | Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images |
CONCORD, N.H. — Buttigieg is barnstorming the nation in the final weeks before the midterms, boosting candidates in battlegrounds and even areas traditionally hostile to Democrats. And it’s helping him think beyond November. Buttigieg is set to campaign in at least six states: North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Georgia and Nevada, along with his adopted home state of Michigan, according to an itinerary shared first with Playbook by a spokesperson for Win the Era, his political group. Those relationships with voters and party leaders will be useful if he runs for president in 2028, a question he was repeatedly asked across stops here on Friday and Saturday. (“We’ll see,” he told one woman at the Deerfield Fair). The 2026 trail is also an opportunity to refine his campaign message: connecting concrete cost-of-living concerns to the more abstract need for reforming the political system. “I have a lot of conviction that actually your economic message only has credibility if you have a reform message, too,” Buttigieg told Playbook after a Rochester Opera House rally Friday. “Because otherwise, what you’re doing is you’re saying things that people agree with, which is great, but they might not believe that you can actually deliver it.” What he doesn’t have: a battleground governorship with coattails or a personal fortune to wire into midterm races. Even so, Buttigieg’s status as an in-demand surrogate was on full display during his 48-hour swing through the Granite State, where he finished “a very, very, very close second place” to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the 2020 primary, as Buttigieg put it in remarks yesterday evening at the Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner.
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“If anything, his popularity here has grown,” New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley told Playbook. “I couldn’t ask for a better wingman,” Rep. Chris Pappas said while introducing Buttigieg at the rally Friday. “People know that he’s a trusted voice,” Stefany Shaheen, who’s running for Pappas’ seat, told Playbook after campaigning with Buttigieg. He’s made more than 100 endorsements this cycle, campaigning in person for roughly half of them, and stops in 37 states since he left the Transportation Department. He’s been welcomed in places where candidates shunned some potential rivals, including in Iowa with Rob Sand and Josh Turek, where they’re running for governor and senator. “If I can help give voice to what people are after in diverse geographies, including very conservative areas, turns out that’s my best use of time,” Buttigieg told Playbook. Even as he sidestepped questions from reporters about his future plans, remnants of his 2020 campaign piled up. People wore Pete for New Hampshire buttons and T-shirts. His old playlist, including Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Up Around the Bend,” played at the Friday night rally. Chuck Grassie wore a Pete for New Hampshire button as he took in the scene. Grassie, who backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in 2020 and considers himself a “pragmatic progressive,” said Buttigieg could knit together the party’s moderate and progressive factions. ‘He’s a guy I think would attract a lot of people,” Grassie said. “And a lot of people I talk to are saying, ‘You know, he’s looking better and better every day.’” “In New Hampshire, I think Pete may be the guy to beat.” Read the full story here
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A message from Anthropic:  
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SUNDAY BEST … — National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on economic discontent driving Democratic gains in November, on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “There’s possibly partisan pollsters telling us that the people are really, really depressed — it’s a classic Democrat move. And I just don’t buy it … In fact, the retailers are doing well. I talk to the banks all the time. They say that their consumers are happy and they’re paying back their loans. And so the hard data are radically inconsistent with the polls. And so which do you believe, the government hard data or the polls that have been wrong about every single election since I can remember?” — AG Todd Blanche on the Supreme Court case about third-country deportations amid global human-rights backlash, on “Fox News Sunday”: “We believe that the Supreme Court, they granted the stay so we can continue to do the important work of this administration when it comes to getting out everybody that’s here illegally. And we’ll see what happens later this year. But this idea that we’re violating human rights, and that the president and that the United States is doing something to damage and put these people in harm’s way, is just categorically false.” — Justice Samuel Alito on the Covid-19 pandemic, on “Fox News Sunday”: “It was a stress test on our constitutional rights. In other words, it put our loyalty to those constitutional rights, our dedication to those constitutional rights, to the test. And one of the things that unfortunately it disclosed was that many people were willing to downgrade certain constitutional rights — the right to freedom of speech and the right to the free exercise of religion, in particular. They were willing to make those secondary to other things.”
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The outsider Democrat making the case for 2028 Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu joins On The Road with Jonathan Martin at Mosca’s Restaurant for a conversation on Trump, Democrats’ future, 2028 speculation and what he says it will take to rebuild trust in American institutions.
Watch the episode now. |
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8 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. BRAVE NEW WORLD: In his new role as AI czar, DNI Jay Clayton will lead a task force taking four months to hammer out plans about navigating AI’s risks and opportunities, working with the industry, WSJ’s Alex Leary scooped. Emil Michael, Scott Kupor and Andrew Ferguson will be vice chairs of the task force, which will also comprise VP JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Richard Walters, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, David Sacks and Condoleezza Rice. President Donald Trump announced the “Super Intelligence Force” this morning. More from POLITICO’s John Sakellariadis and Cheyanne Daniels on what Clayton’s new position means What backlash? Even as Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) reelection chances get bruised by data centers, Trump is holding firm: He celebrated data centers as good for Ohio at a rally yesterday in Vandalia, per the Dayton Daily News. 2. CHECKS AND BALANCES: Trump’s latest pre-midterms ploy is to send $90 payments to some 20 million seniors. The move will tap money from a pot of $2 billion to shore up Medicare programs, WaPo’s Dan Diamond reports. But that sourcing came as a surprise to both parties on the Hill, where members were planning to use the fund to offset other health program costs later this year. And lawmakers could hit back by delaying some Trump nominees. 3. TO RUSSIA, WITH LOVE: “U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies,” by NYT’s Anton Troianovski and Eric Lipton: “The Trump administration’s talks with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine have expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal … The leading group seeking the deal includes an American investor, Todd Boehly, who has donated $2 million to President Trump’s political causes; two Middle Eastern groups that have done business with [Jared] Kushner or [Steve] Witkoff’s family; and an arm of the U.S. government itself. … There is no indication that Mr. Kushner and Mr. Witkoff themselves stand to profit.”
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A message from Anthropic:  
How SoFlo Solar runs their business with help from Claude |
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4. MUCK READ: “Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract Just Before She Left,” by NYT’s Hamed Aleaziz and colleagues: “In the last hours of Kristi Noem’s tenure as the homeland security secretary, her agency delivered a windfall to one of her political donors by buying five airplanes from the man’s firm at a substantial markup … After taking over, [Secretary Markwayne] Mullin explored backing out of the deal, according to two White House officials, but feared a significant financial penalty.” Noem didn’t respond to specific questions but said in a statement to the NYT that it was finalized under Mullin. 5. FITN TO FIGHT: Even though the Democrats officially signed off on their 2028 calendar in August, New Hampshire Democrats are signaling they could go rogue and plan to go first in accordance with state law — and their preference to elevate their own preferred candidates as early as possible — rather than third, their new slot under the revised calendar. Asked what will happen with their primary in 2028, Buckley told Playbook, “You’ll see.” Asked whether the state will have a significant role in 2028, Buckley told us we were asking the wrong question. The right one, he said: “Is New Hampshire going to have the significant role?” Asked one more time whether the 2028 calendar was set, Buckley concluded: “We can talk about that on Nov. 4.” Pappas was more direct: “We’re still going to be the first-in-the-nation primary state, and we’re going to continue to welcome national figures to New Hampshire that may want to think about 2028,” he told us.
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A message from Anthropic: How SoFlo Solar runs their business with help from Claude
Luis Galarza and Laura Gutierrez founded SoFlo Solar to restore solar power for homeowners left with broken systems after installers went out of business. Claude helps them diagnose equipment across manufacturers, translate for crews, and log every job.
Learn more |
| |
|
6. BLEEDING CUTS: “Republicans tried to punt health care cuts until after the midterms. It didn’t work,” by POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein: “Millions of people have lost their Obamacare insurance following Republicans’ decision to allow Covid-era subsidies to expire last year, and the premiums for many of those who remained have skyrocketed. Millions more have lost Medicaid coverage … And a $50 billion rural health fund Republicans tucked into the megabill last-minute to help ensure its passage has not stopped the drumbeat of hospitals cutting services or closing up shop.” 7. BERN NOTICE: Sanders rallied to bolster the California billionaire tax ballot initiative as it faces a crush of opposition spending, POLITICO’s Jeremy White reports from San Francisco. “You are going to do it and show the world it is possible!” Sanders told the crowd, even though his support for the measure places him at odds with many prominent Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. 8. LASTING LEGACY: Many more Trump appointees to the federal judiciary have been tapped in their 30s than under previous presidents, POLITICO’s Erica Orden reports. That will likely help Trump create a deeper, decades-long imprint on judicial rulings. But some outside observers question whether it means less qualified judges are arriving on the bench.
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New: Decoded by POLITICO Decoded is a daily briefing on the people, policy battles and market shifts moving technology forward. It brings POLITICO’s global reporting together in one place so you can see what’s changing and what to watch next.
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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OUT AND ABOUT — The Power to the People Festival yesterday at Merriweather Post Pavilion brought together A-listers with a big election push. Net proceeds from ticket sales went to VoteRiders, which was at the festival to help people register to vote and write letters to new voters in Pennsylvania. Bruce Springsteen headlined, opening with “Streets of Minneapolis,” the song he wrote in honor of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Other performers included Foo Fighters, The Dropkick Murphys, Joan Baez, Killer Mike, Jack Black and Public Enemy, all of whom joined Springsteen on stage at the end for “This Land Is Your Land” and “Power to the People.” The event also included an MS NOW members lounge to tout its new direct-to-consumer offering and watch the show. SPOTTED: Jack Smith, Lauren Kunis, Kathleen Unger, Ari Melber, Laura Barrón-López and Erielle Reshef. — Diplo played an intimate late-night set at Ned’s Club last night, following his performance at the Glow Block Party, with songs by everyone from Dolly Parton to Stevie Nicks to Rihanna to Bad Bunny. SPOTTED: Judge Tanya Chutkan, Emily Brown, Jean Paul Sabatier, Olivia Igbokwe, Colin Moneymaker, Carri Twigg, Keenan Austin Reed, Pete Kalamoutsos, Brandon Etheridge, Dan Swartz, Darius Baxter, Ian Callender, Daniel Heider, Rob Kauffman, Robynne Chutkan, Joiwind Ronen, Emma Mears, Anthony Smolka and Zach Cutler. — At the Atlas Performing Arts Center last night, the 2026 March On! Festival had an evening to celebrate New Orleans’ cultural and civic legacy, sponsored by Meta. Anthony Coley moderated a conversation with Marc Morial, Mary Landrieu, Mitch Landrieu and Tim Francis, along with a performance by the Crush Funk Brass Band and a traditional second line. SPOTTED: Robert Raben, Kim Callinan, Nick Schmit, Brian Rice, Joyce Brayboy, Betsy Fischer Martin and Jonathan Martin, Tiffany Moore, Jamal Simmons, Karla Allen, Tanya Lombard, Phillip Wallace, Michelle Miller, Kemah Dennis-Morial, Tamara Remy and Maia Hunt Estes. MEDIA MOVE — Zach Kessel is starting as assistant opinion editor at the WSJ’s Free Expression newsletter. He previously worked at The Washington Free Beacon. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) and Mark Alford (R-Mo.) … Steve Capus … Shil Patel of Ranger Global Advisors … Bridget Reed Morawski … former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) … Norm Pearlstine … Brynne Craig … AP’s Holly Ramer … Drew Willison … Kelsi Daniell of P2 Public Affairs … Brock Boze of Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet’s (D-Mich.) office … Sean Hackbarth … POLITICO’s Katherine Long … Andrew Jay Schwartzman … EY’s Ryan Donmoyer … Pete Davis … Francis Kruszewski of the American Cleaning Institute … Duke University’s Chris Simmons … former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel … Dane Waters … retired Adm. Mike Mullen … CNN’s Rachel Siegel … Rob Shapiro … DSCC’s Joe Bush … Melanie Meyers … Wes McClelland of Franklin Square Group … Todd Malan … ABC’s Santina Leuci … MS NOW’s Maria Spinella 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 editors Giuseppe Macri, Garrett Ross and Kyler Alvord.
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