| | | |  | | By Adam Wren with Dasha Burns | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco On today’s Playbook Podcast, Adam Wren and Jake Traylor talk through the Texas redistricting fight, President Donald Trump’s ousting of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the mounting warning signs about the economy.
| Good morning, and happy Monday. I’m Adam Wren. Get in touch. In today’s Playbook … — Texas Democrats fan out across blue states to deprive Republicans of the quorum they need to pass the gerrymandered House map Trump wants. — Jon Ossoff gets another potential opponent in Georgia, as Republican Derek Dooley officially launches his Senate campaign this morning. — Speaker Mike Johnson arrives in Israel … while even Democrats who support Israel are increasingly wary of its conduct in Gaza.
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Texas Democrats believe they have the upper hand in the redistricting wars and say they hope Republicans will think twice. | Eric Gay/AP Photo | THE MESS WITH TEXAS: Everything’s bigger in Texas — including the ambition of President Donald Trump’s Republican gerrymander, the efforts Democrats are taking to resist him and the lengths to which Gov. Greg Abbott is threatening to go to push the new map through. The ayes of Texas: When the Texas legislature reconvenes today at 4 p.m. ET, it will be 57 Democrats short of a quorum. While a small number of Democratic legislators remain in Austin, many more have fled. Instead, some will be in New York, meeting with Gov. Kathy Hochul; they’ll hold a media availability at 10 a.m. in Albany. Others will be hunkered down at an undisclosed hotel in the Chicagoland area; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is providing them with logistical support. Still others are expected in Boston for the National Conference of State Legislators. In response, Abbott is threatening to “remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House,” citing (and potentially misreading, per Scott Braddock of the insider Texas politics outlet Quorum Report) a 2021 opinion by state AG Ken Paxton as his justification. Additionally, Abbott suggests that those members who raise or accept donations to help cover the $500 per day fines they’ll incur for missing session could be charged with felonies — alleging that those donations are, in effect, a quid pro quo bribe. As such, he vowed to use his “full extradition authority to demand the return to Texas of any potential out-of-state felons.” THE VIEW FROM DEMOCRATS: Even so, the Texas Democrats whom Playbook has spoken with over the last 12 hours believe they have the upper hand in the redistricting wars — and say they hope Republicans will think twice in light of the threats for reprisal redistricting efforts in blue states. Behind the scenes: Texas Dems made the final call to flee the state around 1 p.m. Central on Saturday, giving lawmakers about 24 hours to pack before they gathered yesterday at 1 p.m. at a union hall outside the Texas Capitol in Austin before heading to the airport for a private jet out of the state. Mutually assured destruction: “I’m hoping that what we’ve heard from blue state lawmakers talking about retaliation may give Texas Republicans pause, it may give Speaker Mike Johnson pause, because he’s got members in blue states that may lose their seats if this escalates further,” said Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who spoke to Playbook while he was aboard a bus hurtling toward his Chicagoland hotel late last night. “So I’m kind of hoping that mutually assured destruction can get us all to walk back from the brink.” Aboard the bus, he and other members talked about how Abraham Lincoln once broke quorum in the Illinois state legislature by jumping out of a window. “Everybody is hungry and tired, but in good spirits,” Talarico told Playbook.
| | | | A message from American Beverage: No spin. No judgments. Just the facts from the experts.
When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you decide. That's why America's beverage companies have launched GoodToKnowFacts.org – a new website that puts easy-to-understand details about the ingredients in our beverages right in your hands, all in one place. For over 140 ingredients, you can find common uses, alternative names and safety assessments from food safety authorities at GoodToKnowFacts.org. | | | | A few minutes earlier, inside the DuPage County Democratic Party headquarters in a suburban Chicago strip mall last night, Pritzker, who joined the Texas Democrats and helped them with logistics leading up to the moment they boarded a flight out of Austin, said he supports the endeavor and will do what he can to help, declining to say whether that includes donating to pay for any of the $500 fines. “I haven’t done that,” Pritzker said, but others have. You couldn’t miss the 2028 subtext of Pritzker’s involvement here: The news conference happened in front of a Pritzker campaign logo with links to his website plastered all over. Eat your heart out, California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Thought bubble: A number of Texas Democrats and their allies expressed fear to your Playbook author that Trump might nationalize the Illinois National Guard and get them to attempt to return the lawmakers to Texas. “I wouldn’t put anything past them at this point,” Talarico said. “If the president is able to rig the midterms in Texas, he’ll be able to rig the midterms in every red state and that means they’ll be able to hold on to power without any accountability from voters,” said Talarico, who is also weighing a bid for U.S. Senate and has emerged as the unofficial Democratic spokesperson on the issue. But so far, Trump has been unusually quiet on the matter. The White House press office didn’t respond to our request for comment. First in Playbook: An anonymous group of self-described democracy advocates will fly planes with banners that say “mess with Texas” tomorrow over blue state capital cities: Albany, Annapolis, Augusta, Trenton, Springfield and Sacramento, according to a person briefed on the matter. THE VIEW FROM REPUBLICANS: At least one Texas Republican lawmaker — state Rep. Brian Harrison, who sometimes appears on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” show — told Playbook he believes Democrats have effectively checkmated his party. “If the elected Republican leadership of Texas wanted to have had redistricting already done by now, it would have been done by now,” Harrison told Playbook. “This is not a success of the Democrats as much as it is a failure of elected Republicans.” Important to note: Abbott could continue to call special sessions in the future to get his favorable maps. It’s unclear which side — if any — breaks first. “This is a day-by-day battle,” said Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa as she waited for Pritzker to speak Sunday evening. “And so we win today, and then tomorrow’s a new day, and we fight to win tomorrow, too. It’s situational, but my intent is to not go back for the rest of this special session.”
| | | | A message from American Beverage:  
America's beverage companies are making it easier than ever to find transparent information about the ingredients in your favorite beverages. Learn more at GoodToKnowFacts.org. | | | | IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS: All eyes will be on the normally obscure Bureau of Labor Statistics this week, after Trump said last night that he plans to name a new nominee for commissioner within the next three to four days, per CBS’ Jennifer Jacobs. But Trump’s nearly unprecedented move to fire Erika McEntarfer simply because he didn’t like the latest jobs data follows a path that has typically ended poorly in other countries, NYT’s Ben Casselman reports: “Economists say unbiased data is essential for policymaking, and for democracy.” More broadly, Trump’s attacks on facts and the truth “increasingly remind scholars of the way authoritarian leaders in other countries have sought to control information,” NYT’s Peter Baker reports. The debate: National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the agency within the Labor Department is due for a shake-up: “The president wants his own people there, so that when we see the jobs numbers, they are more transparent and more reliable,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Hassett claimed that the large revisions to previous months’ jobs numbers constituted “hard” evidence to support Trump’s baseless claim that the numbers were “rigged.” But leading economist Mark Zandi warned that a recent series of economic data shows an economy “on the precipice of recession” due to Trump’s policies. Fed up: As Trump relishes a new vacancy at the Fed, the administration remains frustrated with Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates yet. The next opportunity will come next month. But even if Powell brings short-term rates lower — or Trump fires him — long-term structural factors could keep interest rates elevated, Bloomberg’s Jamie Rush and colleagues report in a big-picture piece. Their “analysis shows [the 10-year Treasury rate is] more likely to trend above [4.5 percent] than below it. For the world’s biggest economy, that means a wrenching transition.” Meanwhile, recent Fed data indicates that the lowest-paid quartile of U.S. workers are seeing wages slow more quickly, FT’s Delphine Strauss and colleagues report. Trading places: Ahead of Trump’s new round of tariffs taking effect Thursday and Friday, some top trading partners without deals (like Canada) are still eyeing the prospect of further talks this week. In Switzerland, which is also facing steep tariffs, the internal blame game is on, FT’s Mercedes Ruehl reports. And Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said yesterday that his officials “want to negotiate” with the U.S. — but only “on equal terms,” per Bloomberg. The leftist leader added that it was “unacceptable” for the U.S. to use tariffs to punish Brazil over its prosecution of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. The impact: As tariffs start to bring in significant revenue from the U.S. companies and consumers that pay for them, the White House is celebrating the inflow. And that revenue stream could quickly make it harder for policymakers to undo the tariffs in the future, as the government becomes dependent on what could balloon to trillions of dollars over a decade, NYT’s Andrew Duehren writes. How it’s playing: NBC’s Emily Lorsch has the story of a Tennessee cookware manufacturer that has started to pay big due to steel tariffs, and is passing some of the increase onto consumers. But its leaders are optimistic overall because they expect competitors to be hit harder by tariffs.
| | | TRAIL MIX 2026 WATCH: The race for the Senate gets another major entrant this morning as Derek Dooley officially launches his Georgia Republican campaign. The college football coaching scion will seek to replicate the path of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), and Dooley’s launch video presents him as a Trump-aligned political outsider seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff. Dooley is longtime friends with Gov. Brian Kemp, but he faces a crowded GOP primary against Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, which has reportedly already sparked friction between Kemp’s and Trump’s camps. More from POLITICO’s Brakkton Booker Also coming today: Lightning-rod Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is planning an announcement today at The Citadel — with speculation widespread that she’ll launch a gubernatorial bid. First in Playbook — No Republican enmity here: Elon Musk may have vociferously attacked Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but the Building America’s Future PAC to which Musk has donated millions is going up with a more than $1 million Fox News ad campaign touting it today, POLITICO’s Gregory Svirnovskiy reports. It’ll also run on digital. Watch the ad In the wilderness: Democrats have history on their side as the party out of power going into the midterms, and they too are seizing on the August recess period to sway Americans on Republicans’ megabill. A number of early indicators suggest there may be more of a “blue trickle” than a blue wave, POLITICO’s Danny Nguyen reports. Polling and fundraising are lackluster, competitive primaries could complicate things and Republicans’ redistricting power grab could snatch the House away from Democrats before votes are even cast. Dems are still worried about their poor brand with voters, NBC’s Sahil Kapur and Bridget Bowman report. One group to watch: A number of former Justice Department employees, who left or were ousted by the Trump administration and now criticize it for politicizing law enforcement, are running as Democrats from local to federal office, CBS’ Scott MacFarlane runs down. Campaigning for City Hall: In NYC, Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa sees an opening in a four-way general election — to such an extent that he’s taking his red beret off for meetings with city business leaders and others, NYT’s Nicholas Fandos reports. Halfway across the country in Minneapolis, the rise of Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate Omar Fateh highlights an ongoing split among Democrats — and the centrality of emphasizing affordability messaging, WSJ’s Joshua Chaffin and Joe Barrett report.
| | | BEST OF THE REST MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Speaker Mike Johnson has arrived in Israel for his first voyage abroad in his role, along with other House Republicans, per Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod. He was at the Western Wall yesterday, but he’s not expected to speak to the Knesset on this trip, as Johnson was originally planning to do earlier this summer before it was postponed. First in Playbook — The new pro-Israel Dems: As a starvation crisis reportedly balloons across Gaza, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) is emblematic of moderate Democrats increasingly criticizing Israel’s conduct, even as they remain supportive of the country overall, POLITICO’s Liz Crampton and Nick Reisman report. SCHOOL DAZE: After reports that Harvard was eyeing as much as a $500 million settlement with the Trump administration, university president Alan Garber has told faculty members he is not considering doing that, The Crimson’s William Mao and Veronica Paulus report. Garber also told them Harvard is still seriously weighing keeping up its legal fight against Trump’s crackdown. Related read: “A Tiny Conservative News Outlet Pioneered the Attack on Higher Education,” by NYT’s Vimal Patel: “Campus Reform was founded years ago to expose what it calls leftist bias on college campuses. The online site’s cause has gone from fringe to mainstream.” THE VIEW FROM TURTLE BAY: As the U.S. suspends and likely slashes funding to the U.N., the global body is expected to roll out a plan to lay off thousands and cut $700 million in spending, Bloomberg’s Magdalena Del Valle reports. António Guterres’ changes would lower the budget to below 2019 levels. UKRAINE LATEST: Andriy Yermak of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office urged the U.S. to slap secondary sanctions on Russian trading partners, writing on social media that “[i]t is possible to strangle the [Russian] economy.” More from ABC WHY EMIL BOVE GOT CONFIRMED: “How the Kavanaugh confirmation saga still haunts the Senate,” by POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs: “In the fights over [Justice Brett] Kavanaugh and Bove, Democrats and Republicans accused each other of acting in bad faith. With Bove, each party leveraged the other’s behavior during the Kavanaugh episode to undermine the opposite side’s credibility.” IMMIGRATION FILES: Two Afghan interpreters who worked for the U.S. military during the war have been detained by ICE and are facing deportation proceedings, WaPo’s Tobi Raji reports. Their lawyers say they followed all appropriate processes, but as the Trump administration revokes protections for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants, these two fear Taliban retribution if they’re sent back. EPSTEIN FALLOUT: In a swing district in California’s Central District, the LA Times’ Mark Barabak finds that voters of all stripes want the Trump administration to be transparent and release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
| | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Donald Trump vented about Charlamagne tha God: “Why is he allowed to use the word ‘GOD’ when describing himself? Can anyone imagine the uproar there would be if I used that nickname?” WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: This week’s cover of The New Yorker features Amy Sherald’s “Trans Forming Liberty,” a portrait of the transgender model/artist Arewà Basit. The painting was due to be featured in a Sherald exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, until she pulled the show after hearing the Smithsonian might remove the portrait. See the cover here THE TRUMP JOBS BOOM: “Washington’s Job Market is Hot — For People Who Represent Fired Feds,” by POLITICO’s Michael Schaffer: “Openings for employment lawyers are up by four to five times compared to the first half of 2024 … [T]he sheer scale of the cuts means a lot of those [fired] folks are going to be seeking yet another type of obscure Washington expert: The specialist in the intricacies of the Merit Systems Protection Board.” FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — May (Davis) Mailman is launching MPL Strategies, a government affairs shop. She is a longtime Trump White House veteran who most recently was senior policy strategist and worked in the offices of the White House counsel and chief of staff in the first term. She will also be legal director at Independent Women’s Law Center. Per CBS’ Jennifer Jacobs, she’ll also be a special government employee to finish up some policy work. — Craig Becker is joining Democracy Defenders Fund as managing counsel for affirmative litigation. He is a former general counsel at the AFL-CIO. TRANSITIONS — Allison Zelman is now chief strategy officer at the Roosevelt Institute. She most recently was chief of staff at the Labor Department. … Michael Kades is joining Nachawati Law Group to launch its antitrust practice. He previously was a deputy assistant AG at the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, focused on civil enforcement. … Adam Chelseth is now director of government affairs for global operations at Mastercard. He most recently was at Deloitte Consulting. ENGAGED — Tyler Ross, partner at Percipient Strategies, proposed to Sophie Seid, chief of staff for Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), on vacation at Grand Hotel Tremezzo in Lake Como, Italy, on Saturday. They met through mutual friend Ninio Fetalvo. Pic WEEKEND WEDDING — Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, and John Pietanza, a longtime Maryland state trooper, got married Saturday in Bethany Beach, Delaware. She’s been going to the Maryland and Delaware shores her whole life. The couple met watching Thursday night football. BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Christian Paz … Vicki Cram of Thorn Run Partners … Tom Qualtere of CRC Advisors HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Former President Barack Obama … House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries … Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds … AP’s Seung Min Kim (4-0) … Bret Baier … Bob Cusack … POLITICO’s Michael Schaffer … WaPo’s Joby Warrick and Mike Madden … Alex Mallin of ABC … CBS’ Katie Watson … AARP’s Deirdre Shesgreen … Joel Bailey of BGR Group … Slingshot Strategies’ Greg Krieg … Pete Brodnitz … Brett Loper … Kate Michelman … Reagan Anderson … Emil Hill … Claire Berry of Rep. Judy Chu’s (D-Calif.) office … Andrei Cherny (5-0) … former AG Alberto Gonzales (7-0) … Minnesota AG Keith Ellison … former Reps. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) and Tom Rice (R-S.C.) … former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin … former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland … Rokk Solutions’ Varuna Bhatia … Harry Harris … former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot … Something Major’s Randi Braun … Semafor’s Jessica Yarvin … Olivia D’Angelo of Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-Nev.) office … Caren Auchman … Logan Luse … Chad Kolton of Blueprint Communications 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 Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
| | | | A message from American Beverage: When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, we know you make the decisions.
That's why America's beverage companies are empowering you with the choices you want and the information you need to decide what's best for your family.
Good to Know is a new transparency initiative from America's beverage companies. At its center, GoodtoKnowFacts.org puts easy-to-understand information about the ingredients in our beverages right in your hands, all in one place. For more than 140 ingredients, you can find common uses, alternative names and the safety behind our ingredients, including what food safety agencies around the world say.
No spin. No judgments. Just the facts from the experts. It is intended to be a first stop to learn more about our beverages. This is another step in our long history of working together to bring you more beverage choices and clear information. | | | | | | | | Follow us on X | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Canada Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
