We Did it: King goes down, and the other primary results — Trump: Move the GOP convention out of N.C.

Jun 03, 2020

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Quick Fix

— GOP Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) lost his primary in IA-04, the second member of Congress to lose a primary this year. Plus, the other big races on Tuesday.

— After a day of back-and-forth between Republicans and North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, President Donald Trump tweeted he wanted to move the convention.

— Rep. Eliot Engel's (D-N.Y.) was caught with an embarrassing hot mic moment, adding a burst of energy to his primary challenger.

Good Wednesday morning. Email me at zmontellaro@politico.com, or follow me on Twitter at @ZachMontellaro.

Email the rest of the Campaign Pro team at sshepard@politico.com, jarkin@politico.com and amutnick@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @POLITICO_Steve, @JamesArkin and @allymutnick.

Days until the Georgia, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and West Virginia primaries: 6

Days until the Democratic convention: 75

Days until the Republican convention: 83

Days until the 2020 election: 153

TopLine

ABOUT LAST NIGHT — King went down in Iowa, losing to state Sen. Randy Feenstra in the Republican primary in IA-04. King, who has used his perch in Congress to make racist statements and push an anti-immigrant platform, is the second sitting member of Congress to lose a primary this year. Feenstra's win likely makes the race much less competitive come November. Democrat J.D. Scholten, who narrowly lost to King in 2018, was uncontested in his primary. But without the King lightning rod on the ticket, the race will slide down the list of Democratic targets. You can read more about King (and the rest of the races) from the Campaign Pro team here.

The second big race we were watching was also in Iowa. The DSCC-supported Theresa Greenfield won with a comfortable (but not crushing) margin for the right to face GOP Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).The entire Campaign Pro team has takeaways from last night that you should read. But here, we'll just run through all the results in the races we were watching.

Indiana: In the Democratic primary in the blue IN-01, Democrat Frank Mrvan won the race to succeed retiring Rep. Pete Visclosky. In the potential IN-05 battleground, the DCCC-backed Christina Hale won her primary and will go up against Victoria Spartz, who got a big boost from the Club for Growth.

Iowa: In IA-01, Republican Ashley Hinson commandingly won her primary to face freshman Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer. Democrat Rita Hart and Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks will face off in the open IA-02. We have a 2018 rematch in IA-03, where freshman Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne will face former GOP Rep. David Young.

Maryland: Both House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume easily beat back primary challengers in MD-05 and MD-07, respectively.

Montana: No big surprises in the Senate race, which will be the battle of the Steves. (Author's note: James claims he coined this term. I'm skeptical.) Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and GOP Sen. Steve Daines easily won their primaries.

In the race to succeed Bullock, freshman GOP Rep. Greg Gianforte will square off against Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, who was able to overcome a late cash wave from EMILY's List's super PAC backing his opponent.

And in the race for Gianforte's at-large seat, Matt Rosendale emerged from the Republican primary, while Democrat Kathleen Williams cruised in her race.

New Mexico: Republican Yvette Herrell won her primary that saw some Democratic meddling in NM-02, and is now set up for a rematch with freshman Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small in the district. In the open, safe blue NM-03, Teresa Leger Fernandez won the acrimonious primary.

For the open Senate seat, Republican Mark Ronchetti will face Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Luján. The congressman is the favorite come November.

Pennsylvania: We had almost no calls across the state of Pennsylvania when we closed up shop at 2 a.m., and that might not change for a bit considering that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf extended the deadline for when absentee ballots can be received in some counties.

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Presidential Big Board

CONVENTION SPOTTING — Trump wants out of North Carolina. After days of back-and-forth, the president tweeted late Tuesday that he's looking to move the convention to anywhere but the Tar Heel State.

The president's pronouncement came after Cooper more-or-less shot down the idea of a convention proceeding as usual in a letter earlier that day. "The people of North Carolina do not know what the status of COVID-19 will be in August, so planning for a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings is a necessity," Cooper wrote in a letter to the Republican National Committee.

Some potential places the convention could land? Party officials were considering Florida, Georgia and Tennessee as potential hosts, POLITICO's Maya King and Alex Isenstadt reported, even before Trump said he wanted to leave North Carolina. Leaders are set to tour Nashville later this week.

THE UNREST — Joe Biden gave a speech at Philadelphia City Hall addressing the chaos in cities across America. Biden "highlighted Trump's rhetoric and actions against the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic and a wave of protests and violence," POLITICO's Marc Caputo wrote. "Biden called for police reform and also condemned violence and vandalism. But he faulted Trump most of all".

— The Trump campaign is going all in on "law and order" messaging. "Staffers are now embracing and promoting Trump's threats to send the military into cities to help quell looting and vandalism in the hopes it will help the president win over seniors and suburban women, even if it comes at the expense of black voters," POLITICO's Anita Kumar reports. "Aides also attacked Biden for what they called a delay in commenting about the protests, and chided his staff for donating to a group that posts bail for jailed protesters in Minneapolis."

With his "law and order" messaging, the president is trying to capture a "silent majority," a term he's used that harkens back to former President Richard Nixon. But the suburbs have changed drastically since the 1960s, POLITICO's David Siders wrote . Will the message still resonate? "It is unclear how much more Trump can squeeze from his base. Rural areas have few voters to offer, Democratic-heavy cities detest the president, and the once-bright lines between them and the suburbs have blurred as people of color diversified the commuter belts and wealthy whites gentrified urban cores," Siders wrote.

Down the Ballot

PRIMARY PROBLEMS — Engel's primary is heating up. The senior New York lawmaker had an embarrassing hot mic moment at a Tuesday press conference. "'If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care,' the New York Democrat told Ruben Diaz Jr., the Bronx borough president, as he asked for time to speak at a news conference on local vandalism," POLITICO's Sarah Ferris wrote. (Here's video from News 12 Bronx.) Engel tried to clean it up. "In the context of running for reelection, I thought it was important for people to know where I stand. That's why I asked to speak," Engel said in a statement. "I would not have tried to impose on the borough president if I didn't think it was important."

It comes as progressives start to consolidate around Jamaal Bowman, as we noted earlier in this week. Later Tuesday evening, Engel, Bowman and two other challengers also met for a debate, but Jewish Insider's Matthew Kassel noted that the hot mic moment didn't come up during the debate. (Kassel also has a deeper look at the race, which includes an interview with Engel.)

THE PROCESS — Kansas is appealing a lower court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a state law that required voters to prove their citizenship. The Kansas City Star's Jonathan Shorman and Bryan Lowry have more.

— A bipartisan mix of Florida election supervisors are fighting a lawsuit backed by Priorities USA to loosen vote-by-mail laws in the state, POLITICO Pro's Gary Fineout wrote (for Pros). More from Gary: "[M]any of those officials, charged with operating polling places and counting ballots, are worried about making extensive changes just before a presidential election in the battleground state that could attract a record turnout — particularly in a state famous for its election mishaps, from 'hanging chads' during the 2000 presidential election to long lines on Election Day."

FIRST IN SCORE — ON THE AIRWAVES — Majority Forward, the Democratic dark money group that focuses on the Senate, is out with a new ad in Montana hitting Daines. "Daines voted against paid leave for Montanans and refused to support relief for our hospitals and nurses," the ad's narrator says. "Tell Sen. Daines to put Montana first, not Wall Street."

— Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) launched his latest TV ad, which touts Gardner getting money for land and water conservation and that he "delivered the new space command."

— Democrat Mondaire Jones, who is running in the primary in the blue-leaning, open NY-17, is out with his second television ad. "I'm grateful to the grocery store workers and delivery people who helped us get through this crisis," he says in the ad. "Don't they deserve affordable health care? Doesn't everyone?"

— The Montana Democratic Party is up with a five-figure digital campaign targeting Gianforte to kick off the gubernatorial general election. The ad calls him "no show" Gianforte for missing congressional votes.

FIRST IN SCORE — ENDORSEMENT CORNER — The Human Rights Campaign, the pro-LGBTQ rights group, is out with a slew of endorsements of Democratic House candidates. The list: Joyce Elliott (AR-02), Hiral Tipirneni (AZ-06), Kai Kahele (HI-02), Rita Hart (IA-02), Marie Newman (IL-03), Betsy Dirksen Londrigan (IL-13), Hale (IN-05), Dan Feehan (MN-01), Jill Schupp (MO-02), Deborah Ross (NC-02), Kathy Manning (NC-06), Jackie Gordon (NY-02), Eugene DePasquale (PA-10), Wendy Davis (TX-21), Sri Preston Kulkarni (TX-22) and Carolyn Long (WA-03). "In order to achieve real and lasting change, we must not only reelect a pro-equality majority, but expand it [and] build upon that majority and ensure that the People's House reflects the diversity of our nation's people," HRC president Alphonso David said in a statement.

NEVERMIND — New Jersey decided to not use an online voting app for its July 7 primaries after one person used it in last month's municipal elections, POLITICO New Jersey's Matt Friedman reported (for Pros).

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The good news is I'm really, really glad we had so many people interested and willing to vote. … The bad news is everyone decided to vote on the last day that vote centers are open and they decided to do it in person, and that just created an incredible logjam." — D.C. election board chair Michael Bennett to The Washington Post on long lines to vote in the nation's capital. (I reported from a polling place that saw voters wait upwards of four hours.)

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