| | | | | |  | | By Zach Montellaro | Presented by We Can Vote | Editor's Note: Morning Score is a free version of POLITICO Pro Campaigns' morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers each morning at 6 a.m. The POLITICO Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro .
| | | — Voters are heading to the polls today in five states to pick candidates in competitive House and Senate races. But expect a late night. — Joe Biden's campaign drastically increased its Facebook advertising over the last week, the latest sign that the widespread protests have also become big fundraising moments for Democrats. — The political arm of the Club for Growth is out with a new ad laying into Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) for his Senate run in the state. | | | | A message from We Can Vote: Are you concerned about finding the safest way to vote in your community? Developed in partnership with public health officials and election administrators, check out the Healthy Voting guide for your state and make your #HealthyVoting plan today! Learn more: www.healthyvoting.org | | | Good Tuesday 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 Kentucky, New York and Virginia primaries and Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina primary runoffs: 14 Days until the Democratic convention: 69 Days until the Republican convention: 77 Days until the 2020 election: 147 | | | PRIMARY NIGHT — Boy, just feels like we're having a primary every week now, doesn't it? (That's because we basically are!) Campaign Pro's Ally Mutnick, James Arkin and Steve Shepard have a rundown of the biggest races of the night for Pros, but here's a state-by-state guide: Georgia (polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern): Georgia, with apologies to the rest of the states voting today, has most of the action. In case you missed it, James covered the Democratic Senate primary in a story (now free for all to read) — where Jon Ossoff (of the most-expensive-House-race-of-all-time fame) is seen as the favorite — and we touched on the House races in Monday's Score . So we won't dwell too much on them here, other than to remind you that candidates need to win a majority, or the top two finishers will head to a runoff in two months. But the process of how Georgia's actually holding its elections is important. The rescheduled primary will be conducted predominantly by mail, after Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office made the decision to mail voters absentee ballot request forms (which some Republicans in the state criticized). "We were able to stand up a very robust absentee ballot program," Raffensperger said in an interview with Score. "Typically, 7 percent of all Georgians vote absentee. This year it'll probably be well north of 75 percent." Raffensperger praised his office's work, and it has indeed been a major undertaking: When we spoke on Monday morning, Georgia was pushing about 1 million ballots returned, up from a usual workload of about 40,000. But like all states dealing with major shifts, it isn't problem-free. Voters in the Atlanta area waited hours to cast their ballot during early voting on Friday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Ben Brasch and Mark Niesse reported, and some voters said they didn't receive their absentee ballot. Raffensperger noted that voting will take longer because of CDC social distancing guidelines that ultimately end up in fewer machines at each polling place, but also said some local officials made "errors in decision-making" that he wouldn't have made. (The AJC's story has more there.) It will be a long night in Georgia. Raffensperger projected that 250,000-400,000 people will vote in-person today. He also said his office will not start releasing results until "each and every precinct has closed, and every voter has voted," urging patience from voters (and the media). And he hasn't made up his mind on if his office will also mail request forms for either the runoff or November election: "It's one election at a time." Nevada (10 p.m. Eastern): The two races to watch are the Republican primaries in two battleground seats: in NV-03 to challenge freshman Democratic Rep. Susie Lee and NV-04 to challenge Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford. The Nevada Independent's Jacob Solis has a good look at both races (here's NV-03 and here's NV-04 ), but here's a quick recap: In NV-03, Republican Dan Rodimer is the favorite of national Republicans, with an endorsement from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, against former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz. The NV-04 primary is a bit more crowded. Most voters in Nevada received a ballot (not an application) in the mail. North Dakota (8/9 p.m. Eastern): The primaries in North Dakota will also see a big boost in mail-in voting ( Sydney Hoover of the North Dakota Newspaper Association has more on that), but none of the races are on our radar. Sorry, North Dakota! South Carolina (7 p.m. Eastern): The big race to watch is the Republican primary in SC-01, where the GOP will choose who will face freshman Democratic Rep. Joe Cunningham in one of their best flip opportunities this cycle. They'll pick between party-favorite Nancy Mace and Kathy Landing. (Here's my preview of the race from last week.) And, for purely academic purposes, it'll be interesting to see how GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham fares in his primary. Graham only got 56 percent in his last primary six years ago, but concern about him failing to win a majority has entirely evaporated. Democrat Jaime Harrison faces no primary opponents on his way to a head-to-head with Graham. West Virginia (7:30 p.m. Eastern): The race to watch is the primary challenge to party-switching GOP Gov. Jim Justice, who is facing self-funder Woody Thrasher and other candidates. But Justice also has the backing of President Donald Trump, and national Republicans did not seem worried about Justice's chances. In the right circumstances, this race could be more competitive in November than the state's lopsided presidential results indicate (voters haven't picked a Republican for governor since 1996), so it is worth keeping an eye on who wins the Democratic primary. | | | | HAPPENING TODAY AT 11 a.m. EDT – "INSIDE THE RECOVERY" PART III: PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW WITH NEW JERSEY GOV. PHIL MURPHY: How is the governor from one of the states hit hardest by the pandemic handling concurrent health, economic and social crises? Join POLITICO Playbook co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman for a virtual interview with Governor Phil Murphy (D-NJ) to discuss his state's reopening, how the Garden State is handling protests and unrest, and what New Jersey is looking for from the Trump Administration in the weeks and months ahead. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | WEB WARS — Biden is on a spending bonanza on Facebook, the latest sign that nationwide protests are also a major fundraising moment for some Democrats. Biden's campaign spent $4.9 million on ads on the platform in the last week, I wrote for Pros in my weekly Facebook ad roundup, a dramatic increase from the just under $570,000 he spent in the prior week on the platform. The ads were a mixture of straight fundraising pleas and acquisition emails, hoping to hoover up the contact information for potential supporters (and donors) down the road. "Enough calls for violence. Enough incendiary tweets. We need real leadership, and we need it now," one of the ads from Biden reads, using a photo of Trump holding a bible in front of St. John's Episcopal Church. And it is working: Biden's digital director Rob Flaherty tweeted that 1.2 million new people joined the campaign's email list between June 1-7. THE REELECT — Trump's rallies, the lifeblood of his reelection effort, are coming back real soon. POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reports that Trump is planning on restarting rallies in the next two weeks. However, all the details are not set in stone yet. Alex: "Trump's advisers are still determining where the rallies will take place and what safety measures will be implemented, depending on the type of venue chosen. Campaign manager Brad Parscale is expected to present Trump with possibilities within the next few days." — The Trump campaign is leaning into voters' fears for messaging. The reelect will have an "aggressive focus on voters' perceived fears about crime, China and immigration — invoking parts of their successful 2016 strategy as they try to regain ground lost in recent months," POLITICO's Nancy Cook wrote. THE PROTESTS — Trump tried to tag Biden with the "defund the police" movement. But Biden soundly rejected the movement, and progressives largely held their fire, POLITICO's Natasha Korecki and Holly Otterbein reported. "His campaign noted that Biden already proposed a criminal justice plan calling for $300 million more in funding to police departments in order to cover training, community policing and hiring of more officers, with some minority hiring requirements.While progressives weren't in an uproar over Biden's stance, some were unhappy, calling his reaction rash, short-sighted, and saying he needed to spend more time listening." — White America's reckoning with racism in the country could also be one of the defining issues of the election, POLITICO's Alex Thompson wrote. ON THE AIRWAVES — American Bridge, the Democratic outside group, is going up with a big campaign in a couple swing states. The group announced it'd drop a $20 million, 10-week campaign in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to try to chip off bits of Trump's support among older and rural voters. Two examples of the ads in the campaign have two seniors who said they voted for Trump in 2016 saying they won't back him in 2020 but will support Biden. THE STAFF — Trump is pining to bring back some of the staff from his 2016 victory, POLITICO's Anita Kumar reported, including giving a more prominent role to David Urban and considering rehiring Susie Wiles, who managed his Florida campaign in 2016. | | | |   | | | | | | FIRST IN SCORE — ON THE AIRWAVES — Club for Growth Action is going up with a new ad in Kansas lighting up Marshall for his Kansas Senate run. "He'd like to trick you about betraying President Trump," the ad's narrator says, citing donations Marshall's leadership PAC made to a handful of House Republicans who had wanted to jump ship from Trump as the nominee in 2016, including former Reps. Mia Love (R-Utah) and Mike Coffman (R-Colo.). The ad also tries to tie Marshall to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah). The ad is part of a previously announced $2 million buy in the race. The Club has not formally endorsed anyone in the Kansas Senate primary, but the group has long feuded with Marshall since he successfully primaryed then-Rep. Tim Huelskamp in 2016. The Club had also persistently tried to draw someone who wasn't Marshall into the Kansas Senate race, putting out polling this time last year that showed Matt Schalpp of CPAC fame as a strong candidate while also trying to nudge Secretary of State Mike Pompeo into the race. — LCV Victory Fund announced that it booked $1.5 million of TV airtime in Arizona to oppose Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). The ads will run from June 23-July 15 in Phoenix. DEBATE NIGHT — It took leaving Massachusetts for the Democratic Senate candidates finally to take some big swings at each other. At a debate Monday night in Providence, R.I., Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Joe Kennedy "unleashed their sharpest attacks against one another in an intense debate … each characterizing the other as ineffective," The Boston Globe's Victoria McGrane writes. The debate, which was recorded at WPRI-TV in Providence, also aired on TV stations in Springfield, Mass., and Albany, N.Y. THE HOUSE MAP — Lee, the Nevada House Democrat, lobbied the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration to expand PPP loans to include gambling companies, something they ultimately did. The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay reported that the decision, which "was a major win for the casino industry and for the Nevada economy generally" also directly benefited "Full House Resorts, a casino developer led by chief executive Daniel Lee, Rep. Lee's husband," which secured two loans equaling about $5.6 million. Statement from a Lee spokesperson, in part: "She is not involved in any aspect of Full House's business or decision making." THE PROCESS — In the midst of the pandemic, some municipalities are taking a look at online voting. But election and security experts warn that internet voting just isn't ready for primetime. Pro Cybersecurity's Eric Geller has a deep explainer on the risks security researchers raise, and what the industry says about them. Give it a read! — There were nearly no cases of misuse of mail ballots in three all-mail states in the last two cycles. An analysis from The Washington Post's Elise Viebeck found that, out of the 14.6 million votes cast by mail in Colorado, Oregon and Washington in 2016 and 2018, "officials identified just 372 possible cases of double voting or voting on behalf of deceased people" — which is .0025 percent. The number reflects "cases referred to law enforcement agencies" in those states. — A record number of people have requested mail-in ballots ahead of the June 23 primary in New York. POLITICO New York's Bill Mahoney reports (for Pros) that 916,000 absentee ballots have been requested though May 29, meaning the number is likely much higher by now. Voters have until June 16 to request a ballot. | | | | BECOME A CHINA WATCHER: The U.S.-China relationship has never been more important and deserves better than warmed-over news. Each Thursday, get reliable reporting and insight from leading experts around the globe on the decisions being made in Washington and Beijing today that will shape the future for decades to come. Become a "China Watcher" to see where the U.S.-China relationship is headed before others do. SUBSCRIBE HERE. | | | | | ENDORSEMENT CORNER — Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, the Mike Bloomberg-backed pro-gun control group, is endorsing 11 Democratic Senate candidates and incumbents, James reported (for Pros). One notable endorsement: Sara Gideon in Maine. The group backed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in 2014. THE CASH DASH — Democrat Mondaire Jones, who is running in the blue-leaning, open seat NY-17, announced he raised $295,000 in the pre-primary period, which covers April 1-June 3. He'll report $338,000 in cash on hand. (Reminder that pre-primary reports for the June 23 races are due Thursday!) — The Texas Democratic Party said it raised nearly $2 million during its week-long virtual convention, per The Dallas Morning News' James Barragán. FIRST IN SCORE — DOWN THE BALLOT — The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee , the Democratic party committee focused on state legislative races, announced it was partnering with the National Democratic Training Committee to provide state legislative candidates access to more than 70 online courses on running a campaign. "This partnership ensures state legislative candidates throughout the country have access to our extensive training resources that'll help them win in November," NDTC CEO Kelly Dietrich said in a statement. "With redistricting on the horizon, this year's state legislative races are some of the most consequential in the nation." CODA — "WHERE ARE THEY NOW?" HEADLINE OF THE DAY: "Chris Christie is now a lobbyist" — from POLITICO Influence. | | | | A message from We Can Vote: Do you have a Healthy Voting Plan? Millions of Americans are looking for healthy ways to vote safely & securely during the coronavirus pandemic. That's why we've partnered with public health officials and election administrators to develop a simple guide with all the information you need to make Healthy Voting a priority for you and your community! It's filled with practical information and helpful tips on best practices and the safest ways to cast your ballot in 2020. Check out the Healthy Voting guide for your state and make your Healthy Voting plan today! Learn more: www.healthyvoting.org | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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