We Did it: The primaries to watch in Massachusetts — Trump expected to travel to Kenosha — Census passes 80 percent of households counted

Aug 31, 2020

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Quick Fix

— Tuesday is primary day in Massachusetts, where Democrats in the state have a handful of competitive contests, headlined by the showdown between Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Joe Kennedy.

— President Donald Trump is expected to visit Kenosha, Wis., this week, which has been the site of protests and violence following the police shooting of Jacob Blake last week. Former Vice President Joe Biden is also traveling to Pennsylvania today.

— The Census Bureau announced that it has counted 80 percent of households nationwide, as the agency scrambles to complete its count by the end of September.

Good Monday morning. You can email me at zmontellaro@politico.com and follow me on Twitter at @ZachMontellaro.

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Days until the Massachusetts primary: 1

Days until the New Hampshire and Rhode Island primaries: 8

Days until the Delaware primary: 15

Days until the 2020 election: 64

TopLine

Sen. Ed Markey speaks with protesters in June. | AP Photo

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is facing a primary from Rep. Joe Kennedy on Tuesday. | Steven Senne/AP Photo

WICKED SMAHT — There are no competitive races come November in Massachusetts, but that's because all the action is in Tuesday's Democratic primaries. So put down your Dunkie's and turn off the Sawx game, as we take a duck boat parade of the races to watch.

— MA-Sen: The biggest race on Tuesday is the primary between Markey and Kennedy. A race that was initially seen as Kennedy's to lose (there was even some speculation that Markey may just bow out entirely in the early days) has decisively flipped on its head, with the incumbent in the driver's seat in the runup to Tuesday. Young and liberal voters have rallied around the septuagenarian senator's campaign, with freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) leading the charge for her fellow Green New Deal author, as Kennedy tries to juice up the traditional Kennedy base: the working class, POLITICO's Massachusetts correspondent Stephanie Murray wrote.

"The Markey campaign has spent almost half a million dollars airing an ad that doesn't even feature the candidate. In the 30-second ad, Ocasio-Cortez talks directly to the camera, and it has appeared on Bay State television 1,200 times," Stephanie wrote. Kennedy, who almost tried to shun his family legacy in the early days of the campaign, has also deployed the Camelot mythology much more extensively as of late. And the two have also stepped up criticism of each other, with Kennedy calling Markey supporters online "toxic" and criticizing his record, while Markey has recast himself as a progressive dealmaker torching his challenger, ending a recent video with a twist on JFK's arguably most famous quote: "With all due respect, it's time to start asking what your country can do for you."

— MA-01: The other hotly contested primary is between longtime Democratic Rep. Richie Neal and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, who is running with the backing of Justice Democrats and other progressives. The race was thrown into chaos earlier in the month , when a chapter of college Democrats sent a letter disinviting Morse for events, saying Morse had inappropriate sexual relationships with students. Morse acknowledged having consensual relationship with students but said he didn't abuse his power, and a series of stories from The Intercept reported that some of the students behind the initial letter were Neal supporters and that some high-level operatives in the state had a hand in the letter. Morse has since called it a homophobic smear campaign (Morse is gay). The final sprint in the race has focused on the issues and not the allegations, The Boston Globe's Brian MacQuarrie wrote. The race has also attracted a good amount of outside spending from the labor-backed, pro-Neal American Working Families and the American Hospital Association PAC, with pro-Morse groups including Justice Democrats and Fight Corporate Monopolies also spending big.

— MA-04: There's an absolutely packed primary to succeed Kennedy, with nine candidates on the ballot in the district catching some of Boston's suburbs. Whoever emerges will likely only have a small margin of victory, with no runoff rules in the state. This sets up a dynamic not dissimilar to how now-freshman Rep. Lori Trahan won her open-seat primary in MA-03 in 2018, with just under 22 percent of the vote. Three candidates have gotten significant outside spending in their corner: EMILY's List independent expenditure arm has spent big for Jesse Mermell; Jake Auchincloss has benefitted from spending from Experienced Leadership Matters PAC, which is funded in part by VoteVets; and the pop-up super PAC Unite to Win has gotten behind Alan Khazei, who twice ran statewide last decade. The Boston Globe's Matt Stout has more.

— MA-08: There's been a very under-the-radar primary between Rep. Stephen Lynch and Robbie Goldstein in the district. Goldstein, a doctor, is running to try to knock off one of the more-moderate members of the House Democratic caucus. Neither has spent all that much, and there's been little outside spending in the district.

Presidential Big Board

ON THE TRAIL — Trump is expected to visit Kenosha on Tuesday, about a week after a police officer in the city shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, sparking protests and violence in the city. Biden is not expected to visit the city on Monday, however. The New York Times reported earlier in the weekend that Biden was planning a visit to the city on Monday, but POLITICO's Natasha Korecki reported that that is not the case. The thinking, according to Natash'a sources, "is that Trump's trip to Kenosha could backfire on the president." Instead, Biden will be in southwestern Pennsylvania. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Bill Glauber and Ricardo Torres have more from Kenosha.

— The travel will mark a new phase for both campaigns — but especially Biden, who has largely stayed in Delaware. "Biden plans to break his months-long hold on travel to swing states in the coming weeks, with stops expected initially in Wisconsin and Michigan in addition to Pennsylvania. He's also looking to appear in Minnesota and Arizona soon," Natasha and Chris Cadelago wrote . "But even as he and his running mate Kamala Harris cautiously plot a return to the road — a trip to Wisconsin could come as soon as later this week — some Democrats are expressing frustration that the ticket declined to visit Kenosha in the immediate aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting. Some party members were already irritated that Biden did not give his convention speech in Milwaukee last week."

JUST SUPER — A new Republican super PAC is hitting the scene. POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reports that Preserve America is set to launch a $30 million advertising blitz, with the backing of Sheldon Adelson and Bernie Marcus. The group will be helmed by Chris LaCivita.

CONVENTION REMNANTS — Three New York City tenants who appeared in a video that aired last Thursday during the Republican convention weren't told their interview would be for that, The New York Times' Matthew Haag reported. The Times: "The four tenants in the public housing video were all interviewed on Friday by The New York Times. Three said they opposed President Trump and were misled about the video. The fourth, reached late Friday night, said she was a Trump backer and knew the purpose of the video."

THE LEFT COAST — Republicans piled on to California at the convention, and don't expect that to end anytime soon. "It is Trump himself who has repeatedly thrown red meat to his base with an anti-California strategy that Republicans believe resonates in swing states that don't identify with blue coastal regions and wealthy young Silicon Valley elite," POLITICO California's Carla Marinucci wrote.

Down the Ballot

COUNTING HEADS — The Census Bureau announced on Friday that over 80 percent of American households have been enumerated, as the agency scrambles to finish the count by the end of September, abandoning an earlier request to extend various deadlines due to the pandemic. (As of Saturday, 81.7 percent of households have been counted: 64.9 percent via self-response, and 16.9 percent from nonresponse followup.)

The last-minute walk back from the requested extension isn't just shortening the time period for the actual count. "After counting is set to end on Sept. 30, the bureau has about three months to process all of the information it's gathered this year for the once-a-decade, constitutionally mandated head count," NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reported. "But the last-minute schedule changes the Trump administration directed the bureau to make have left the agency's staff scrambling to decide what quality checks to trim or toss out."

ONE HAPPY CAUCUS — Even as every wing of the Democratic party works to elect Biden, there's a turf war bubbling underneath the surface. "Progressives have been frustrated by the limits of their political capital — feelings that were exacerbated by what unfolded during the Democratic convention and afterward," POLITICO's Laura Barrón-López and Holly Otterbein wrote. "Some Democrats argue that Biden could be an ideal mediator between the two sides as the Democratic establishment finds itself staring down an ascendant left. Instead of stymieing them, some progressives think he could end up repackaging progressive policies as palatable solutions on issues ranging from climate change to police reform."

BOOKING TIME — House Majority PAC, the major Democratic super PAC focused on the House, is booking an additional $11 million across 17 markets, pushing their total to $86 million, Campaign Pro's Ally Mutnick reported. More: "Among the new reservations: $1 million in the Cincinnati market where Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) faces a well-funded challenge from Democrat Kate Schroder; $1.3 million in St. Louis, a buy that could target Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) as well as Rodney Davis (R-Ill.); and $1 million in the Indianapolis market, which covers an open seat vacated by retiring Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.)."

AD WARS — Aren't the weekends supposed to be a break from new creative? Nevertheless, here's some new ones.

— AK-Sen: GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is out with an ad with a man praising Sullivan for bringing money to the state for infrastructure.

— AZ-Sen: GOP Sen. Martha McSally is out with a pair of ads attacking Democrat Mark Kelly. One ad has a used car salesman saying Kelly will do "anything for a buck" and a second ad strikes a similar theme (minus the used car salesman). A third ad has a woman praising McSally over drug prices.

— KS-Sen: One Nation, the GOP nonprofit, is out with an ad praising GOP Rep. Roger Marshall. The ad seeks to (favorably) tie Marshall to retiring GOP Sen. Pat Roberts over taxes.

— KY-Sen: Ad ad from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a local Democratic sheriff praising him. "Amy McGrath deserves our honor and respect for her service to our country," the sheriff says in the ad. "[But] we don't need a freshman senator right now. We need McConnell." The ad ends with a shot of McConnell and the sheriffs in masks. An ad from McGrath attacks McConnell over health care, pulling up a 1990 McConnell ad on health care and attacking him.

— ME-Sen: GOP Sen. Susan Collins is out with an ad, with a man praising her over preexisting conditions. The end shot of the ad has Collins and the family all wearing masks.

— IA-01: Freshman Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer is out with an ad talking about drug pricing.

— IA-03: Former GOP Rep. David Young is out with an ad tying freshman Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over health care, saying their plan could close rural hospitals.

— KY-06: Democrat Josh Hicks is out with an ad, saying "I'm sick and tired of seeing wall street and wealthy corporations buy our politicians."

— NY-22: Freshman Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi is out with an ad highlighting his work over veteran suicide prevention.

— NY-24: Democrat Dana Balter is out with a new ad highlighting Biden's endorsement of her, while attacking GOP Rep. John Katko on health care.

— OK-05: WFW Action Fund, a group supporting Republican women, is out with an ad promoting Republican Stephanie Bice, calling her an "effective conservative who gets the job done."

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I describe her as an iron fist in [a] cashmere glove." — Former Biden aide Margaret Aitken, describing Biden's sister Valerie Biden Owens to The Washington Post.

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