— The fight over Georgia's election laws has moved well beyond the typical political arena, foreshadowing a battle that could spread into other states over the next year. — The Justice Democrats are endorsing a primary challenger to Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), their first primary endorsement of the cycle. — President Donald Trump's campaign returned tens-of-millions worth of donations to grassroots supporters, including some who said they unwittingly signed up for recurring contributions at varying frequencies, The New York Times reported. Good Monday morning. The Mets are starting their season today, so today is the real Opening Day as far as I'm concerned. Email me at zmontellaro@politico.com, and follow me on Twitter at @ZachMontellaro. Email the rest of the POLITICO Campaigns team at sshepard@politico.com, jarkin@politico.com and amutnick@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @POLITICO_Steve, @JamesArkin and @allymutnick. Days until the LA-02 special election runoff: 19 Days until the TX-06 special election: 26 Days until the NM-01 special election: 57 Days until the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections and OH-11 special election: 211 Days until the 2022 midterm elections: 582 Days until the 2024 election: 1,310 |
ON MY MIND — The fight over Georgia's election laws are just beginning, putting the Peach State squarely at the heart of a battle that will stretch across the country. The clash over SB 202, which was signed into law late last month by Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, has expanded dramatically from one confined to the political sphere to one that is cultural and corporate, POLITICO's Nolan McCaskill reports from Atlanta (with backup from yours truly in D.C.). "We are the test once again for what happens and where this leads us down the road," Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, a Democratic Fulton County commissioner, told Nolan and I. This is especially true as more states consider narrowing access to the ballot box (The New York Times' Nick Corasaniti and Reid Epstein have a good breakdown of what is actually in Georgia law), and corporations speak out against the law, to backlash within and outside the state. MLB announced on Friday that it would be moving its All-Star Game out of Georgia in response to SB 202, shortly after President Joe Biden said he'd support such a move. It was met by a real mixed bag of reactions across the country and state: Many national Democrats cheered the move, but those in Georgia were tepid about it; Stacey Abrams, who earlier had urged companies not to boycott Georgia in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein, said she was "disappointed" the league was moving the game but commended the players and league for "speaking out" against the law. "Georgians targeted by voter suppression will be hurt as opportunities go to other states," she said in a statement. (This is not a new stance for Abrams: She also urged Hollywood to not boycott the state after her 2018 election loss.) The decision from MLB exemplifies Abrams' (and others) thinking: a top tourism official in Cobb County, Ga., told CNN's Natasha Chen, Melissa Alonso and Alaa Elassar that moving the Midsummer Classic could cost the state $100 million in revenue. Trump then called for conservatives to boycott baseball and other companies that spoke out against the law, including Delta and Coca-Cola, two prominent Georgia mainstays. In doing so, he connected his boycott to his lie that the election was stolen from him, falsely claiming there was "massive fraud" in the 2020 election in a series of statements his office blasted out over the weekend. Kemp similarly compared baseball's move to "cancel culture," saying "woke political activists are coming for every aspect of your life." But Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan took a different route: He said he was "extremely disappointed" in MLB's decision. But Duncan continues to say "the fallout from the post-election misinformation campaign led by [Trump] continues to manifest itself and divide our nation," and that there was misinformation around SB 202 as well. This is the among the first, but not the last, time that corporations have started to speak out about election laws. A group of hundreds of business executives signed on to a statement from the Civic Alliance saying "there are hundreds of bills threatening to make voting more difficult in dozens of states nationwide," with CEOs from companies like Microsoft, Dow Chemical and Salesforce signed on. Another state to watch: Texas, where in-state companies American Airlines and Dell spoke out against specific pieces of legislation moving in Austin, The Texas Tribune's Alexa Ura wrote. |
PRIMARY PROBLEMS — The Justice Democrats, the progressive group that helped power now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 's (D-N.Y.) 2018 bid, is backing a primary challenger to Cooper, a Blue Dog Democrat from Tennessee, POLITICO's Holly Otterbein writes in to Score. The group is supporting Odessa Kelly, a progressive activist in Nashville, their first primary challenger endorsement of the cycle. "As someone who has spent her life as a public servant and a community organizer, Odessa Kelly is exactly the kind of Democrat we need in Congress," Justice Democrats executive director Alexandra Rojas said in a statement. — Some battleground House Democrats are fretting about $5,000 donations they received from Ocasio-Cortez. POLITICO's Sarah Ferris, Ally Mutnick and Olivia Beavers reported that the New York progressive sent cash to battleground Democrats, which caught some by surprise who may want to avoid an AOC donation showing up in ads. DCCC aides gave lawmakers' wire transfer information to Ocasio-Cortez's aides without the approval of more senior officials, the POLITICO trio reported. Some were grateful for the cash, but at least a few indicated they declined the money or would send it back. MAYBE? MAYBE NOT? — Democrats looking for a top challenger to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and some have zeroed in on former Rep. Beto O'Rourke. But for a few hours on Friday, it looked like O'Rourke was closing the door on a possible campaign. "I've got no plans to run and I am very focused on the things that I am lucky enough to do right now," he told KXAS's Julie Fine and the Dallas Morning News' Gromer Jeffers Jr. Within a couple of hours, he clarified his intentions in a statement to DMN . "What I said today is what I've been saying for months: I'm not currently considering a run for office," the former presidential candidate said. "Nothing's changed and nothing I said would preclude me from considering a run in the future." In the original interview, O'Rourke mentioned two other Democrats as potential strong candidates: Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, remains coy on if she'll run for reelection next year. "My plate's pretty full right now," Ivey said on Friday, per WIAT's Peter Curi. "It's just not time to make that decision known." If she does run, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, also a Republican, said he wouldn't challenge her for the nomination in an interview with WIAT. FIRST IN SCORE — THE CASH DASH — The Republican State Leadership Committee, the party committee that focuses on legislative and other downballot races, announced that it and an affiliated nonprofit raised $4.2 million in the first quarter of the year. The committee said that the haul represents an off-year, first quarter record, boosted by a digital program that saw about 11,700 new donors added in the quarter. — FIRST IN SCORE — Democrat Shontel Brown, who's running in the OH-11 special election, raised $640,000 in the first quarter of 2021, Holly writes in. That's a significant uptick from the $40,000 that she reported bringing in at the end of last year. But she's up against steep competition: An aide for Nina Turner, Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) former campaign co-chair who is also vying for the seat, said in February that she had raised more than $1 million. Turner hasn't yet made public her first-quarter haul. Brown's team tells us she has upwards of $550,000 on hand. OLD DOMINION — The May 8 firehouse primary, or "unassembled convention," to decide the Virginia GOP nomination for governor has made the race mainly about process, The Washington Post's Laura Vozzella reported: "Some rank-and-file Republicans, a former Republican congressman and one contender for governor have publicly complained the whole thing has been rigged to favor one candidate or another. Most of the finger-pointing has been at candidate Pete Snyder, whose team pushed for a nominating convention over a primary. But Snyder, who has made 'election integrity' a top campaign issue, has said he has no need to tilt the playing field." REPUBLICAN TEN-SION — Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) may arguably be public enemy number one in Trumpworld. And she's secured some early victories over allies of the former president, POLITICO's Melanie Zanona writes . "Cheney has a healthy amount of convincing to do, with Republicans still largely in Trump's corner," Mel writes. "For now, though, Cheney has her leadership job sewn up, which has enabled her to focus on countering President Joe Biden and winning back the House majority." THANKS, BUT NO THANKS — Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) is ruling out a 2022 statewide run, with open primaries in both the Senate and gubernatorial race. "I appreciate those supporters who reached out to me over the last few months to ask me to run. But as I told them, this is just not the right time for a statewide campaign for my family," Boyle told The Hill's Al Weaver in a statement. GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD — A super PAC backing Democrat Shaun Donovan in the New York City mayoral primary is set to hit the airwaves in the city with TV ads, POLITICO New York's Joe Anuta reported (for Pros). The super PAC, New Start NYC, got $1 million in funding from Donovan's father, Michael. — Democrat Andrew Yang is one of the nation's most prominent Asian American politicians. POLITICO's Tina Nguyen has a great story about how Yang navigates identity both on the trail and as an individual. STAFFING UP — Left Hook, a prominent Democratic consulting firm, is launching a new public affairs practice and a fellowship program to increase diversity among consultants, POLITICO Campaigns' James Arkin reported. Shripal Shah, who was most recently a VP at American Bridge, will be a partner and leading the new division. |
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