| | | | | |  | | By Stephanie Murray | Presented by Babbel | Editor's Note: Weekly Score is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Campaigns policy newsletter, Morning Score. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that 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. | | | — California voters will decide whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom tomorrow. Here are five things to know. — Democratic candidates are knocking on doors again, bringing back the old-school, in-person campaign practice they abandoned in 2020 due to the pandemic. — Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is up for reelection in 2022, but he's spending time out of state ahead of a possible 2024 bid for president. Good Monday morning. Email me at smurray@politico.com, and follow me on Twitter at @stephanie_murr. Email the rest of the POLITICO Campaigns team at sshepard@politico.com, zmontellaro@politico.com and amutnick@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @POLITICO_Steve, @ZachMontellaro and @allymutnick. Days until the California recall: 1 Days until the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections, the OH-11 and OH-15 special elections and the FL-20 special primary: 50 Days until the 2022 midterm elections: 421 Days until the 2024 election: 1,149 | | | | A message from Babbel: Speak a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel Live. Meet Babbel Live - subscription-based live online classes limited to six students. You'll be able to interact with other students at your level and get instant feedback on your grammar and pronunciation from top teachers. Plus, you'll get full access to the award-winning Babbel App, which offers multiple ways to learn including podcasts, games and more. Sign up now to get 65% off. | | | | | | GOING BACK TO CALI — President Joe Biden is headed to California today, where Newsom is on the defensive against a Republican-backed recall effort. The election is Tuesday, but millions of Californians have already voted. Here are five things to know about the California recall. Polls indicate the recall will fail. Voters must answer two questions: Should Newsom be recalled, and if so, who should replace him? Fifty-six percent of voters say Newsom should remain in office, according to the FiveThirtyEight average, while 42 percent say he should be removed. The numbers have moved in Newsom's favor this summer. Democrats had worried liberal disinterest in the recall would allow engaged Republican voters to punch above their weight. But the polls are not all good for Democrats, according to POLITICO's Steve Shepard. Biden's approval rating has crashed, which could spell trouble for Democrats in 2022. Biden is hitting the trail anyway. The president is headed to Long Beach to campaign with Newsom today, days after Vice President Kamala Harris stumped for the governor and former President Barack Obama cut a pro-Newsom recall ad. Biden's visit is part of a swing through three states Monday, and will be his first California trip as president, the Los Angeles Times' Eli Stokols wrote. The appearance will mark the president's second high-profile campaign appearance since taking the White House. Biden rallied for former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe in July, POLITICO's Chris Cadelago and Zach Montellaro reported. | 
Voters will decide whether to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. | Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP Photo | Republicans are using Trump's 2020 playbook. Conservative frontrunner Larry Elder has not said whether he'll accept the recall election results, ABC's Lalee Ibssa reported, and has a place on his website for voters to report any election fraud. Plus, former President Donald Trump said last week the recall is " probably rigged." If Republicans challenge the election, it could lengthen the timeline to finalize the results, and function as a continuation of baseless claims about last year's election. It's been really expensive. Newsom has spent more on the recall than he did on his 2018 campaign, The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher reported. The Democratic governor raised more than $70 million, much of it from mega donors like Netflix executive Reed Hastings, and interest groups like labor unions. Newsom used the cash to outspend Republican rivals on TV. But for all the cash that flowed into the recall, it is still less than last year's ballot campaign over independent contractors, which drew heavy spending from Uber and Lyft. A whopping 7.8 million people already voted. Democrats who have returned mail-in ballots outnumber Republicans so far. According to Political Data Intelligence's special election tracker, 52 percent of ballots returned were sent by Democrats, 25 percent were sent by Republicans and 23 percent were mailed by independent voters. The election could also signal a shift in how California votes, writes The New York Times' Jill Cowan. More than a third of registered California voters cast ballots by Saturday, meaning the highest-turnout day of the election might have already happened. | | | GROUND GAME — Democrats are knocking on doors in California, New Jersey and Virginia — key states where they have gubernatorial elections this fall. It's a shift from the last election cycle, when concerns over the coronavirus landed field organizers on the sidelines, POLITICO's Zach Montellaro and David Siders reported. "We don't have the luxury to not knock on doors, because these elections are going to be decided on turnout," Virginia Democratic state Del. Elizabeth Guzman told David and Zach. The return to in-person campaigning comes as cases of the virus surge, although vaccination rates are on the rise. NOTABLE FLOATABLES — Colorado Republican Heidi Ganahl is making an "announcement" on Tuesday, although it's not clear whether she will launch a campaign for governor or another office, Colorado Politics' Joey Bunch and Ernest Luning wrote. Ganahl, who was elected statewide to serve on the University of Colorado Board of Regents, has been floated as a potential challenger to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, or even Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). SHOW ME THE MONEY — Fourteen Democratic chief state election officials signed on to a letter urging Congress to allocate $20 billion over the next decade for election funding, Zach writes in. "This funding would give local and state election offices the ability to replace outdated equipment, upgrade voter registration and election management systems, invest in physical, technological, and security infrastructure, and other essential needs," they write in the letter , circulated by the Center for Tech and Civic Life. Election funding was a big topic of discussion at the National Association of Secretaries of State meeting last month, and some were disappointed when election funding was absent from the outline of the massive reconciliation package. ON THE AIRWAVES — The conservative Club for Growth aired a negative ad against former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, slamming him as a "disloyal, liberal, loser," The Charlotte Observer's Brian Murphy reported. McCrory is running in the GOP Senate primary against Rep. Ted Budd, who was endorsed by the Club for Growth and Trump. The $35,000 ad aired in the Charlotte TV market during the Panthers victory over the Jets in the NFL season opener on Sunday. The club has aired three television ads on Budd's behalf, and pledged to spend $5 million to support him. PAC ATTACK — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is part of a new super PAC targeting "the most dangerous Republicans in Congress," The Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Brennan wrote. Rendell is chair of the advisory committee for Never Again, and is throwing punches at the 147 House lawmakers who objected to the election certification in January, who he referred to as the "Treason Caucus." Rendell is targeting Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), among others. — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's leadership PAC is raising cash with Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, CNN's Melanie Zanona, Manu Raju and Alex Rogers reported. McCarthy's Take Back the House 2022 committee has raised funds with Reps. David Valadao of California, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, John Katko of New York, and Fred Upton and Peter Meijer of Michigan. The move could put McCarthy at odds with Trump, who has endorsed primary challengers against some Republicans who voted for impeachment. EVERYTHING'S BIGGER IN TEXAS — The group of quorum-breaking Texas Democrats fell apart last month, after spending weeks in Washington to block a Republican-backed elections bill, the Texas Tribune's Patrick Svitek and Cassandra Pollock reported. Fractures in the group emerged after GOP Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special session to pass the bill, and the Democrats avoiding Austin were split on how to proceed. Some lawmakers returned to the capitol in Austin, ending the quorum break and causing feelings of betrayal inside the party. | | | |   | | | STAFFING UP — Harriet Hageman, the Wyoming Republican challenging Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), is staffing her congressional campaign with former Trump aides. The ex-president endorsed Hageman's campaign against one of his top political enemies, and the primary race will be a key test of his post-White House power, POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reported. Hageman's campaign is led by the consulting firm National Public Affairs, which is run by Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and other 2020 campaign officials. Former Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh's firm, Line Drive Public Affairs, is also working for the campaign. Hageman is also getting an outside boost from Wyoming Values PAC, which counts Donald Trump Jr. as an honorary chair and is led by Trump allies Andy Surabian and James Blair. — Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) hired Lou Grossman to serve as senior adviser on seniors outreach for his bid for governor. Grossman worked as seniors vote director for Biden's campaign in Florida. THE PROCESS — A new report based on a canvass of Maricopa County voters claimed that there were issues with the 2020 election, but the report "failed to include any way to verify its dubious findings, and the only two specific examples it provided of alleged ballot problems were swiftly debunked," the Arizona Republic's Ray Stern wrote. Regardless, Maricopa County officials said they would try to investigate any claims of voter fraud, even after slamming the report. — An attorney for Wisconsin state lawmakers is conducting interviews related to the 2020 election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley reported. Republicans have retained Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to conduct an election review in the state that Biden won by less than a percentage point. Gableman is facing criticism from Democrats and Republicans for conducting the interviews in secret. It's not clear whether Gableman will issue subpoenas as part of the probe, or whether GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will sign them. THE GARDEN STATE — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is clashing with Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli over gun control, saying the GOP nominee should go be governor of "Florida, or Texas, or South Carolina" instead of running in New Jersey. Ciattarelli has proposed expanding concealed carry in some instances, like for real estate agents, POLITICO's Daniel Han reported, and pledged to repeal a Murphy-signed magazine capacity restriction. THE MAP LINES — Virginia's redistricting commission is considering how incumbents should factor into the state's new political maps, the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Mel Leonor reported. Democratic state Sen. George Barker, a member of the commission, proposed adjusting the legislative map to keep him in the district he's represented for 14 years. The request set off a debate about gerrymandering and incumbent protections. | | | FLORIDA MAN — DeSantis is balancing his 2022 reelection bid with possible presidential aspirations, POLITICO's Marc Caputo and Gary Fineout wrote. DeSantis would be an early favorite in the 2024 GOP primary if Trump does not run again, and has been to a number of events with fellow possible candidates. The popular governor traveled out of state at least a dozen times this year, including trips to Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kentucky and even the southern border in Texas. For his part, DeSantis has swatted away questions about 2024, and "has intentionally avoided setting foot in early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire." CODA — HEADLINE OF THE DAY — "GOP lawmaker who refused to follow mask mandate while flying says she can't get to the Alaskan capital" — The Washington Post | | | | A message from Babbel: Take live online classes with world-class language teachers
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