WITH MILLIONS STILL UNEMPLOYED, MCCONNELL & SENATE GOP LET EMERGENCY RELIEF RUN OUT — SAYING IT WAS “THE REASONABLE THING TO DO.” Senate Republicans had months to extend the expiring emergency unemployment relief that has been a lifeline for millions of hardworking Americans, but Mitch McConnell wanted to take a “pause.” Now, a nonpartisan report out this week revealed that “U.S. hiring slowed dramatically in July” as coronavirus cases surged across the country. Despite the alarming report, Senate Republicans have defended their inaction, saying it was “the reasonable thing to do” while still actively fighting to cut emergency unemployment relief even as experts largely agree that “getting rid of extended jobless benefits would come with a big economic hit.” Now, Senate Republicans are taking *another* long weekend and leaving millions of Americans without a lifeline they depend on to make ends meet. Read the timeline of how GOP senators knowingly caused this crisis over the past few months.
*4* RECENT #SCSEN POLLS SHOW JAIME HARRISON NECK-AND-NECK WITH LINDSEY GRAHAM. Four polls in the last 10 days have shown that “South Carolina’s 2020 U.S. Senate race is neck-and-neck” – including two nonpartisan public polls from Quinnipiac University and Morning Consult. The latest poll out yesterday from Quinnipiac shows “a tie” and “the numbers suggest [Graham’s] tenure on the Hill is in trouble.” The polling data is just the latest sign of Jaime’s momentum after he has shattered fundraising records thanks to his grassroots “small-donor army,” raising a historic $14 million in Q2 and outraising Graham in the past two quarters.
DSCC MAKES SEVEN-FIGURE INVESTMENT IN TEXAS AS POLLS CONFIRM CORNYN-HEGAR RACE IS A DEAD HEAT. The DSCC is making a historic seven-figure coordinated investment in Texas as new data confirms MJ Hegar has made the Texas Senate race competitive. A poll conducted for the DSCC found MJ down just one point to Senator John Cornyn, a vulnerable three-term incumbent who is well under 50% support and getting mixed reviews from voters; and Morning Consult released its own poll that found a single-digit race. The DSCC’s historic investment will include spending on TV advertising, polling, field organizing and data support, and other resources. Read more here.
“THE GOP TRAINWRECK IN KANSAS WON’T END”: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT #KSSEN. After a long, messy, divisive, and expensive primary, the “trainwreck in Kansas” has not ended for Republicans. Here’s what you need to know this week as we enter the general election:
ICYMI — see for yourself what Republicans have to say about their Kansas nominee:
600 DAYS OF DODGING: SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS *STILL* WON’T TELL MAINERS IF SHE’S VOTING FOR TRUMP. Nothing in this world is certain but death, taxes, and Susan Collins refusing to be honest with Mainers about whether she supports President Trump’s re-election in 2020. The vulnerable incumbent kept up her 600-day streak of dodging questions about her support for Trump yesterday in a Fox News Radio interview. When asked whether she believes Trump deserves a second term in the White House, Collins ducked the question yet again, saying that she’s “tried to stay out of presidential politics.” Unfortunately for Senator Collins, she can’t hide her record of supporting Trump’s agenda in Washington: she’s voted with Trump 94% of the time in the past, including her support for the GOP tax law, acquitting the president during impeachment, and confirming dozens of anti-choice federal judges.
“THE SENATE IS LEANING TOWARDS DEMOCRATS”: NEW ANALYSIS UPGRADES DEMS IN RACE FOR SENATE CONTROL. New analysis this past week from NPR, CNN, and the Washington Post found that that Democrats’ chances of flipping the Senate have “increased over the last few months,” making them “clearer favorites to take back Congress’ upper chamber.” Republican strategists are admitting that, “Senate is leaning towards Democrats” and even acknowledging that GOP incumbents are most “likely to lose in Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina” and they are also increasingly concerned about other battlegrounds including Georgia, Iowa, Montana, Texas, and Kansas. The bottom line: strong Democratic candidates have expanded the map, forced Republicans on defense in more and more GOP-held seats, and broadened the number of paths to flipping the Senate.
SLF DOUBLES DOWN ON 100% DEFENSIVE SPENDING IN PREVIOUSLY SAFE SEATS. Further proof that Republicans are playing major defense this cycle: the Mitch McConnell-aligned Super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, announced an “earlier-than-expected” $21 million August ad blitz that’s entirely defensive. Republicans have been forced to pour money into five GOP-held battleground seats that are all trending toward Democrats. And 80% of their latest investment is in Iowa, Montana, and Georgia -– three states that Republicans didn’t anticipate being competitive at the beginning of the cycle. It’s just the latest piece of evidence that Republicans have been forced to rescue their weak class of incumbents.
RATINGS CHANGE: ANOTHER RACE RATER MOVES #IASEN TO TOSS UP. This week Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball moved the Iowa Senate race rating to “Toss-Up” –– a recognition of the strong campaign that Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield is running, the GOP’s growing outside spending in the race, and the fact that vulnerable Senator Joni Ernst, “like McSally and Tillis, appears to be doing a little worse than Trump in her state.” Greenfield has been breaking Iowa records for a Senate challenger all cycle, outraising Ernst by a wide margin in Q2 and narrowly leading in a slew of polls of the general election.
PERDUE JOINS LIST OF MOST VULNERABLE INCUMBENTS. Senator David Perdue joined Roll Call’s list of 2020’s most vulnerable senators this week as he faces “an increasingly competitive Senate and presidential battleground” in Georgia. Roll Call’s addition of Perdue to its top 10 most vulnerable incumbents list comes as multiple other political forecasters have shifted the race towards Democrats after Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff’s “clear win” in the June primary, in which Democrats outvoted Republicans for the first time in over a decade. Perdue wasn’t wrong when he warned this year that “the state of Georgia is in play. The Democrats made it that way.”
HICKENLOOPER, CUNNINGHAM POST EYE-POPPING JULY FUNDRAISING NUMBERS. The grassroots momentum keeps growing in Colorado and North Carolina, where former Governor John Hickenlooper and Army veteran Cal Cunningham announced eye-popping fundraising numbers for the month of July:
WNBA PLAYERS URGE “VOTE WARNOCK.” WNBA players from across the league — including the Atlanta Dream team co-owned by Senator Kelly Loeffler — made a powerful statement this week, wearing “Vote Warnock” t-shirts to their games in a show of support for Reverend Raphael Warnock and as a direct response to Loeffler’s attacks on the social justice and Black Lives Matter movements taking place across the country. In the 48 hours following the public show of support, Reverend Warnock’s campaign raised over $183,000 in online donations, bringing in 3,500 new small dollar donors.
DSCC & DPG FILE LAWSUIT CHALLENGING GEORGIA’S LACK OF POLLING PLACES & ELECTION RESOURCES. The DSCC, the Democratic Party of Georgia, and local voters filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Secretary of State and county governments that administer elections to address the long lines that have plagued elections – including the June 9th primary that was called a “complete meltdown” – and threaten to disenfranchise voters in November. Read more about the lawsuit here.
IN THE STATES
AL – AL.com: Tuberville was paid $5 million to quit. Now he says $600 is too much for you.
GA – WSAV: Anniversary of Voting Rights Act, Warnock calls for Senate to pass bill named for John Lewis
GA – Washington Post: A WNBA owner dismissed player protests. Now they’re campaigning for her Senate opponent.
GA – Forbes: Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler Defends TV Host Accused Of Ties To White Supremacy
IA – Iowa Starting Line: How Ernst’s COVID Messaging Has Echoed Trump’s
IA – Des Moines Register: Theresa Greenfield’s campaign gets $132,000 fundraising boost after dog, Ringo, goes viral
KY – Louisville Courier-Journal (Opinion): Amy McGrath: McConnell’s latest COVID-19 relief bill shows he wants to make it hard for people to vote
ME – Bangor Daily News (Opinion): Why Susan Collins’ evasion on support for Trump is problematic
ME – Portland Press Herald/ProPublica: How Susan Collins was lobbied to write the PPP exception that benefited hotel chains
MI – Detroit Free Press: Sen. Gary Peters opens investigation into USPS cuts, wants feedback on service
MI – Salon: Michigan GOP candidate who downplayed ties to DeVos hires her niece after getting $1M cash infusion
MT – Salon: GOP senator took donations from drug companies who benefited from his vaccine bills
NC – The Daily Beast: Thom Tillis Wanted to Kill Obamacare. Now He’s Plagiarizing It.
SC – WACH: Harrison: “I think Lindsey Graham is scared”
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Stewart Boss
Helen Kalla
Shea Necheles
Regina Anderson
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