DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: “ALL-OUT BRAWL” IN THE BUCKEYE STATE, CARPETBAGGER CHAOS CONTINUES & KARI LAKE’S LOUSY WEEK

💥🤺“ALL-OUT BRAWL” IN THE BUCKEYE STATE →  New reporting from POLITICO highlights that “the Buckeye State is home to a bruising intraparty fight, one that Republicans worry could produce lasting damage to the eventual nominee.” Read more:

• The Republican Senate primary in Ohio has turned nasty, negative and chaotic. A three-way contest…has become an all-out brawl in the final leg of the race.

• Despite the GOP’s best efforts to avoid it, for the second straight election cycle the Buckeye State is home to a bruising intraparty fight, one that Republicans worry could produce lasting damage to the eventual nominee and threaten their chances.

• “It’s pretty ugly. Unfortunately, we’re at a phase where there’s a lot of negative advertising. I think, obviously, that will eventually harm the nominee,” said Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). “The more negative dollars you spend attacking each other, the more it makes it harder.”
   
• The National Republican Senatorial Committee and its chair, Steve Daines (R-Mont.), urged each of the three campaigns to refrain from going negative until they felt it was absolutely necessary, according to a person familiar with their strategy.  But now, the bloodbath has arrived. Republicans are watching anxiously.

• As the primary enters its most brutal phase, the frustration is palpable. At times, it’s hard to keep track of the attacks, which have Republicans back in D.C. wincing. The airwaves are swamped with negative disses.

🏠💰 CARPETBAGGER CHAOS → New reports continued highlighting that Republican Senate candidates are facing scrutiny for their financial vulnerabilities and lack of connection to the states they’re running in. See for yourself: 

• Axios: Democrats attack Senate GOP’s wealthy “carpetbagger” candidates. “Several top GOP candidates for Senate share a vulnerability…million-dollar homes outside of the states they’re running in. ‘Carpetbagger’ attacks can be potent” and a “clear vulnerability.”
  
  
• The Washington Post: Democrats highlight GOP Senate candidates’ out-of-state ties. “Senate Democrats…found a major weakness in five battleground races that will decide control of the Senate: Out-of-state carpetbaggers. Republicans…have recruited wealthy candidates in Wisconsin, Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada. These wealthy candidates often own multiple homes, multiple businesses and the means to live wherever they’d like — including out of state.” 

🗓️ LAKE’S LOUSY WEEK →

• 🪶 BIRDS OF A FEATHER → The Arizona Republic reported that “Lake received $15,000 to speak to the True Texas Project, an organization labeled an extremist, anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.” The group “drew national scrutiny for social media remarks after a 2019 massacre of Latinos that blamed the bloodshed on mass immigration, not the gunman.”

• 🤦‍♀️ “FACEPLANTED” → MSNBC reported that Lake “faceplanted when Arizona’s Supreme Court declined her request to toss a defamation lawsuit filed against her.” The court case is “one of the ways that voters in Maricopa, the state’s most populous county, could be reminded of Lake’s assault on their voting system.” 

• 🎞️ ROLL THE (LAKE) TAPE → In a CNN interview over the weekend, Lake claimed that the 2020 election was “rigged” and there were “major problems” in her 2022 loss, even as “GOP leaders urge her to look forward.” Check out AZ Dems’ latest Lake Tape showcasing her statements.
  
  
• ☠️ SO MUCH FOR “LOOKING FORWARD,” LAKE TAKES ELECTION DENIALISM CASE TO SCOTUS→ Lake announced that she is appealing her election fraud case to the United States Supreme Court. In response, DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle issued the following statement: “Kari Lake will do anything to get ahead on her power-hungry campaign to boost her own political ambitions. Despite national Republicans begging her to stop, Lake can’t help but show why she is despised by Republicans in Arizona and across the country: she is an election loser who puts her baseless, self-serving political fights ahead of Arizonans every single day.”

🚨🚨REVOLVING DOOR ROGERS MAKES THE FRONT PAGE → A bombshell report from The Detroit News revealed that “Rogers has made criticizing China a centerpiece of his campaign for the Senate, but the GOP candidate and his wife have gained hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth through companies that have partnered with Chinese firms” 

💥🤺 IT’S GETTING MESSIER IN MICHIGAN → Donald Trump continues to wreak havoc on Michigan’s GOP Senate primary. When Trump endorsed Mike Rogers, it drew sharp criticism from Republicans. See for yourself: 

• Sen. Rand Paul: “Donald Trump just endorsed the worst Deep State candidate this cycle. Mike Rogers is a never Trumper, and a card carrying member of the spy state that seeks to destroy Trump. You have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice?”
  
  
• Justin Amash: “Deep State Mike Rogers has been an establishment stooge his whole career.”
  
  
• Roger Stone: “Mike Rogers running for U.S. Senate in Michigan is a corrupt Deep State Anti-Trump fraud.”
  
  
• Joe Walsh: Walsh called out Rogers, his “former congressional colleague” for selling his soul because he wants “to be a U.S. Senator that badly.”

🍻HOVDE’S BOOZE-GATE → New reporting revealed that Eric Hovde “suggested banning alcohol sales” in Wisconsin, a state that’s “famous for its booze.” The report notes that the Wisconsin alcohol industry “accounts for more than 161,000 jobs that pay out roughly $3.2 billion in wages a year and generates $2.6 billion in tax revenue.” 

🎙 AND HOVDE SAID WHAT?! → New reporting from the UW Madison student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, revealed Eric Hovde’s long history of making disparaging remarks about college students and young people, including saying “they’re so stupid,” and complaining they have a “poor work ethic.”

🔪 ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK → As Donald Trump proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare again, Republican Senate candidates continue to threaten Medicare and Social Security.

• 📣 DSCC says: “Just like Trump, Republican Senate candidates have pledged to gut Social Security and Medicare. Their agenda would spike health care costs and rip away the benefits Americans have earned through a lifetime of hard work, and in November, voters will hold every Republican Senate candidate accountable for their constant attacks against Social Security and Medicare.” 

📺ADD IT TO THE QUEUE → A wave of new reports are talking about Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego’s first TV ad of the cycle. 

📰 IN THE STATES

• MT – The Missoulian: Tester secures $24M for Highway 200 project. The office of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced Tuesday that a large-scale project to add safety infrastructure between Missoula and East Missoula has been funded by the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 

• NV – Nevada Current: Rosen helps secure increased funding for tribal housing programs. “Sen. Jacky Rosen announced Monday that $1.34 billion in funding for tribal housing programs is now available.” 

• OH – WKBN: Sherrod Brown pushes legislation to protect Ohio steel industry. “Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced bipartisan legislation to stop the increase of Mexican steel imports.”
  
  
• PA – WPXI: Darlington Township receives $3.6M to expand access to public drinking water. “Senator Bob Casey, Senator John Fetterman and Rep. Chris Deluzio on Friday announced $3.66 million in funding meant to expand Darlington Township’s access to clean public drinking water.”

• WI – The Badger Herald: Sen. Baldwin secures $1 million for UW agriculture research facilities. “Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) successfully secured more than $211 million March 8 — $1 million of which will go towards improving agricultural research facilities at the University of Wisconsin.”
  

🤳 TWEET OF THE WEEK: 

David Bergstein 
@DavidABergstein

Amanda Sherman Baity
@asherman89 

Maeve Coyle 
@maevemcoyle 

Tommy Garcia 
@Tommy_D_Garcia

Katarina Flicker 
@KatarinaFlicker

Julia Ferrara 
@JuliaFerrara22