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DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: GOP FAILS ON UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF—#NHSEN CANDIDATE SCAM CHARITY—WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? FOR REPUBLICANS, EVERYTHING.

SENATE REPUBLICANS LET EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF RUN OUT. Despite calls to act with urgency and full awareness that expanded unemployment relief would run out this month, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans “favored a pause” in additional aid and refused to act to ensure the payments to states would continue without lapsing. They took a two-week recess in the middle of July, spent last week bickering, and now funding Americans rely on to feed their families and pay their bills is gone. This is a Republican failure that threatens to rattle the entire economy.” What’s worse? Their proposal significantly reduces benefits and would be so complicated to act that one Republican labor commissioner called the Senate GOP proposal “the dumbest idea ever.” Take a look at how poorly this is playing in the states and don’t miss these reports on how Republicans are to blame:

#NHSEN CANDIDATE BEHIND SCAM CHARITY. A new Washington Post analysis revealed that New Hampshire Republican Senate candidate “Colorado Corky” Messner deceived donors and students by running a Trump-like foundation for more than a decade. Messner has touted the “Messner Foundation” on the campaign trail, claiming he funded it himself to provide underprivileged students with scholarships to obtain higher education.  But there are no records of Messner ever personally contributing to the Messner Foundation and, even worse, it has provided almost no underprivileged students with scholarships. The Washington Post gave Messner’s claims “Four Pinocchios.” Washington Post: Fact Checker: GOP Senate candidate’s claims about his foundation for ‘inner city’ kids don’t add up

KANSAS REPUBLICANS SHOULD BE CONCERNED” AS WEAK, DIVIDED FIELD LIMPS TO PRIMARY FINISH. The “messy” and increasingly expensive Kansas GOP primary “headache” has Washington Republicans worried about losing this vulnerable open seat in a state they hoped to take for granted at the start of the cycle as the primary looms on Tuesday. Feuding among top Republicans in this proxy war primary has started spilling out into the open, with concerns growing that establishment-backed Congressman Roger Marshall remains too weak to win the primary and could still lose the general election.

Now, the Kansas City Star’s Editorial Board has taken the extraordinary step of publicly declining to endorse any candidate in the GOP primary — calling the choices “bewildering,” bluntly stating that “Kansas Republicans should be concerned” and that voters will be forced to pick “the least disappointing candidate running.” Whichever damaged candidate limps out of this nasty and expensive primary will face a “strong candidate” in Dr. Barbara Bollier. A physician and state senator, Bollier has posted the biggest fundraising numbers of the entire field and is in a dead heat with all of the GOP candidates according to a recent poll. Kansas City Star Editorial Board: Eleven candidates add up to no Star endorsement in Kansas GOP primary for U.S. Senate

NEW: TV STATIONS TAKE DOWN FALSE NRSC AD IN #NCSEN. North Carolina TV stations in Charlotte and Raleigh pulled a false NRSC attack ad against Army veteran Cal Cunningham off the air today, recognizing that it was “a blatantly false advertisement.” It’s just the latest example of increasingly vulnerable Republicans running deceptive ads as they get more and more desperate in their flailing re-election campaigns. Raleigh News & Observer: North Carolina TV stations pull a GOP attack ad off the air after campaign complaints

“DUBIOUS” ATTACKS KEEP LOSING FACT CHECKS. The embarrassing development in North Carolina is the latest in a series of setbacks for Republicans who’ve lost round after round of fact checks. Their multi-million dollar summer counteroffensive is falling flat: 

  • PolitiFact/The Daily Iowan: “it’s hard to find evidence that the [estate] tax is forcing average farmers and business owners to sell their estates. We rated this claim Mostly False.
  • KCRG: Fact Check: New national Republican ad mischaracterizes impact of estate, or “death,” tax — “This claim gets a D
  • Iowa Starting Line: GOP Attacks On Greenfield’s Business Record Mislead Voters
  • KCRG: Fact Check: National Republican attack ad goes after Teresa Greenfield’s record, makes dubious claims — “This claim gets a D
  • FactCheck.org: NRSC’s Attack on Hickenlooper Lacks Proof, Context
  • KTVH: “The assertions in the ads… are predictions from studies by conservative think tanks, often funded by health-care industry groups, both of whom oppose the public option… The NRSC ad also throws in this overblown claim…”
  • News Center Maine: Ad fact check: “NEWS CENTER Maine finds Gideon was the first official to ask Bates to resign”
  • ABC15: “The Pentagon’s Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency cleared World View Enterprises to do work for the U.S. Military… the ad overstates any potential conflicts. To date, there has not arisen any conflicts between Kelly, Tencent, or the Chinese Government that could impact U.S. space technology or foreign policy.”
  • PolitiFact/Detroit Free Press: “The NRSC’s statements rest on a handful of votes that don’t reflect Peters’ actual positions on the issues… Overall, the NRSC claims are not accurate. We rate them as False.

DESPERATE SENATOR JONI ERNST ATTACKS THERESA GREENFIELD’S DOG RINGO?! Vulnerable Senator Joni Ernst can’t talk about her toxic record in Washington, so she decided to try out a new re-election campaign message… going after Theresa Greenfield’s dog Ringo by name. In a press call with Senator Lindsey Graham, Ernst took a desperate shot at Theresa for taking photos with her adorable dog Ringo, who is a very good boy. The backlash was swift – Iowans quickly came to Ringo’s defense, tweeting with the hashtag #IStandWithRingo, which soon started trending in Iowa. Not a good look for Senator Ernst, who is getting outraised and losing to Theresa in every recent poll of the general election in this Toss-Up race

SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS LOSES *ANOTHER* LOCAL UNION ENDORSEMENT TO SARA GIDEON. Senator Susan Collins just lost the endorsement of yet another local labor union. The Maine State Council of Machinists endorsed Collins in 2014, but today announced their support for Sara Gideon – joining a growing number of local and national organizations that have flipped to endorsing Sara this cycle. Key labor unions, environmental advocates, and pro-choice groups like the Painters and Allied Trades International Union District Council 35, the Massachusetts and Northern New England Laborers, the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare have all backed Senator Collins in the past but now support Sara’s campaign. It’s just the latest example of how Senator Collins’ support is eroding because of how much she’s changed in Washington.

FAILED POLITICIAN JOHN JAMES “TALKS TOUGH ON CHINA” WHILE DOING BUSINESS. A new Daily Beast report reveals that while failed politician John James publicly uses anti-China rhetoric, he doesn’t tell Michiganders that his firm has “benefitted from a lucrative business relationship” involving “a state-controlled Chinese automaker” that is “run under the auspices of numerous top Communist Party officials.” The hypocrisy is the latest example of desperate Republicans using the NRSC playbook to “attack China” in an attempt to try and shift blame from Trump’s bungled coronavirus response. The Daily Beast: John James’ Talks Tough on China While His Family Does Business

PERDUE, GRAHAM STILL HAVEN’T APOLOGIZED FOR OFFENSIVE ADS. Senators David Perdue and Lindsey Graham were both caught offensively manipulating photos of their opponents in digital ads — and still have not apologized. Graphic design experts confirmed Perdue “lengthened and widened” Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff’s nose “even as other parts of his face stayed the same size and proportions” in a digital ad. Graham “digitally altered” Jaime Harrion’s image “with a darker skin tone.” The widely-criticized tactics come as new polls show tightening races in both South Carolina and Georgia.

3 YEARS AFTER FAILED ACA REPEAL VOTES, SENATE REPUBLICANS STILL TRYING TO TAKE AWAY HEALTH CARE. This week was the three-year anniversary of Senate Republicans trying — and failing — to repeal the Affordable Care Act and gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Not much has changed: vulnerable GOP senators and candidates are still trying to attack health care coverage. Republican incumbents are already on the record voting to repeal the health care law without providing a feasible alternative, but now, in the middle of a deadly global pandemic, Republicans have kept special enrollment for ACA health exchanges closed and are plowing forward with their lawsuit to end protections for pre-existing conditions.

GOP SENATORS ATTACKED OBAMA OVER EBOLA, BUT PRAISE TRUMP ON BOTCHED CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE. When the Republican Senators up for reelection ran in 2014, they didn’t waste a moment criticizing former President Obama when four Americans contracted Ebola. Now, with more than 4 million coronavirus cases and more than 150,000 deaths across the country, Senate Republicans are praising President Trump and admitting they’ve worked “hand in glove with the Trump administration.” CNN: Senate GOP candidates attacked Obama over Ebola but defend Trump on coronavirus pandemic

ICYMI: DSCC MEMO – WHAT TO KNOW LESS THAN 100 DAYS OUT. Don’t miss our memo on the five facts to know now that we’re less than 100 days from the election, and how Democrats have expanded the map and forced Republicans on defense in states across the country, opening more paths to the majority. Here’s the rundown:

  1. Strong Democratic candidates expanded the map and created “multiple plausible paths… to a majority.”
  2. Vulnerable GOP incumbents are unelected, barely elected, or facing their toughest race yet. 
  3. Republican outside spending is nearly 100% defensive.
  4. Grassroots power Democrats, outraising Republicans in 13 GOP-held seats in Q2.
  5. Health care. Health care. Health care.

IN THE STATES

AL – Washington Post: Tommy Tuberville, Alabama U.S. Senate candidate, defies D.C. quarantine order on fundraising visit

AZ – Arizona Republic: Pandemic, pre-existing conditions, prescription drugs: Health care a defining issue in McSally-Kelly Senate race

CO – Colorado Sun: Colorado doesn’t appear to be a presidential swing state in 2020. That could spell big trouble for Cory Gardner.

GA – Thomas Times-Enterprise: Warnock: ’The Senate could use a pastor’

IA – Cedar Rapids Gazette: Fact Checker: Theresa Greenfield blasts Joni Ernst over ‘illegal contributions

IA – Quad City Times: Greenfield promises to support Medicare, Affordable Care Act, in town hall

ME – Maine Beacon: Collins backs COVID-19 corporate immunity as Senate seeks broad shield for large firms

MI – Detroit Metro Times: Biden’s lead over Trump widens in Michigan, while Sen. Peters tops John James

MA – Boston Globe: Editorial: Send Ed Markey back to the Senate

MT – New York Times: Why Montana Is a Test Case for Democrats’ Winning the Senate

NC – Charlotte Observer: Editorial: Thom Tillis’ COVID-19 plan is thoughtful, thorough and way too late

SC – Washington Post (Opinion): Jaime Harrison is chasing Lindsey Graham like a cheetah running down an impala

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Lauren Passalacqua
@laurenvpass

Stewart Boss
@stew_boss

Helen Kalla
@helen_kalla

Shea Necheles
@sheanecheles

Regina Anderson
@reginasopinion

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