REPUBLICAN WORRIES GROW ON HEALTH CARE, SHIFTING SENATE MAP. Republican candidates have been forced on defense as President Trump’s management of the crisis comes under intense scrutiny and a new series of reports out this week detail the growing concern among Republicans that the dangerously inadequate response to the coronavirus pandemic “could cost them their majority.” Vulnerable Republican senators are now scrambling and attempting to “sidestep Trump” as they admit the Senate map “is a bleak picture.” Check out some of the headlines:
And a new report from the Daily Beast details the growing concern among Montana Republicans that Governor Steve Bullock poses a serious threat to incumbent Senator Steve Daines. Even the GOP State Senate President said Governor Bullock is “well positioned” as public polls show the race to be very competitive.
Now, Republicans are realizing their toxic health care records could cost them the election, with one GOP strategist telling CNN that “Republicans can’t afford to litigate health care for the second election in a row.” Senator John Cornyn—who is one of “the ACA’s most relentless opponents” and has proudly spent the last decade voting more than 20 times to tear down the health care law—was caught this week touting the ability to enroll in health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
In the middle of a deadly global pandemic, not a single vulnerable Republican incumbent has taken any meaningful steps to hold the Trump administration accountable for keeping ACA special enrollment closed — making it harder for newly unemployed and uninsured Americans to get health coverage.
36 MILLION AMERICANS UNEMPLOYED, 27 MILLION LIKELY LOST HEALTH CARE – MCCONNELL SAYS NO “URGENCY.” Even with more than 36 million Americans having filed for unemployment, and new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation estimating that nearly 27 million Americans are without health insurance after a job loss, Majority Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans claim there’s no ‘urgency of acting immediately’ on the next phase of coronavirus relief. These staggering numbers underscore how President Trump and Republicans in the Senate – working “hand in glove” – have failed in the response to this pandemic.
JOHN JAMES TRASHING TRUMP PRIVATELY, PUBLICLY WITH THE PRESIDENT 2000%. After a report from POLITICO caught failed politician John James trashing President Trump for the first time on a private video conference with African American community leaders, the James campaign scrambled to change the candidate’s tune and make clear: James is still with Trump “2000%.” The phony politician widely touted his support for Trump in his failed bid last cycle, but now, as Trump’s approval has “ebbed” in Michigan, James is telling some audiences what he thinks they want to hear. POLITICO reported that Trump aides are “suspicious that James is trying to have it both ways” in his support for Trump, and were “less enthusiastic” and “rankled” when James launched another Senate campaign last year. Read more here.
ERNST STILL USING FUNDRAISER AT CENTER OF DARK MONEY SCANDAL. Even after an Associated Press investigation found damning evidence of illegal coordination between Senator Joni Ernst and a dark money group set up by her top aides, the vulnerable and scandal-plagued incumbent is still relying on the same Washington fundraising consultant at the center of the controversial arrangement. This comes as new polling shows an increasingly tight race between Ernst and Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield.
Read more about the ever growing pattern of troubling conduct from Senator Ernst:
SUSAN COLLINS HELP BAIL OUT GIANT CORPORATE INTERESTS. A new report from the Daily Beast outlined how Senator Collins is responsible for inserting language into the Paycheck Protection Program bill that she co-authored that “allowed special interests and big donors to access the… PPP” while small businesses in Maine and across the country were left out. Collins is running a campaign ad touting the fact that she “wrote” the PPP, while leaving out her behind-the-scenes efforts to allow her hotel industry donors and corporate special interests to raid the taxpayer funds as more than 100,000 small businesses have been forced to shutter due to the pandemic. Read more here.
COOK POLITICAL REPORT SHIFTS PERDUE SEAT IN DEMS’ DIRECTION. Cook Political Report has shifted the race for Georgia Senator David Perdue’s seat in Democrats’ favor after weeks of bad headlines and tight polls reveal Perdue as an increasingly vulnerable incumbent. As he struggles to manage the fallout from his stock trading scandal, recent GOP polls in the state show “growing trouble for Perdue” and confirm the senator’s own grim warning to Republican activists last month: “The state of Georgia is in play.”
LOEFFLER SUPPLIES DOCS TO FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS ON STOCK TRADES. Unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler revealed that she turned over documents to the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Senate Ethics Committee regarding her “unseemly” stock trades during the coronavirus pandemic. But Loeffler still continues to dodge reporters’ questions while refusing to answer whether or not they asked her for the documents she supplied.
Read more on Loeffler’s latest “lesson in how not to manage a crisis:”
FORMER GRAHAM FUNDRAISER PENS OP-ED ENDORSING JAIME HARRISON. Last week, the Post and Courier reported that Richard Wilkerson, a former South Carolina business executive and supporter of Senator Lindsey Graham, was backing Jaime Harrison in the race for Graham’s U.S. Senate seat. This week Wilkerson wrote a piece explaining why he changed his support:
Read Wilkerson’s full op-ed on supporting Jaime Harrison here.
IN THE STATES
AL – Dothan Eagle: Jones: Farmers need more help in next stimulus package
AZ – Arizona Republic (Opinion): Is Sen. Martha McSally more beholden to Sen. Mitch McConnell than to Arizona?
CO – Colorado Politics: Hickenlooper talks about career reinvention
IA – Iowa Public Radio: Theresa Greenfield Says Personal Experience With Social Security Motivates Run For US Senate
IA – Iowa Starting Line: IA-Sen: Greenfield Leads Primary Field, New Poll Shows
IA – HuffPost: Democrats Pin Hopes On Social Security In Iowa Senate Race
KS – Kansas City Star (Editorial): Kansas GOP Senate candidates pander to rogue barber and coronavirus conspiracy theorists
ME – Portland Press Herald: Letter to the editor: Former Collins supporter switching to Gideon
MI – WWMT: U.S. Sen. Peters calls for more protective equipment before Michigan reopens
MI – NBC 25: Peters for Michigan releases new TV ads focused on putting Michigan first
MT – Flathead Beacon (LTE): What Steady Leadership Looks Like
NC – Charlotte Observer: Will the FBI probe into his NC colleague affect Sen. Thom Tillis’s re-election?
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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