NRSC ADMITS “NO DAYLIGHT” BETWEEN SENATORS AND TRUMP’S FAILED CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE. After the NRSC’s 57-page DON’T DEFEND TRUMP memo leaked, Republicans were forced to capitulate to an angry Trump campaign and rushed to show the “fealty” the president demanded by asserting “there is no daylight” between Senate Republicans and the president. Rather than holding the White House accountable for their failed response to the coronavirus crisis, Republicans put their political self-interest first and it backfired spectacularly — GOP officials are privately panicking about the weak polling numbers Senate Republicans are facing for their inadequate coronavirus response.
MCCONNELL-GOP POSITION TO LET STATES GO BANKRUPT AT ODDS WITH VOTERS. New polling this week showed that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position that “the bankruptcy route” should be “an option” for states and cities during the coronavirus pandemic is deeply unpopular among voters across party lines, with nearly three out of four Americans — including 65% of Republicans — disagreeing with McConnell and the GOP’s position. Now “mass layoffs” of government workers have begun across the country as states and cities struggle to combat the effects of coronavirus and descend into crisis, but Republicans in Washington are still holding additional federal aid hostage.
Despite the unpopular position that has earned broad and bipartisan backlash, vulnerable Senate Republicans are either falling in line with McConnell or refusing to speak out against a plan that threatens their states:
The “furor” over McConnell’s bankruptcy stance has even started to shake up his own re-election bid in Kentucky. The DSCC hit McConnell over his reckless comments telling cash-strapped states and local governments impacted by the coronavirus to go “the bankruptcy route” instead of working across the aisle to provide desperately needed federal relief in a new digital ad. Check it out:
30 MILLION UNEMPLOYED, BUT REPUBLICANS STILL KEEPING SPECIAL ENROLLMENT CLOSED. Yet another week passed where unemployment claims hit “staggering” new numbers and more Americans lost their health coverage, while the GOP remained silent and refused to hold the Trump administration accountable for its decision to keep special enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace closed. Reminder: the Republican stance here is not just wrong and harmful to the country — it’s also deeply unpopular with voters.
REPUBLICANS “INCREASINGLY NERVOUS” AS DEMS PUT SENATE IN PLAY. A series of reports this week revealed just how nervous Republicans are getting as fears of losing the Senate “continue to grow.” Democrats have put more seats in play and built momentum thanks to impressive challengers, robust grassroots fundraising, and weak GOP incumbents saddled with toxic records on issues like health care and protections for pre-existing conditions who have failed to be independent voices for their states.
COOK POLITICAL, SABATO CRYSTAL BALL MOVE MORE RACES IN DEMS’ DIRECTION. Two major nonpartisan election analysts moved two more Senate races in the direction of the Democrats this week. Sabato’s Crystal Ball changed their rating change for both the Alaska and South Carolina Senate races in favor of the Democrats and noted that the overall map was expanding “as Republicans (mostly) play defense across the country.” The Cook Political Report also moved their rating of the South Carolina Senate race in the Democrats’ direction as challenger Jaime Harrison’s impressive fundraising prowess has “left Republicans in the state ‘stunned’.”
FORMER GRAHAM SUPPORTER BACKS JAIME. In the first of a few hits this week to Senator Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign, the Post Courier reported that former South Carolina business executive and supporter of Graham, Richard Wilkerson, has decided to back Jaime Harrison in the upcoming election. Wilkerson pointed to “how hard [Harrison] works to bring lasting economic opportunity to the people of South Carolina” and described him as “the change South Carolina needs.” Read more about the endorsement here.
MCSALLY CAUGHT FEATURING FORMER PAID STAFFER IN AD, DOESN’T DISCLOSE TO ARIZONANS.
Unelected Senator Martha McSally was caught featuring a former staffer in a new ad that does not disclose the individual was paid nearly $400,000 for work in her Congressional office and on her political campaigns. Ironically, McSally released the ad nearly three-years to the day when she cheered “let’s get this f*cking thing done” and voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, including pre-existing conditions protections, and is just another example of McSally’s strategy to mislead Arizonans about her unpopular record of repeatedly voting to gut pre-existing conditions coverage and other health care benefits.
GARDNER “BRAGGING” ABOUT 5,000 TESTS FOR PLANT, BUT WORKERS NEVER GOT TESTED. Senator Cory Gardner touted getting 5,000 tests for workers at a Colorado meatpacking plant, but a Channel 7 investigation found that the tests were not actually used to test all of its workers before the plant reopened. Watch the Maddow clip covering Gardner’s misleading boasting below:
ERNST ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL “PAYROLL NON-DISCLOSURE SETUP.” A new report from The Daily Beast detailed how Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst had been obscuring the names of “who she’s paying to run her re-election effort, and how much” for the past three quarters, which experts say potentially violated campaign finance laws. The unusual and potentially illegal step raises more questions about Ernst’s possible illegal coordination with a dark money group set up by her advisors, and her continued lack of transparency surrounding her campaign.
MT EDITORIAL BOARD HITS DAINES FOR DISHONESTY, AGAIN. Senator Steve Daines continues to claim credit for coronavirus relief measures that Democrats fought for and Republicans and Daines opposed, and Montana editorial boards are calling Daines out on it. An editorial from the Havre Daily News this week said Daines attempts to take credit for a provision with extra unemployment were “more than a little disingenuous,” after he failed to mention “he had tried to limit what passed.” And a column last month in the Missoulian warned Daines that “Montanans won’t forget his dishonesty come November.”
LOEFFLER LOSES THE WEEK, AGAIN. It just never seems to get better for unelected “political mega-donor” Senator Kelly Loeffler, and this week was no exception. The “intraparty battle” between Loeffler and Trump ally Congressman Doug Collins is becoming a “ferocious and personal fight.” Take a look at what went down:
MCCONNELL DARK MONEY GROUP DROPS ANOTHER HALF MILLION DOLLARS FOR COLLINS. Senator Mitch McConnell’s political nonprofit One Nation is coming to struggling Senator Susan Collins’ rescue. The group is set to spend over half a million dollars on advertising in Maine to defend Collins after a tough few weeks of being held accountable for her support of the Trump Administration’s initial coronavirus response. Last month, Collins told the Bangor Daily News that she thought Trump “did a lot that was right in the beginning,” a false claim that has been disproven multiple times over. Read more about the ad buy here.
IN THE STATES
AK – BGOV: Alaska Independent Rakes in Cash to Take On Favored GOP Senator
CO – Greeley Tribune (Op-Ed): John Hickenlooper: The ACA is helping Colorado fight COVID — but it’s still under siege
KY – The Hill: State bankruptcy furor shakes up McConnell reelection bid
ME – Maine Beacon: Despite vowing to pause campaign, Collins continues to air ads, attack Gideon
MI – NBC 25 News: Senator Gary Peters calls for oversight on stimulus payouts
MT – Bozeman Daily Chronicle (LTE): Thanks to Bullock for letting science lead the way
SC – The State: Odds no longer all in Lindsey Graham’s favor in US Senate race, new forecasts say
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Lauren Passalacqua
Stewart Boss
Helen Kalla
Shea Necheles
Regina Anderson
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