THE NEW CORNHUSKER KICKBACK — DONALD TRUMP and his allies are making waves in Nebraska over the state’s split Electoral College allocation, pushing for a change that could have major ramifications come November. Republicans’ push to alter the state’s allotment to a winner-take-all format first cropped up back in the spring, when Gov. JIM PILLEN said he would call a special session if GOP state lawmakers could find the requisite votes to pass the change. Now, Pillen is back in the mix. Yesterday, Pillen “hosted two dozen state senators at the Governor’s Mansion, along with Secretary of State BOB EVNEN, the state’s chief election official,” the Nebraska Examiner’s Aaron Sanderford reports. “Several who attended the meeting said some senators who had wavered earlier showed more support” for making the change. (As we noted in Playbook this morning, Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) and the state’s all-GOP congressional delegation are part of the lobbying effort.) Aside from Nebraska, Maine is the only other state that splits its electoral votes. Back in April, when the Nebraska idea was first gaining steam, Maine’s Democratic House Majority Leader MAUREEN TERRY issued a statement indicating that if Nebraska made such a move, she would push for a like-for-like move in her state, which delivered one electoral vote to Trump in 2016 and 2020. We reached out to Terry’s office to see if there would still be a response out of Maine given the renewed push in Nebraska, but we didn’t hear back by the time of publishing. There is an entirely new wrinkle for Maine this time, though. First, Gov. JANET MILLS would be required to call a special session of the legislature. But the stickier wicket is in the timing: A bill only becomes law in Maine 90 days after it’s passed, unless the bill receives a two-thirds vote in each chamber (Democrats currently have majorities, but not supermajorities). We’re 46 days away from Nov. 5, and 87 days from Dec. 16, when electoral votes are set to be cast. That tricky timetable does beg the question of whether Trump and his GOP allies in Nebraska held off on renewing their push for a change in the state in order to jam up any effort to match it out of Maine. Related read: “Warren Buffett’s Front Yard Could Matter in a Close Presidential Election,” by WSJ’s John McCormick POLL POSITION — On top of the slate of polling released overnight, there is a new batch of horse-race numbers to sort through today as pollsters continue surveying the electoral landscape after this month’s debate, which was widely declared a victory for KAMALA HARRIS.
- WaPo Pennsylvania poll: Harris 48%, Trump 47% among both likely voters and registered voters. If you exclude third-party options, Harris and Trump both sit at 48% with likely voters, while Harris edges Trump 48% to 47% with registered voters.
- Emerson/Hill swing-state poll: Trump leads Harris by slim margins in Arizona (49%-48%), Georgia (50%-47%), Pennsylvania (48%-47%) and Wisconsin (49%-48%). Harris leads in Michigan (49%-47%) and North Carolina (49%-48%) and the two are tied at 48% in Nevada.
Digging into the depths of some of this polling also turns out some interesting figures on the Pennsylvania Senate race between Sen. BOB CASEY (D-Pa.) and GOP challenger DAVE McCORMICK. In the NYT poll, Casey leads McCormick by a nine-point margin, 48% to 39%. In the F&M poll, Casey leads by eight points, 48% to 40%. But the WaPo poll would suggest there is reason to sound the alarm among Casey’s campaign: His margin dwindles to one point, 47% to 46%, among likely voters in a full field — and a tie at 48% if you exclude third-party candidates. And, of course, we would be remiss not to give you a snapshot of TAYLOR SWIFT’s favorables following her endorsement of Harris. According to the NYT’s latest polling, 44% of likely voters nationally have a favorable view of the iconic pop star, while 34% have unfavorable views. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
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1. BEHIND THE HEADLINES: A new trove of documents from Minnesota Gov. TIM WALZ’s files obtained by ProPublica and the Minnesota Reformer shed new light on the period when Walz was responding to growing unrest in his state in light of the killing of GEORGE FLOYD in 2021. “Though the emails are limited, covering about 11 weeks from April to June 2021, they provide a closer, more detailed look at how Walz tried to leverage his influence on the legislative process. “They reveal a politician who seems to be a careful listener in one-on-one conversations with grieving mothers and Black activists, freely giving out his personal cellphone number and invitations to the governor’s mansion. And they show how Walz struggled to balance the need for order in the streets against his credibility with activist allies, while simultaneously trying to bridge the ideological divide between progressives in his party and pro-law-enforcement conservatives.” 2. THE LONG TAIL OF INFLATION: “America’s Inflation Fight Is Ending, but It’s Leaving a Legacy,” by NYT’s Jeanna Smialek: “Prices remain sharply elevated compared with their prepandemic levels, and many families are still struggling to adjust. Some have seen their wages fall behind costs. For others, pay gains have kept pace with inflation, but the memory of cheaper egg and rent prices endures, leaving an ongoing sense of sticker shock. And across the country, housing affordability has tanked, a trend that could take time and even policy changes to reverse. Even as economic normalcy returns, its contours are different.”
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3. LIFE GOES ON: “Residents of Springfield, Ohio, hunker down and pray for a political firestorm to blow over,” by AP’s Julie Carr Smyth: “In the quiet corners of Springfield, Ohio — out of sight of the drumbeat of politicians and journalists, troopers and newly installed security cameras — the people who live here are taking a breath, praying and attempting to carry on. Between the morning bomb sweeps of Springfield’s schools and the near daily afternoon media briefings, a hush comes over the city of 58,000 that residents say is uncanny, haunting even. It’s fear. It’s confusion — dismay at being transformed overnight into a target for the nation’s vitriol.” 4. CHURCH AND STATE, PART I: In DAN BROWN’s “The Da Vinci Code,” a fictionalized Opus Dei is portrayed as a secretive and sinister group. But the Catholic faction is very much real, and while it “would seem to be precisely the kind of mysterious clique with tentacles into the elites that would pique MAGA’s conspiratorial fever,” N.Y. Mag’s Nina Burleigh writes in a stepback look at the group’s political influence, it serves as “among the most effective forces in MAGA world and the American Christian-nationalist movement.” The “elite vanguard” of Catholic power figures who count among its membership, she writes, have “sought to influence policies that might be enacted in a second Trump presidency.” 5. CHURCH AND STATE, PART II: “These evangelicals are voting their values — by backing Kamala Harris,” by AP’s Curtis Yee and Tiffany Stanley: “Trump has maintained strong support among white evangelical voters. According to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 white evangelical voters cast a ballot for him in 2020. But a small and diverse coalition of evangelicals is looking to pull their fellow believers away from the former president’s fold, offering not only an alternate candidate to support but an alternate vision for their faith altogether.”
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Andrew Cuomo has some explaining to do to the House panel investigating the Covid pandemic. Paul Whelan is enjoying being back home. Tucker Carlson is challenging the Zyn empire. Brittany Pettersen is pregnant — and wants Congress to better accommodate members who give birth. IN MEMORIAM — “Jack Limpert, Longtime Editor of Washingtonian, Dies at Age 90,” by Washingtonian’s Howard Means: “Jack Limpert, who died this morning at age 90, was the face, heart, and soul of Washingtonian magazine for four decades. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1934, Jack never laid eyes on Washington until he was in his early thirties, and he rarely left thereafter. An internship with then Vice President Hubert Humphrey got him to the nation’s capital, but in 1969 Jack parlayed his previous experience as a UPI editor into a chance to edit a fledgling Washingtonian, and he never looked back.” OUT AND ABOUT — Reps. David Rouzer (R-N.C.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) proved triumphant at the Brew Across America congressional brewing competition last night at Nationals Park, where they won Anheuser-Busch’s Brew Democracy Cup for their Coastal Shine beer, brewed with Wicked Weed Brewing in North Carolina. This BudZ for You, brewed in the Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Brewery in Missouri by Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), took home the People’s Choice Award. SPOTTED: Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Reps. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), John James (R-Mich.), Aaron Bean (R-Fla.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Jay Timmons, Brian Crawford, Michelle Korsmo, Leslie Sarasin and Stephen Parker. — Bush 43 and Trump appointees gathered for a reunion reception at Officina at the Wharf last night, marking the first broad joint alumni reunion of the two administrations meant to show unity between the two groups, many of whom served under both. The event was sponsored by Jack Kalavritinos, Jonathan Fahey and Keith and Ken Nahigian, and a written message from Alex Azar was shared with attendees. SPOTTED: Dexter and Lydia Manley, Ed Moy, Mia Heck, Grace Marie Turner, Richard Parker, Brian Marriott, Mark Vafiades, Cecil Wallace, Thomas Keane, Alex Pinson, Carrie Coxen, Scott Stewart, David McGadden, Chris McGuinn and Patrick Brennan. — SPOTTED at a cocktail reception at Cafe Milano for the unveiling of “The People’s House: A Quilt of White House History” by Charles Fazzino, commissioned by the White House Historical Association for its grand opening of “The People’s House: A White House Experience”: Anita McBride, Marie and Ed Royce, Janet Donovan, Howard Mortman, Carlos Del Toro, Mignon Clyburn, Judy Kurtz, Catherine Hand, Didi Cutler, Sheila Weidenfeld, Jack Evans, Tamara and Joel Buchwald, Jennifer Donaldson, Kimball Stroud, Kandie Stroud, Chantal Botana, Judy Thomas, Raymone Bain, Lynly Boor and Tommy Quinn. Pic — SPOTTED at the 28th National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts Noche Musical at the Mayflower Ballroom yesterday evening: Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, Felix Sanchez, Merel Julia, Lyndon Boozer, John Leguizamo, Carlos Eduardo Espina, Anthony Ramos, Boris Sanchez, Stacie de Armas, Kevin Lima, Erika Gonzalez, Maria Cardona, Virginia Zigras, Jim Acosta, Liz Landers, Todd Flournoy, Joanna Orlando, Bruno Ulloa, Paul and Ginny Grenham, Connie Coopersmith and Barry Gutin. MEDIA MOVE — Emily Rauhala is now Congress editor at WaPo. She previously was Brussels bureau chief. The announcement FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Sydney Harvey is now an entertainment surrogate outreach manager for the Harris campaign. She most recently was an adviser in the White House Office of Public Engagement covering the arts and entertainment and sports portfolios. TRANSITION — Lauren Fritts is joining Hertz Global Holdings as SVP and chief comms officer. She previously was chief corporate affairs and marketing officer at WeWork. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Yesterday’s Playbook PM misidentified an attendee at a party for Cisco’s new D.C. office, due to incorrect information from the organizers. It was Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.).
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