Deep in Heart

Today’s notice: Texas’ twin Senate primaries end ugly. Republican lawmakers say Trump can do anything he wants in Iran, as long as it doesn’t require ground troops. Environmental lawyers say the White House has a weakness. And: Health code violations at a Trump golf course.

THE LATEST

What we learned last night, and the questions still outstanding:

The death of traditional campaigning has been greatly exaggerated. Texas state Rep. James Talarico’s serious and expensive effort in the Democratic Senate primary defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett, one of the most viral politicians the party has ever seen. “To go from behind Jasmine by a lot to defeating her is a sign that that discipline matters,” Democratic strategist Tory Gavito told NOTUS.

We learned that campaigning can still win in the attention economy. Talarico’s campaign was defined by big spending and a significant ground operation. Crockett lacked even a formally named campaign manager. One Democratic strategist said they hadn’t gotten a single piece of mail from her campaign or had their home visited by one of her volunteers.

We learned that money still means a lot, too. Texas Sen. John Cornyn and his allies in the political establishment spent tens of millions to keep him competitive in the Republican Senate primary, and it worked — he is entering the three-month runoff with state Attorney General Ken Paxton as the top vote-getter. Cornyn last night promised more scorched-earth messaging against Paxton, saying at an election night press conference that “judgement day” would be coming for him.

But how much does money mean, really? Cornyn’s allies have positively begged Donald Trump for an endorsement, and it’s clear they still want one badly. Paxton spent a lot less than Cornyn and is more natural at carrying the MAGA banner. Paxton feels pretty good about where he’s at: “We are not going to go quietly, and we are not going to let you buy this seat,” he said to cheers.

We learned that everyone got the storyline they wanted last night. Those saying the midterms will be about age had Democratic Rep. Al Green’s poor showing in his Texas primary to look to. Those who say ideological splits in the GOP are the driving force this year had Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s primary defeat to hang their narrative on, as well as Tony Gonzales advancing to a runoff against right-wing influencer Brandon Herrera despite text messages allegedly showing Gonzales making sexual advances on a former aide who later died by suicide. And those who say a Democratic Tea Party will be the most important thing could look to North Carolina, where Rep. Valerie Foushee’s primary against a Bernie Sanders- and AOC-endorsed opponent was too close to call hours after the polls closed.

The major outstanding question is about dynamics. Democrats saw huge turnout in races across the country and up and down the ballot, suggesting the enthusiasm among voters from last November’s elections was no fluke. Republicans have not slowed Democrats down yet, and the big lesson from last night is that they still need to figure out how to.

Open tabs: Kash Patel gutted FBI counterintelligence team tasked with tracking Iranian threats days before US strikes, sources say (CNN); U.S. Conducts Military Operations in Ecuador (NYT); Labor secretary’s top aides stepping down amid internal investigation (Politico); Military Commander Tells Troops Bombing Iran Is ‘Part Of God’s Divine Plan’ (HuffPost)

War latest

Pete Hegseth is slated to meet the press this morning. A Pentagon press conference on American combat operations is scheduled for 8 a.m. ET.

Marco Rubio and other top administration officials briefed lawmakers last night on the rapidly escalating conflict with Iran, but many Democrats said they left the meeting with more questions than answers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the secretary of state’s comments left him “more fearful than ever” that Trump planned to deploy American troops in the country.

Even Republicans suggested that would cross a red line: “Obviously a full invasion — which no one’s discussing that — and I don’t think that’s what the American people want,” Sen. Tim Sheehy told reporters yesterday. He’s one of a slew of GOP lawmakers who said that Trump is pretty much free to carry on as he wishes in Iran, provided there are no operations involving a large number of ground troops. The NOTUS Hill team reports that most Republicans said troops would require congressional ``approval.

Not everyone agrees. “You never take that off the table. I mean, that would be stupid,” Sen. Rick Scott said. Asked by NOTUS if congressional authorization would be required, Scott said simply, “No.”

From the Hill

A bad report for Kristi Noem: Democratic Sens. Andy Kim and Gary Peters, two members of the Homeland Security Committee, said they can prove Noem’s policy requiring her personal sign-off on DHS expenditures over $100,000 is slowing federal disaster-response efforts, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports. The report finds that the policy has created delays of three weeks on average for disaster aid decisions.

If you’ll recall, this came up last summer, when frustrated DHS employees told reporters that the spending sign-off policy hampered FEMA’s ability to respond to the deadly flooding in Texas. Noem and other DHS officials have insisted that was not true. The senators’ new report finds that the staff were, in fact, correct.

From the White House

Unintended consequences? The Trump administration ended the “endangerment finding” used by the Obama administration to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But at the same time, the Trump administration has used the endangerment finding to argue that states can’t sue to try to keep their own emissions regulations in place.

Sounds complicated, but as NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak reports, environmental lawyers say it’s actually pretty simple. “One of the arguments they make is that those laws are preempted by federal regulation, and if there is no federal regulation, that argument suffers,” said Michael Wall, a top attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

NEW ON NOTUS

Unwanted visitors at Trump’s golf club: Health officials reported observing insects and rodents at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester last year, according to new state health data reviewed by NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno. The facility was issued five health-code violations after investigators found “dirty surfaces,” “poorly constructed” rooms and “inadequate” lighting and ventilation, as well as food that was “uncovered, mislabeled, [and] stored on [the] floor.”

Inspectors deemed none of the violations “critical.”

More: California Democrats Encouraged to Drop Out of Governor’s Race by State Party Chair, by Torrie Herrington

Congress Is Poised to Pass Its First Major Housing Bill in More Than a Decade, by Raymond Fernández

NOT US

• Following Iran strikes, Trump floods news outlets with one-on-one calls, by Scott Nover and Liam Scott for The Washington Post
• A Possible US Government iPhone-Hacking Toolkit Is Now in the Hands of Foreign Spies and Criminals, by Andy Greenberg for Wired
• How Anonymous Bettors Cashed In on the Iran Strike, Just Hours Before It Happened, by Amy Fan for The New York Times

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The newsletter was produced by Kelly Poe, Brett Bachman and Andrew Burton. Photo by Jack Myer/AP.