Sen.-elect David McCormick grabbed the only GOP Senate win in a swing state this year, and the brain trust behind that victory may have created a playbook for future GOP campaigns to follow, NOTUS’ Alex Roarty reports. In short, worry less about ad time on local news and more about ad time during literally any football-related content you can find.
Low-propensity voters were an early campaign focus. But by late October, there were still politically disengaged voters who supported Donald Trump but likely still didn’t know who McCormick was. And McCormick absolutely needed those voters.
“They don’t read the news, and particularly over the summer, they don’t watch TV, they just consume very little media,” McCormick adviser Mark Harris told Alex. The campaign went all out trying to engage them, with field programs and constant appearances with Trump.
“But above all, the campaign identified one essential way to reach these voters,” Alex reports: football. The McCormick campaign bought commercial slots during college and professional games — even if it was a low-stakes game. Spending on football game ads was prioritized over just about anything else.
The football play was one of several late-breaking strategies the McCormick team says helped boost their candidate’s performance in rural areas and secure a narrow win over Bob Casey by just 16,000 votes.
The New Immigration Shift
Speaking of lessons for future campaigns, the crop of would-be future Democratic stars pushing a harder line on immigration is growing. NOTUS’ Samuel Larreal spoke to some of the loudest voices warning that past positioning is making the party irrelevant among its base.
“I don’t think it’s very complicated,” Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin told Sam. “I think every country in the world gets to control its borders, but we are a nation of immigrants and we need immigrants — legal, vetted immigrants — in order to thrive as a country.”
Some veterans of the immigration fight in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are skeptical that walking back from the comprehensive reform promise to focus on border security is helpful. After all, Kamala Harris tried it. But it’s clear the Democrats attracting the most attention these days are the ones talking tough about immigration.
“We have to reject the notion that border security is a Republican position,” Rep. Ritchie Torres said. “Democrats should be committed to the security of the border — the public demands border security and we have to embrace that as part of our platform.”
Front Page
- The Bulk of Biden’s Infrastructure Spending Will Likely Stay Put Under Trump: Republicans want to see changes to the clean energy and will look at redirecting unspent funds.
- Frontline Democrats Urge Support for Jared Huffman in Natural Resources Race: More than 20 frontline Democrats urged the Steering Committee to support Huffman over Rep. Melanie Stansbury.
Cut Everything! Except, You Know, That Thing
The Republican promise to slash Joe Biden’s government spending everywhere they can find it appears to be running into a Republican desire to keep spending the bulk of Biden’s signature $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
NOTUS’ Helen Huiskes and Mark Alfred report cutting back on that money doesn’t seem to be a priority in the near term as the GOP gets ready for its trifecta. House GOP members eager to claw back the bill’s spending are striking a defeatist tone.
“It should be clawed back, because 85% of it did not deal with what people would consider traditional transportation issues,” Tim Burchett told Helen and Mark. “They’re not willing to go through on a lot of that because they got their little projects in their districts, and they gotta take care of it.”
A Trans Rights Test for Dems?
Democrats have been having a public conversation about whether embracing the cause of gender-affirming care for transgender youth is politically tenable. Soon, their beliefs may get put to the test. The newly negotiated defense bill, which is expected to hit the floor this week, includes language aimed at “permanently banning transgender medical treatment for minors” in Tricare, according to a statement from Speaker Mike Johnson.
NOTUS’ John T. Seward reports that this single line has become a rallying cry for Republicans. Negotiators like Sen. Mark Kelly said Democrats didn’t like the provision but “that’s what’s been negotiated” as other culture war flash points were stripped out. But some House Democrats — including the bill’s lead Democratic House negotiator, Rep. Adam Smith — aren’t sure they will support an NDAA with that language included.
Lack of Nuclear Options
Nuclear power has been gaining support across the political spectrum, and the Trump administration says it wants to build more plants. There is one nagging problem, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports: what to do with the nuclear waste no one supports being stored near them.
Anyone who remembers the words “Yucca Mountain” knows how thorny this issue is. Anna reports on the earnest people trying to make the first real progress on nuclear waste storage since 1998 and their, uh, prospects.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- How billionaire Charles Koch’s network won a 40-year war to curb regulation by Justin Jouvenal, Jon Swaine and Ann E. Marimow at The Washington Post
- Top-Gun Navy Pilots Fly at the Extremes. Their Brains May Suffer. By Dave Philipps at The New York Times
- The Rise of Theo Von, the Resident Quipster of Podcasting’s ‘Manosphere’ by Katherine Sayre at The Wall Street Journal
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