Week of Monday, July 23
IN BRIEF: In battleground states across the country, Trump’s reckless trade war is slamming key midterm voters — and throwing a wrench into Republican Senate candidates’ chances.
- In North Dakota, Rep. Kevin Cramer is increasingly choosing his political allies over his thousands of suffering constituents. Trump’s reckless tariffs “threaten the livelihoods of local farmers and the state’s small manufacturing sector.” A 25% price drop in soybeans — North Dakota’s #1 export — has spurred a fully fledged crisis.
- In Indiana, Rep. Mike Braun has hewn closely to Trump’s reckless line on trade. But dozens of brutal headlines about the consequences of the trade war won’t go unnoticed as voters look for candidates who will stand up for their interests.
- And in Missouri, Attorney General Josh Hawley has consistently defended Trump’s trade war. One Missouri manufacturer has already cut dozens of jobs, and farmers and manufacturers are battening down the hatches in preparation for a worsening trade storm.
- But wait, there’s more: Head over to American Bridge’s TradeWarWatch.com to see more local impacts of Trump’s reckless trade war.
THREE TO WATCH:
- Dean Heller is all in for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. After meeting with Kavanaugh Thursday, Heller said he has “no reservations” about the nomination. But in 2013, Kavanaugh authored an opinion in favor of the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Heller claims to be Yucca’s biggest Congressional opponent, but he’s given his endorsement to a pro-Yucca lifetime appointee.
- Rick Scott had a very, very bad week. He’s still under fire for environmental policies that enabled a toxic algae bloom on Florida’s coast. He was caught inflating his quarterly fundraising numbers. And late last week, Scott’s team was exposed for peddling a lie about an anti-Scott ad.
- Bob Hugin had an inauspicious entry into the New Jersey Senate race. Two devastating stories — about Hugin’s legal battle against allowing women to join his all-male Princeton eating club, and about anti-gay comments he made while an undergraduate member of said eating club — are doing more to define Hugin than his self-funded ads could hope to do.
THREE NUMBERS:
- 2,000,000: Dollars Rick Scott inflated his fundraising haul by in the second quarter. Scott, desperate to show momentum, counted $2 million in a joint fundraising account he does not control.
- 1,000,000: Dollars Mike Braun inflated his fundraising haul by in the second quarter. Braun loaned himself $1 million after repeatedly insisting he would not self-fund in the general election.
- 29,200: Dollars over the legal maximum Matt Rosendale has accepted, thanks to some unethical “creative accounting” that lets his campaign “get around campaign finance laws.”
ONE FOR THE ROAD: “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” WE HAVE.
AND HAPPY MONDAY from American Bridge. Follow us at @JoshuaKarp @philmunson@AmeliaPenniman @EmmaBeckerman1
Published: Jul 23, 2018