The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Vance, Walz have a ‘Midwest nice’ debate

Biden and Harris wrestle with Israel and Helene crises

Lina Khan hits the road with Democrats ahead of election

The ‘Three Johns’ campaign season plan

Pat Ryan’s big Q3 haul

THE TOP

Vance, Walz have a ‘Midwest nice’ debate

Happy Wednesday morning. There are 34 days until Election Day.

Let’s start by saying that vice presidential debates generally don’t swing elections. But the 90-minute tilt between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was a throwback to debates of yesteryear, where two pols with Capitol Hill experience gently traded statistic-laced barbs.

Vance and Walz didn’t talk over each other — for the most part. They didn’t talk about immigrants eating pets. They did some “Midwest nice,” especially Walz. They talked about their humble middle-class roots. The pair repeatedly said that they agreed with each other on basic policy points.

Overall, Vance probably came out of this ahead — to the extent it matters. Vance, the Yale Law graduate who has only been in public office for two years, had more to gain, and he got there. They both had strong moments, and they both stumbled.

It wasn’t like this year’s presidential debates, where the winners were clear-cut. Vance, whose approval ratings are pretty poor, was polished and reasonable, even if you didn’t agree with his positions. Walz appeared really nervous at the beginning of the debate, but he steadied himself throughout the event.

The sharpest split between Vance and Walz came over Jan. 6, and this occurred near the very end of the debate.

Vance attempted to turn the topic into Vice President Kamala Harris trying to censor speech online, adding that he is “focused on the future.” Walz pushed back very hard, noting the violent nature of the Capitol riot inspired by former President Donald Trump that day. Walz called it a “damning non-answer.”

Yet the two men treated each other with respect overall, something we haven’t seen in a national debate in what seems like eons. Definitely pre-Trump era stuff.

After a spirited back and forth over immigration policy, Walz said, “You’re hearing a lot of stuff back and forth, and it’s good. It’s healthy.” Vance allowed that many of Harris’ policies “sound pretty good,” before wondering why she didn’t enact them during the last three-and-a-half years. At another point, Walz said he agreed with Vance’s assessment of how American manufacturing jobs were shipped overseas.

It was like watching a sepia-toned debate out of the 1990s. Lots of talk about policy and legislative politics. Yes! Let’s dig in.

Israel and Iran. The opening question was pretty direct: Would you support an Israeli strike on Iran in response to Tehran’s missile attack on Tuesday? President Joe Biden, Harris and top congressional leaders could face this crisis very soon.

Neither Walz nor Vance actually answered the question. While Vance said he’d leave that decision up to Israel, Walz didn’t really address it at all.

More broadly, there was shockingly little examination of Vance’s foreign policy views, which have been a defining feature of his short Senate tenure, especially when it comes to Ukraine. There were zero questions about the war in Ukraine.

The border and immigration. As expected, border security and immigration were central focuses of the debate. Walz zeroed in on the bipartisan Senate border bill that Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson helped torpedo earlier this year. This has become a go-to retort by Democrats in down-ballot races when they’re confronted over the crisis at the U.S-Mexico border, a real political vulnerability for their party.

Walz also touched on Trump’s immigration rhetoric and border wall promises dating back to 2015, making the argument quite effectively that Trump thrives when the border is in crisis because it helps him politically. Walz hit Vance over his rhetoric about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. Like many of Walz’s answers, it was rehearsed. But it worked.

In turn, Vance repeatedly blamed undocumented immigrants for an array of problems facing the country — housing, inflation, guns and crimes. He said Harris is now trying to copy many of Trump’s policies on the border because the current administration has failed.

Vance even gave Walz credit at one point, saying: “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.”

Vance on abortion. If there was a jaw-dropping moment of the night, it was Vance’s answer on abortion. Vance acknowledged that there are a lot of Americans who don’t agree with what he’s said on the issue.

Then Vance flatly declared that Americans don’t trust Republicans when it comes to abortion. This is something you hear from Democrats on the campaign trail constantly. And it’s something you never — and we mean never — hear from elected Republicans in the Capitol.

“We’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don’t trust us,” Vance said.

The China flub. Walz was clearly unprepared for perhaps the most predictable question of the night: Why did the Minnesota governor say he was in Tiananmen Square in June 1989 when he wasn’t? Walz stumbled badly, saying that he was proud of his service in Congress and as a soldier.

Pressed further, Walz seemed frozen, saying, “I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest. Went in, and from that, I learned a lot.”

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

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WASHINGTON X THE WORLD

Biden and Harris wrestle with Israel and Helene crises

President Joe Biden is struggling with twin crises — one foreign, one domestic — even as Vice President Kamala Harris runs to replace him at the job. And both of them face huge challenges — personally and politically — from the twin crises, challenges that may decide whether Harris can actually become Biden’s successor.

Biden will fly to Greenville, S.C., this afternoon, where he will be given an aerial tour of Hurricane Helene damage. Biden then travels to Raleigh, N.C., for a briefing at the Raleigh Emergency Operations Center. Biden heads back to Washington later tonight.

For her part, Harris will fly to Augusta, Ga., this afternoon. The Central Savannah River Area, where Augusta is located, was hit very hard by Helene. More than 25 people were killed, including some young children. Augusta’s water system lost power for several days. There’s been extensive road and tree damage. Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) were in Augusta on Monday. Harris will also return to D.C. afterward.

Georgia and North Carolina are two of the critical battleground states in the Nov. 5 elections. Harris and Biden have vowed to visit both states as soon as they could without interfering in rescue operations.

Harris is then scheduled to be in Wisconsin and Michigan later this week for campaign events.

Yet to do so, Biden and Harris must leave Washington even as a huge regional war threatens in the Middle East.

Harris cut short a West Coast fundraising trip earlier this week so she could attend briefings in Washington on the Helene situation. At the same time, Harris was pulled into the White House’s response to Tuesday’s Iranian missile attack on Israel, taking part in high-level meetings with national security and military advisers on what the administration should do next.

So far, the Israelis haven’t hit back at Iran, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel will retaliate for the barrage of nearly 200 missiles. Two U.S. Navy ships fired interceptors to help shoot down the Iranian missiles.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump was in Valdosta, Ga., on Monday. Trump claimed falsely that Kemp hadn’t been able to get hold of Biden, accusing the president of “sleeping” while Helene battered the Southeast region. That brought a sharp response from Biden, who accused Trump of lying.

Yet the Biden-Trump exchange shows the high stakes for both sides in the Helene response. Thousands of emergency personnel have deployed to the Southeast as part of the federal response to Helene. Biden has issued disaster declarations for North Carolina and Florida, as well as emergency declarations for countries affected by the megastorm.

But the White House and local and state officials in impacted areas are still groping with the scale of the disaster, especially in western North Carolina. More than 160 people were killed by Helene, making it one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. Extraordinarily heavy rains washed out homes and roads, and dozens of people are still missing or unaccounted for. More than 1.5 million people still don’t have power days after the storm. The cleanup will take months or even years, as well as many billions of dollars.

– John Bresnahan

TECH REPORT

Lina Khan hits the road with Democrats ahead of election

News: Lawmakers love to run the campaign gauntlet alongside celebs.

But the latest headline-grabber to spend the week with members courting votes isn’t an Instagram influencer. It’s Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.

Khan is scheduled to appear at an event with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) in Austin on Wednesday. Khan is also due to appear Thursday with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) in Chicago and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) in his district. Then Khan heads to Phoenix Friday for an event with Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who’s running for Senate in Arizona.

The zig-zagging suggests candidates think Khan has appeal on the trail.

Supporters of liberals like Sanders and Pocan love an anti-corporate pugilist. Gallego, on the other hand, is running more as a moderate Democrat in a purple state.

That makes him the kind of candidate who might want to echo concerns about the FTC expressed by Silicon Valley figures who are key supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. Instead, Gallego’s embracing Khan.

Khan’s events with lawmakers have nominal policy themes, of course. The one in Texas with Sanders and Casar is about “corporate power and worker freedom.” Krishnamoorthi and the chair will be talking about grocery prices and health care, while the topic is price gouging with Pocan.

But the timing so near the election is hard to ignore.

Khan-limbo: The FTC chair’s appearances on the road with Democrats come as her own future in Washington is in doubt. Khan’s term is up, and her hard-charging approach to the job seems to make the chances of a renomination slim no matter who holds the White House.

Khan has been a lightning rod since landing at the commission in 2021.

During her tenure, the FTC sued Meta, Amazon and other giants. Lawsuit after lawsuit has made Khan a hero not just to progressives but also to some young populist conservatives fed up with corporate power – or “Khan-servatives.”

Khan’s critics say she’s pursuing a vendetta against corporate America with fantastical interpretations of the law. Some who once supported her on Capitol Hill agree. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told us he regretted his vote to confirm Khan.

“A thousand times no,” Wicker said when asked if he’d support Khan again. Multiple GOP senators expressed the same sentiment.

High profile: Still, Khan’s cultural caché is way up. A glossy “60 Minutes” segment profiled her just last month.

The FTC chair isn’t acting like she’s on her way out. She’s appeared with progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) recently in their districts.

Rep. Joe Neguse, the assistant Democratic leader in the House, and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) both hosted Khan in their home state of Colorado back in July at an event focused on farmers’ rights to repair their agricultural equipment.

— Ben Brody

THE SENATE

The ‘Three Johns’ campaign season plan

The race for the Senate Republican Conference’s top job is revving up with the leadership elections just six weeks away.

The top contenders are spending October on the campaign trail to burnish their fundraising chops and try to win over the GOP candidates who, if they win their races, would be able to vote in the leadership elections.

This morning we’re going to focus on the “Three Johns” — Senate Minority Whip John Thune, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senate GOP Conference Chair John Barrasso.

Thune and Cornyn are running to succeed McConnell, while Barrasso is running unopposed for GOP whip, the No. 2 job.

The Senate adjourned last Wednesday until after the Nov. 5 elections, and all three have already hit the campaign trail to boost GOP candidates and incumbents as the party sets its sights on the Senate majority.

Thune: The South Dakota Republican was in Nevada and Ohio this past weekend to campaign for the Republican challengers there — Sam Brown and Bernie Moreno, respectively.

On Monday and Tuesday, Thune was in New York City raising money for Brown and Moreno as well as Kari Lake, Dave McCormick and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). McCormick is challenging Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), while Lake and Rogers are running for the open seats in Arizona and Michigan, respectively.

Thune is heading to Michigan later this week for Rogers and will be in Indiana next week for Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who’s nearly certain to win his race. Thune also has plans to travel to Montana later this month to campaign for Tim Sheehy, the Republican challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

More stops are expected. By the end of this week, Thune’s fundraising total for the 2024 cycle will hit $30 million, per a source familiar with his political operation. Thune transferred $4 million to the NRSC last month from his campaign account, the largest transfer in the organization’s history.

Cornyn: The Texan, who preceded Thune as GOP whip, told reporters last week he’s heading to Nevada, Michigan and Ohio in early October. Republicans are optimistic about Ohio given the expected margin of victory there for former President Donald Trump.

Cornyn’s team cautioned that this isn’t the full list of his expected stops and sent along this statement:

The “hard dollars” part is especially relevant here. Cornyn stood up a joint fundraising committee after the 2020 cycle that he’s used to raise millions of dollars that get sent directly to candidates. In a letter to donors last month, Cornyn touted his cumulative fundraising numbers, which include his tenure as NRSC chair for two terms.

Barrasso: While Barrasso doesn’t have an opponent in the GOP whip race, the Wyoming Republican has remained active on the campaign trail.

Barrasso plans to attend debates in Michigan and Arizona to support Rogers and Lake, respectively. Barrasso is also expected to attend rallies and in-state fundraisers for Moreno as well as Nebraska Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts. Fischer is facing a surprising challenge from independent candidate Dan Osborn.

Barrasso will also campaign for Banks and McCormick, plus Eric Hovde, the GOP nominee in Wisconsin. On top of that, he’s expected to participate in Trump campaign events this month.

— Andrew Desiderio

THE MONEY GAME

Pat Ryan’s big Q3 haul

News: Frontline Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) raised $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2024, a massive haul as the Democrat seeks to win reelection in New York’s 18th District.

Ryan is running against Republican Alison Esposito in the competitive seat, which the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter classifies as “lean Democrat.”

Ryan has outraised Esposito all cycle in one of the biggest disparities between an incumbent and a challenger in the entire nation. Esposito ended Q2 of 2024 with $730,000 on hand while Ryan had $3.5 million on hand at the same juncture.

— Max Cohen

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