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Manchin to start donating to Republicans

What to watch in today’s primaries

Biz groups lining up against data privacy bill

End Citizens United launch anti-Sheehy ad blitz

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Manchin to start donating to Republicans

Happy Tuesday morning.

News: Just weeks after leaving the Democratic Party, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) will start donating money to centrist lawmakers — including Republicans.

Manchin will convert his leadership PAC — Country Roads PAC — into a multicandidate vehicle, according to a source familiar with the planning. Manchin will then make $5,000 donations to Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), along with Sen. Angus King (I-Maine).

A second group of contributions will likely include Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) and John Avlon, the former CNN host turned Democratic congressional candidate in Long Island, the source said. Curtis is the leading candidate in the Senate GOP primary in Utah. Both Curtis and Avlon have their primaries tonight (more on that below).

Manchin, first elected to the Senate in 2010, gave $10,000 to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) reelection campaign in October 2022. Manchin had endorsed her earlier that year.

But this new effort will be much broader and more sustained, marking a new era for Manchin. The 76-year-old Manchin isn’t running for reelection in November, although he insisted that his recent party switch doesn’t signal a new campaign.

Here’s Jon Kott, who will run the new PAC, on Manchin’s new effort:

Kott — Manchin’s former senior adviser and communications director — is now a principal at Capitol Counsel.

Country Roads PAC reported more than $1.1 million in cash on hand at the end of March, per FEC filings.

The bigger question is what will Manchin do with the $8.4 million left in his reelection campaign coffers. We’re told that the issue is still under review.

Manchin’s decision to start donating to Republicans isn’t that surprising given his recent statements on leaving the Democratic Party, as well as his longstanding criticism of the party’s shift to the left.

“Today, our national politics are broken and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground,” Manchin said earlier this month. “To stay true to myself and remain committed to put country before party, I have decided to register as an independent with no party affiliation and continue to fight for America’s sensible majority.”

More Manchin to us recently:

Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resource Committee, endorsed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for reelection in 2019, a move that garnered national headlines during the hyperpartisan Trump era.

Manchin is well-liked among Republicans, who credit him with helping save the filibuster when President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats tried to get rid of it in 2022. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who also opposed eliminating the filibuster, is retiring as well.

Inherent contempt vote: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) will push for a Friday vote on an inherent contempt resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland, she told Fox News Monday night.

Garland has refused to turn over audiotapes of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews with Biden from the classified document probe. The Justice Department has given congressional investigators transcripts of the interviews but not the recordings themselves, despite multiple subpoenas from House committees.

House Republican leaders pushed through a contempt resolution against Garland, yet the Justice Department, of course, won’t prosecute the sitting attorney general. So House Republicans have two choices: inherent contempt or going to federal court and suing Garland and DOJ.

Inherent contempt is a terrible idea, of course, no matter which party floats it to garner some headlines. There’s a reason it hasn’t been used since the 1930s. As the Congressional Research Services notes, it’s been described as “cumbersome, inefficient, and ‘unseemly.’”

All of this may be moot, however. Leadership aides in both parties say there are enough votes to table Luna’s resolution.

— John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio

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What to watch in today’s primaries

Primary elections in New York, Colorado and Utah today will play a massive role in deciding what the House and Senate will look like next year. Here’s what we’re watching:

Can Bowman fend off Latimer and AIPAC?

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) could become the first Squad member to lose reelection. Bowman is facing a spirited primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a seasoned local politician who has capitalized on Bowman’s vulnerabilities in New York’s 16th District.

AIPAC’s super PAC has spent nearly $15 million in ads to unseat Bowman, who has attracted controversy with his outspoken anti-Israel views. This is the most expensive primary in U.S. history in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.

What Republican will replace Romney in Utah?

There is a crowded Republican primary in Utah to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Mitt Romney. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) is leading in the polls over Trent Staggs, the mayor of Riverton who received former President Donald Trump’s backing. If Curtis can prevail, it’ll be another sign Utah Republicans aren’t completely in lockstep with Trump.

Elsewhere in the Beehive State, newly elected Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) is seeking to fend off a right-wing primary challenge from Colby Jenkins. Jenkins is endorsed by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), while Trump is behind Maloy.

Can Boebert win reelection in a new district?

Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) decision to run in the GOP primary in the seat vacated by former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) has improved her chances of staying in Congress. Boebert still has to navigate a crowded primary in Colorado’s 4th District, but she’s the favorite to advance and win a ruby-red seat.

Voters in the 4th District are also electing Buck’s short-term replacement. But the favorite, Republican Greg Lopez, isn’t running for a full term in November.

In Boebert’s old 3rd District, Democrats are trying to meddle in the Republican primary by boosting far-right candidate Ron Hanks.

Which Democrats will advance in competitive New York House seats?

In two battleground New York House districts — the 1st and the 22nd — Democrats are locked in competitive primaries. In Rep. Nick LaLota’s (R-N.Y.) Long Island seat, former CNN anchor John Avlon is running against educator Nancy Goroff.

In the 22nd District, represented by Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.), Air Force veteran Sarah Klee Hood is up against state Sen. John Mannion. President Joe Biden won in both districts in 2020.

Want more Election 2024 coverage? Keep an eye out for a special edition of The Tally in your inboxes later this morning. We delve into the tricky relationship between Democratic leadership and Bowman in the run-up to today’s key race; provide exclusive details on how Senate GOP leadership candidates are spending their summers and much more.

— Max Cohen

PRIVACY WATCH

Biz groups lining up against data privacy bill

With the House Energy and Commerce Committee moving toward a Thursday markup of a major data privacy bill, business groups are coming out against the legislation, demanding members oppose the measure unless major changes are made.

More than 150 state-level trade association groups, working under the aegis of the National Retail Federation — which includes industry giants Amazon and Walmart — told Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (N.J.), the top Democrat on the panel, they’re seeking “significant changes… to address our concerns with the private right of action and service provider requirements within the bill.”

From the groups’ letter:

The retail groups also argue that “the bill makes Main Street liable for the privacy violations of big tech companies on the theory that Main Street should police what the tech companies do on privacy even though our members are just not equipped to do that.”

Privacy for America, a coalition of advertising industry groups, opposes the proposed legislation as well.

In its own letter to McMorris Rodgers and Pallone, the group wrote that the proposed bill “would significantly hamper everyday engagement between companies and individuals, cut individuals off from the products, services, information, and resources they enjoy and rely on today, and stifle the innovative American economy.”

Specifically, the group says the legislation would essentially ban commonly used targeted advertising tools while making it more difficult for law enforcement agencies to collect data on individuals suspected of committing a crime or conspiring to do so.

Two other advertising industry groups — the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies — said the proposal “would eviscerate the modern advertising industry.” This letter was first reported by Politico Influence.

The bipartisan CMR-Pallone bill would create new federal privacy standards. It includes an updated version of COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. It mandates a ban on “targeted advertising” to minors, among other restrictions. And there’s a “private right of action” that allows individual Americans to sue “covered entities” that use their personal data without consent.

A Hill source close to the issue dismissed the letters as “the same playbook and talking points [business groups] have been using for years.”

The source added: “They are the ones watering down state laws and now actively working to make it a patchwork.”

— John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio

THE CAMPAIGN

End Citizens United launch anti-Sheehy ad blitz

News: Progressive group End Citizens United is launching a $500,000 digital ad blitz attacking Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy as a “rich out-of-stater.”

Democrats are eager to define Sheehy, a political newcomer looking to unseat vulnerable Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), as someone who only looks out for special interests.

One digital ad accuses Sheehy of trying to close off access to public lands. Another ad hits a similar note — painting Sheehy as a “wannabe cowboy” — while following a viral TikTok trend.

Tester is seeking a fourth term in deep-red Montana. He’s fighting against political headwinds with former President Donald Trump on the ballot.

More campaign news: Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno is heading to Israel next month as a show of support for the U.S. ally. Moreno is also using the trip to bash Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), with campaign spokesperson Reagan McCarthy sending us a statement last night accusing Brown of “sid[ing] with Hamas over Israel.”

And in Arizona, Democrat Kirsten Engel’s campaign is launching a microsite taking aim at Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s (R-Ariz.) ties to a Christian group called the Patriot Academy.

— Max Cohen

DOWNTOWN DOWNLOAD

Northwestern University has hired Harbinger Strategies to lobby on “[i]ssues related to Congressional oversight of Institutions of Higher Education.”

— Jake Sherman

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