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Who we’re watching

→ Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.): Unless every single public poll is wrong, Cheney is going to lose to Harriet Hageman by a large margin in the Wyoming GOP primary on Tuesday. Yet there’s already speculation that Cheney may run for president in 2024, perhaps as a Republican or an independent. Everyone will be closely watching what Cheney says on election night.

→ Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and the Alaska primary: Trump’s vengeance tour hits the Last Frontier this week. Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka, the former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, is primarying Murkowski – as are 18 other candidates. Under Alaska’s “top four” primary system, the four leading vote getters will advance to the general election in November. Ranked voting will be used in that election, which gives Murkowski a really good shot at winning another term. Perhaps Murkowski will even get a majority this time.

→ Sarah Palin: The race for the seat held by the late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) is quite interesting. There will actually be two elections on Tuesday – one to fill the remainder of Young’s current term, the other is the primary for November’s general election.

In the special, Sarah Palin, the former governor, is trying to win her first political race in 16 years, but she faces Nick Begich. Begich’s grandfather is the late Rep. Nick Begich (D-Alaska), who died in a plane crash with Hale Boggs in 1972. His uncle is former Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska). But this Begich, however, is a lifelong conservative Republican. The Democrat in the race is Mary Peltola. It will take until at least Aug. 31 to know who won this special election due to the use of ranked-choice voting for the first time.

The November primary has a huge field of more than 20 candidates. The top four will make it onto the ballot for the general election. Ranked voting will be used in that election as well. Palin, Begich and Peltola are all in the primary.

– Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Everyone is on the road this August

As we noted above, Congress is out of session until September, the president is on vacation, the vice president is in Hawaii, no one is home.

But August is a huge month for political and congressional travel too.

Florida GOP Gov. Ron Desantis is taking part in a very closely watched tour to Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania. On Sunday, DeSantis was in Phoenix for an event with Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters and GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

DeSantis took a swipe at the FBI and Justice Department over the search of former President Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago to retrieve classified documents (h/t Aaron Navarro of CBS News):

DeSantis also mocked President Joe Biden over having Covid: “How many times did he test positive for Covid?” More than 78,000 people in Florida have died of Covid since the pandemic started, but hey, it’s a good joke, right?

Other Republicans with 2024 dreams were also on the road. Former Vice President Mike Pence is in Iowa and New Hampshire. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is in New Hampshire; Cotton was in Iowa last month. Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan was at the Iowa State Fair. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem were in Nevada over the weekend. Nebraska GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts was there too.

A congressional delegation including Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) visited Taiwan just two weeks after Speaker Nancy Pelosi was there. China has announced new military drills as a result of the delegation’s visit.

Don’t forget reporters too. A friend mentions that the “political industrial complex” has descended on Jackson, Wyo., for the primary Tuesday. There’s enormous attention being paid to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who has gained a national profile as the anti-Trump Republican. Cheney is likely to get swamped in the primary, but her presidential aspirations for 2024 are what’s drawing the press. Look for a lot of Jackson datelines this week.

– John Bresnahan

DOWNTOWN DOWNLOAD

→ We’ve noticed an interesting quasi-trend. Both Nestlé and ​Perrigo Company have registered to lobby Congress on infant formula. Perrigo, which is based in Ireland, has signed with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer to lobby on “[f]ederal policy matters related to various healthcare issues, including the manufacturing of infant formula.” Nestlé hired Rampy Northrup to lobby on “[i]ssues related to infant formula and medical nutrition.” Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, is headquartered in Switzerland.

With the baby formula shortage top of mind for families nationwide, big food companies – both foreign and domestic – are clearly trying to raise their profile on Capitol Hill.

– Jake Sherman

THE CAMPAIGN

→ Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), who lost his primary, spent nearly all of his campaign money in the second quarter of 2022. Cawthorn shelled out $575,730 in the quarter and has just $1,504 on hand. He refunded donors more than $200,000.

On June 30, Cawthorn put $207,585 of his own money into his campaign. This represents a good chunk of Cawthorn’s personal assets. A financial disclosure form filed last week showed that the freshman Republican has between $500,000 and $1 million in a money market account and between $150,000 and $350,000 in ethereum and the “Let’s Go Brandon” digital currency.

→ Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) has a new ad touting his work to pass the PACT Act, which helps veterans who were impacted by burn pits and other toxic substances during their military service. This spot is running statewide.

→ Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.) is going negative against her GOP opponent, Adam Laxalt. She is running this spot in Reno suggesting Laxalt was ineffective during the opioid crisis because he received campaign donations from drug makers.

→ Dan Goldman, the former impeachment counsel who is running for Congress, has a minute-long ad up in New York touting his career in public service. Goldman is running in a crowded primary in lower Manhattan. He was endorsed over the weekend by the New York Times editorial board. Goldman is an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and just put $1 million of his own money into his campaign.

→ House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries released a digital ad to coincide with the start of early voting in the New York primaries. Jeffries says although many people had written off Brooklyn years ago due to crime and drug problems, those who stuck around are fighting to improve lives.

“We won’t stop until we have guns off the street, more affordable housing and the kind of opportunity that lifts people up instead of pushing them out,” Jeffries says in the ad. Unlike some other high-profile members of the New York congressional delegation, Jeffries is almost certain to win his primary.

→ Here’s an odd trend that was flagged to us by multiple people this weekend: Two top candidates running for the Republican Senate nomination in New Hampshire said during a debate that they’d support overturning the 17th Amendment. Yup, that’s the one that mandates popular election of U.S senators.

— Jake Sherman and Max Cohen

MOMENTS

President Joe Biden is in Kiawah Island, S.C., and has no public events scheduled.

Vice President Kamala Harris will leave Los Angeles for Kauai, Hawaii, this morning.

The House and Senate are out of session.

CLIP FILE

The New Yorker

→ “The Biden Inheritance,” by Adam Entous

NYT

→ “Some Republicans Make a More Restrained Case for Defending Trump,” by Luke Broadwater

→ “In Wyoming, Likely End of Cheney Dynasty Will Close a Political Era,” by Jonathan Martin in Cody, Wyo.

→ “Brittney Griner appeals her conviction on drug charges in Russia, her defense team says,” by Ivan Nechepurenko

→ “Saudi Aramco’s Profit Jumps 90 Percent on High Oil Prices,” by Kevin Granville

WaPo

→ “New Afghanistan report an investigative roadmap, if GOP wins the House,” by Karoun Demirjian and Tim Craig

WSJ

→ “FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago Achieved a DOJ Top Priority: Get the Documents,” Aruna Viswanatha, Sadie Gurman and Alex Leary

→ “Russia’s Goal in Attack on Nuclear Plant: Take the Electricity, Ukraine Says,” by Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw

AP

→ “Iran denies being involved in attack on Salman Rushdie,” by Jon Gambrell in Dubai

Miami Herald

→ “Decade after abduction, Austin Tice’s parents say Biden has strategy to return their son,” by Michael Wilner