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“Senate Republicans are raising concerns about Hershel Walker’s past in a state widely viewed as their best pickup opportunity next year,” Politico reports.
Said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): “Some of it’s pretty bad, obviously: physical abuse and pulling a gun on his wife, if that’s true.”
“Walker’s potential candidacy offers another test case for the former president’s influence over the GOP.”
“DNC Chair Jaime Harrison is delivering a letter to over 20 U.S. cities today, inviting them to apply to host the 2024 convention,” Axios reports.
A new survey finds nearly two-thirds of Americans say they’d support federal, state or local governments requiring everyone to get a coronavirus vaccine.
Also interesting: 45% of Republicans said they approve of such mandates. A majority of respondents in all but three states — Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota — said they support requirements that everyone be vaccinated.
Playbook: “The White House has been tripping over themselves for months to emphasize that they have no plans to create vaccine mandates, with an eye on the conservative media outlets that have been trying to stir up fear about the prospect. But it turns out … that’s actually what Americans want.”
Associated Press: “The highest ranking Republican in the Wisconsin Assembly said Friday that he was expanding a probe into the 2020 presidential election, saying it will take more investigators and time than originally planned.”
“House Democratic leaders failed to round up enough votes on Friday to pass legislation extending the federal ban on evictions just two days before it is set to expire,” The Hill reports.
“Two Democratic lawmakers said that a possible House floor vote on Friday was ultimately scrapped after leadership struggled all day to round up enough support.”
Peggy Noonan: “These are the reasons what happened on 1/6 can’t be allowed to become normal. One way to discourage that is to see that all involved pay a steep practical and reputational price—public exposure, shame and, when a crime can be proved, prison time. To determine who deserves this requires investigation.”
“Indignation is a form of loyalty. You protect the things you love.”
She concludes: “Nail this story down. Nail everyone involved. Then, and only then, move on.”
“President Joe Biden announced Friday plans to nominate Khizr Khan, who famously criticized Donald Trump for his disparaging remarks on Muslim-Americans during the 2016 Democratic National Convention, to a post with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,” Politico reports.
“Trump has not had a big win in quite a while. I think without wins, his political capital is depleted.”
— GOP strategist Alex Conant, quoted by The Hill.
Wall Street Journal: “For President Biden and the group of senators who negotiated it, the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure agreement vindicates a long-held belief: With enough time, effort and expertise, bipartisanship on a major issue is still possible in a rancorously divided Washington.”
“But the agreement—which cleared an initial procedural step in the Senate with broad bipartisan support on Wednesday and faces several more hurdles before it can become law—also took place in a context that may be difficult to replicate in coming legislative efforts.”
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) attempted to bring a handgun through security at the Asheville airport in February, the Raleigh News & Observer reports.
If California Gov. Gavin Newsom is recalled, he predicts the effects would be felt “all across the country” for “many, many years,” arguing that it could boost Republican chances in the 2022 midterms, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Said Newsom: “If this was a successful recall, I think it would have profound consequences nationwide, and go to not just politics, but to policy and policymaking.”
Frank Newport: “First, there is room for vaccine uptake improvement in the U.S.”
“Second, vaccine hesitancy is deeply entrenched with the partisan differences in views of the world that control much of American social and political discourse these days.”
“Third, efforts to control vaccine-related behavior through mandates may be more effective than attitudinal campaigns.”
Philadelphia’s elections board voted Friday to reject a Republican state senator’s request for access to its voting machines for a “forensic investigation” into former President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, the Associated Press reports.
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“The Justice Department on Friday said the Treasury Department must turn over former President Trump’s long-sought tax returns to the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee,” The Hill reports.
From the memo: “The statute at issue here is unambiguous: ‘Upon written request’ of the chairman of one of the three congressional tax committees, the Secretary ‘shall furnish’ the requested tax information to the Committee.”
“A sobering scientific analysis published Friday of an explosive Massachusetts covid-19 outbreak fueled by the delta variant found that three-quarters of the people who became infected were fully vaccinated,” the Washington Post reports.
“The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bolstered the hypothesis that vaccinated people can spread the more transmissible variant and may be a factor in the summer surge of infections.”
New York Times: “The vaccines remain powerfully effective against severe illness and death, and infections in vaccinated people are thought to be comparatively rare.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) criticized the “inconsistency” of Republicans who were all-in for President Donald Trump’s infrastructure ideas but aren’t supporting the $550 billion bipartisan deal reached this week, Bloomberg reports.
Said Cassidy: “President Donald Trump recommended a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package. Republicans were all on board. If Republicans were on board for former President Trump, we are one-third the cost and have it paid for, it seems like something that should be acceptable.”
Charlie Cook: “Democratic hopes of retaining their slim majorities in Congress are almost entirely dependent upon President Biden not sinking them.”
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.