DSCC endorses MJ Hegar in Texas

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Quick Fix

— The DSCC is endorsing MJ Hegar in the wide-open Texas Democratic Senate primary, the latest example of the party committee choosing sides to pick favored candidates in battleground states.


— Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) announced that he won’t primary anyone in 2020, passing on a challenge to Sen. Thom Tillis or one of his House colleagues.

— South Jersey Republicans are happy that freshman Rep. Jeff Van Drew is switching sides, but they aren’t rolling out the welcome mat for him by clearing the NJ-02 primary field.

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Days until the PBS NewsHour/POLITICO Democratic primary debate: 2

Days until the Iowa caucuses: 48

Days until the New Hampshire primary: 56

Days until the 2020 election: 322

TopLine

AP Photo

PICKING SIDES — There are more than a dozen Democrats running for the Senate in Texas, with no obvious frontrunner right now — but the DSCC is trying to change that, throwing its weight behind Hegar, the fundraising leader.

“Texas has emerged as a battleground opportunity for Democrats up and down the ballot, and MJ Hegar is the strongest candidate to flip the U.S. Senate seat," DSCC Chair Catherine Cortez Masto said (The Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek was the first to report the endorsement).

This, predictably, angered a lot of the other Democrats running, many of whom are considered legitimate contenders in their own right: including Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards, state Sen. Royce West, former Rep. Chris Bell and activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez. Hear from David Sanchez, Tzintzún Ramirez’s campaign manager, who called the endorsement “tone-deaf to the diverse Texas electorate”: “It is disappointing that the national Democratic establishment is so afraid of progressive ideas that it will not even give Texas voters a chance to hear them.”

But the endorsement of Hegar is part of an aggressive strategy the DSCC adopted this cycle: picking their preferred candidate early in battleground (and reach) states, and letting everyone know about it. As Campaign Pro’s James Arkin noted, the DSCC has endorsed in most even plausible competitive races: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and now Texas.

The one notable exception to this is the pair of Senate races in Georgia, where the DSCC has not endorsed any candidates (and there is no clear, obvious top contender for either race).



Presidential Big Board

THE DEBATE STAGE — The DNC is working to make sure the labor dispute between food service workers at Loyola Marymount University and the subcontractor Sodexo is resolved ahead of Thursday’s PBS NewsHour/POLITICO debate. DNC comms director Xochitl Hinojosa said Tom Perez spent the weekend on the phone, and that they expect all parties to “promptly” return to the negotiating table, per POLITICO’s Caitlin Oprysko.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have maintained their detente. But as the race goes on, “it’s increasingly clear that their biggest obstacle to winning the Democratic nomination is each other,” The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin reported. “Interviews with aides from both camps ... produce a common refrain. The two candidates are loath to attack each other because they fear negativity would merely antagonize the other’s supporters. The only way to eventually poach the other’s voters, each campaign believes, is by winning considerably more votes in the first caucuses and primaries.”

HISTORY LESSON — Lawsuits over the years have alleged that Mike Bloomberg has “directed crude and sexist comments to women in his office,” ABC News’ Tom Llamas, Lucien Bruggeman, Sasha Pezenik, Tonya Simpson and Matthew Mosk wrote. “Court records reviewed by ABC News indicate that at least 17 women have taken legal action against the company over the past three decades, with three of the cases specifically naming Bloomberg for his role in the company’s culture. None of the cases made it to trial – four were either dismissed or withdrawn, while five were settled out of court. Three cases remain active.”

— Bloomberg’s big spending strategy is running up against “his personal Iowa: the state of California,” POLITICO’s Chris Cadelago wrote.“But nowhere more than in California is his run turning the presidential landscape into a giant political science experiment that tests how an aging ex-Republican known for his withdrawn campaigning style — and led by a seasoned band of political assassins — will fare. A multi-candidate primary presents opportunities for Bloomberg to pick off delegates: Public polling shows a strong majority of Democrats in the state prefer elevating a nominee who could beat Donald Trump to picking a candidate whose policy views align more closely to theirs.”

POLICY PRIMARY — Andrew Yang released his health care plan, which breaks with both Medicare for All and a public option. “Yang proposes six reforms to the current system he calls a more ‘productive’ approach to lowering health care costs for people who are struggling, billing his plan as a ‘new way forward for health care in America,’” POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein and Eugene Daniels wrote. “‘I support the spirit of Medicare for All,’ Yang said in rolling out his new plan on Dec. 16, adding that he feels ‘eliminating private insurance for millions of Americans is not a realistic strategy.’”

POLLS POLLS POLLS — A new Quinnipiac University national poll gives Joe Biden a comfortable lead. He is at 30 percent to Warren’s 17 percent and Sanders’ 16 percent. Pete Buttigieg is at 9 percent and Bloomberg is at 7 percent, the last candidate at or above 5 percent (567 Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents; Dec. 11-15; 4.1 percentage point MOE).

Down the Ballot

AP Photo

WALKIN’ AWAY — Walker won’t seek public office in 2020, after considering primarying a bevy of North Carolina Republicans after his House seat was redrawn to be deep blue. “In the statement, Walker said he would seriously consider running for Senate in 2022, when GOP Sen. Richard Burr is expected to retire after finishing his current term,” James and Ally Mutnick reported. “In his statement, Walker suggested he would have the president’s support for his 2022 Senate bid. … In a local cable-TV interview Monday evening, Walker said he chose not to primary a fellow Republican or run for lieutenant governor because of his 2022 ambitions.”

NO RED CARPET — Van Drew will still have to prove himself to Republicans in NJ-02. “In a statement Monday morning, Gloucester County GOP Chairwoman Jacci Vigilante said her party 'welcomes all Democrats who walk away from the hard left … [but] with that said, Mr. Van Drew needs to understand we have three qualified candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the Second Congressional District who have been working hard to gain County support, which means, if he plans on seeking the nomination, he has a lot of catching up to do,'” POLITICO New Jersey’s Matt Friedman reported. David Richter, a wealthy Republicans who was already running, has vowed to remain in the race. “If I have to put $1 million of my own money into this race, to win, I’m prepared to do it,” he told The New York Times’ Tracey Tully.

Van Drew had been under a heavy pressure campaign from Republican leaders to switch parties. Republicans are “going to beat you anyway,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Van Drew, POLITICO’s John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle reported. More from Bres and Heather: “Behind-the-scenes, former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie spoke to Van Drew about switching parties, said GOP sources. … McCarthy kept on reaching out to Van Drew, as did other House Republicans. Van Drew and Trump exchanged several phone calls in the last couple of weeks, brokered in part by McCarthy. Trump and McCarthy argued that Van Drew would be better off in the GOP.”

On the Democratic side: Brigid Callahan Harrison, a political science professor at Montclair State University, officially announced her bid on Monday. West Cape May Commissioner John Francis III told The New Jersey Globe’s David Wildstein that he would run “no matter what happens.” Amy Kennedy, a teacher and the wife of former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.), also formed an exploratory committee, per The Press of Atlantic City’s Michelle Brunetti.

— Not considering switching? Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who told KFGO’s Paul Jurgens that despite “overtures by the highest levels of the Republican Party in the last couple weeks,” he isn’t considering switching.

FIRST IN SCORE — ENDORSEMENT CORNER — NARAL Pro-Choice America is backing Democrat Christy Smith in CA-25, joining the cascade of local and national groups lining up behind the state assemblywoman. “Voters sent a clear message in 2018 when they flipped this district blue and sent a Democratic majority to the House,” Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL, said in a statement. “Christy Smith has shown she will fight for the vast majority of Americans who believe women should be able to make their own decisions about pregnancy with the support of those they love and trust. We’re proud to endorse her for this crucial seat.”

— The Blue Dog Coalition endorsed Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni in TX-22.

THE HOUSE MAP — Republican state Sen. Daniel Hemmert is dropping out of the race in UT-04, per Utah Policy’s Bryan Schott. Hemmert had thus far been the fundraising leader in the GOP primary and was touted as a top recruit by the NRCC.

— Democrat Rhonda Foxx, a former aide to Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.), announced she was filing to run in the new NC-06.

— Democratic state Rep. Kristine Reeves resigned from the state legislature on Monday ahead of what a source close to Reeves described as part of her exploration for a run in the open WA-10, Ally reported. Democratic Rep. Denny Heck is retiring in the district.

— Democrat Gina Collias, an attorney, launched a bid to challenge GOP Rep. Mark Meadows in the newly-redrawn NC-11. The district got a little friendler to Democrats after the map redraw, but it is still a solid Republican seat in POLITICO’s election forecast.

— Republican Chris Putnam, who is primarying Rep. Kay Granger in TX-12, announced he was launching a TV ad in the district. The ad compares Granger to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then calls Putnam “a pro-Trump, pro-life conservative.”

— Republican Trae Zipperer, a Navy veteran, announced he was “testing the waters” for a campaign in FL-19.

THE ROLLS — A federal judge allowed Georgia officials to purge 300,000 inactive voters from the rolls. “U.S. District Judge Steve Jones said Monday that he will further consider the issue Thursday, but in the meantime the voter registration cancellation can move forward,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Niesse reported. “Fair Fight Action, an organization suing the state over voting rights, had asked Jones to halt the removal of about 120,000 inactive voters from the state’s rolls. The rest of the cancellations target people who have moved away.”

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “See! Can’t think for themselves!” — Sanders joking after staffers order pepperoni pizza after he does, per BuzzFeed News’ Ruby Cramer (read all of her story, it is masterful).

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