Steyer won’t run for president, commits to spending $40M on impeachment efforts Presented by the United States Postal Service

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— Billionaire Tom Steyer will not run for president, after toying with a run for years. He will still pour his money into his Need to Impeach super PAC.


— A top staffer during Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) 2016 campaign was accused by a subordinate of forcibly kissing her. The staffer denies the allegations while representatives for Sanders said the staffer will not be on any future campaigns.

— An Iowa state senator announced he is launching a primary challenge against Rep. Steve King, pledging to be a conservative in the House who won’t embarrass the district as King has.

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Days until the 2019 election: 299

Days until the 2020 election: 663

HE’S (NOT) RUNNING — After flirting with a presidential run, Steyer said he’s not pulling the trigger. The billionaire environmentalist announced in Iowa that he will instead invest another $40 million into his effort to impeach President Donald Trump.

That money will go toward new ad campaigns, town halls and a summit in D.C., among other operations. POLITICO’s Chris Cadelago has more here.

Steyer still commands two incredibly valuable resources that could come into play down the road: money and a voter list. The $40 million sum in an off year is an astronomical amount, and would account for about 57 percent of what he spent in the entire midterm cycle (where he was in the top three of individual donors to outside spending groups). His Need to Impeach super PAC also boasts a list of “nearly 7 million” supporters that he could activate.

He declined to endorse any presidential candidate at his Iowa press conference, calling it “premature,” but a release from Need to Impeach said they will push to convince members of Congress and presidential candidates that impeachment is necessary.

CAMPAIGNING AND #METOO — Robert Becker, a top staffer on Sanders’ 2016 campaign, was accused of trying to forcibly kiss a subordinate after the Democratic convention, POLITICO’s Alex Thomson reported. Becker is not currently on Sanders’ payroll, but had been calling around to prepare for any future run, activities that were not supported or disavowed by top Sanders’ aides.

“It just really sucks because no one ever held him accountable and he kept pushing and pushing and seeing how much he could get away with,” the woman, who was granted anonymity out of fear of reprisal, told Alex. She did not formally report the incident at the time because the campaign was over.

Becker has refuted the allegations, saying “I categorically deny these allegations of improper and unprofessional conduct” and that his recollection of the night is very different. Sanders’ principal campaign, Friends of Bernie Sanders, said Becker “would not be a part of any future campaigns.” Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager, said he just recently learned of the allegation but believed it to be credible. More than a half-dozen staffers outlined a pattern of other inappropriate behavior or poor management, but several others defended Becker on the record in Alex’s report.

— If Sanders does run for president again, he’ll be doing it with a different campaign manager. CNN’s Gregory Krieg reported that Weaver will not return to that role. Weaver said in an interview with CNN that if Sanders runs, he could fill a “strategic adviser” role or something similar.

THE NEXT TRIP — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is making her first trip to New Hampshire this cycle, via POLITICO’s Natasha Korecki.

PRIMARY WATCH — Republican Randy Feenstra, assistant majority leader in the Iowa state Senate, announced Wednesday he’s launching a primary challenge against King in IA-04. Feenstra is not running toward the middle to try to beat King; instead he’s arguing King is ineffective because he has embarrassed the district. “Iowa’s 4th District doesn’t have a voice in Washington, because our current representative’s caustic nature has left us without a seat at the table,” he said in a statement. The Republican Party of Iowa said it will be neutral in the race, “as we are in all legitimate primary contests,” as did Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, per WHO-TV’s Dave Price. Jeff King, Steve King’s son who also works for his campaign, blasted Feenstra an emailed statement to the Des Moine Register’s Barbara Rodriguez: “Today, misguided political opportunism, fueled by establishment puppeteers, has revealed that Mr. Feenstra is easily swayed by the lies of the left.”

SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN — Some potential 2020 hopefuls have been using the battle over the shutdown and the border wall to raise money and engage with the base. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) have run ads related to the shutdown, and the president has fundraised off of his Tuesday Oval Office address, POLITICO’s Maggie Severns reported. Democrats are “not trying to persuade middle-of-the-road voters with this, they’re trying to get Democratic activists — not only from early primary, caucus states, but the small-donor community across the country — excited,” Ian Russell, a Democratic strategist, told Maggie.

— Meanwhile, some freshmen House Democrats are panicking about the shutdown fallout. “The frustration is starting to reach a tipping point for some who fear the prolonged stalemate could do real political damage in vulnerable Democratic districts,” POLITICO’s Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris write. Freshmen set up an “impromptu 90-minute meeting over the weekend” to discuss the party’s strategy on the shutdown. “If I am getting comments and contact from my constituents expressing concern that the Democrats are not prioritizing security, then I think we can do better,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) told Heather and Sarah.

NEW LEADERSHIP — DCCC chair Cheri Bustos has filled out her team for the committee’s recruitment and Frontline programs (Frontline is the DCCC’s list of the most vulnerable incumbents). Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), Val Demings (D-Fla.) and Donald McEachin (D-Va.) will oversee recruitment, while Reps. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) will helm the Frontline program, Campaign Pro’s Laura Barrón-López reported.

— Some interesting notes on the class: There’s only one white man among the six. Schneider is particularly familiar with competitive races — having once lost reelection in 2014, only to regain his seat. All six are members of the centrist New Democrat Coalition — with none in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

PRESIDENTIAL POWER — Will the president play kingmaker again? Since Trump weighed in during Kansas’ 2018 Republican gubernatorial primaries, many Republicans in the state say he could elevate a candidate for the race for the 2020 Senate nomination. Kelly Arnold, the outgoing state GOP chair, told McClatchy’s Bryan Lowry that Trump’s last-minute Twitter endorsement “by itself is what put Kris Kobach over the top in the primary and that ‘I never know what he’s going to do when he gets his phone out to tweet.’”

— Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Republican, said she is forming an exploratory committee for a possible Senate run, per The Wichita Eagle’s Jonathan Shorman.

NEW GIG? — Rep. Ken Buck is interested in running for Colorado GOP party chair, 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark reported.

UP NEXT — James Mackler, a Democratic attorney from Nashville who ran for his party’s Senate nomination in 2018 before dropping out ahead of the primary, said he will run in 2020, per the Tennessean’s Joey Garrison.

— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will prioritize an effort to have the state hold its federal and state primaries on the same day, Democratic Reps. Gregory Meeks and Grace Meng told POLITICO’s Laura Barrón-López and Heather Caygle.

WHAT'S NEXT? — Democrat Andrew Janz, who lost to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in CA-22 in 2018, is launching a voting rights group. Janz, who was a prolific fundraiser, said the group will focus on passing voting rights laws in an interview with The Hill’s Lisa Hagen. He didn’t rule out challenging Nunes again in 2020.

CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I am running for president … of the Eastern Shore Antique Car Club,” Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam in his State of the Commonwealth address.

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