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The clock is ticking for Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and other key Democrats to come to the aid of California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM as he tries to fight off a recall.
That election is just 33 days away — and a number of Harris’ former political advisers are taking the lead in trying to keep him in office. Polling last month showed Newsom may be in trouble: a Berkeley Institute of Government Studies/Los Angeles Times poll showed support for the recall was within three percentage points of the opposition to the effort, with many Democrats and independents apathetic. Like many low-turnout, off-year elections, the vote is likely to hinge on which side is more energized.
Harris herself told the San Francisco Chronicle last month that she would be campaigning for the Democatic governor of her home state. We reached out to the vice president’s office on Thursday. “Nothing to announce just yet,” a spokeswoman said.
Aug. 16 is the last day for counties to send out ballots. Some in-person polling sites will open on Sept. 4, and the recall election is scheduled for Sept. 14. So the time is now—or pretty damn close to now—for high profile Democrats to jump in.
“Newsom definitely needs that support,” said DAN SCHNUR, a politics professor at three California universities and former political strategist advising Republicans in the state. “The sooner the better. Every day after the ballots go out that Harris or Biden is not engaged in the race is a day in which voters are mailing their ballot without that input.”
Turnout and voter apathy is a problem in a state that’s once again dealing with rising Covid-19 cases, raging wildfires, drought and the potential for energy blackouts. Schnur said the way to gain the support of progressive Democrats is to frame the race in a national context.
“A progressive Democrat who might not be all that excited about it clearly still wants to see their party succeed nationally,” Schnur said. Progressive favorite Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) has cut an ad on Newsom’s behalf, warning that “Trump Republicans" who have been "attacking election results and the right to vote" are "coming to grab power in California."
But Schnur says, “the two best people” to help goose Democratic voter interest “are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
As for Biden…. White House press secretary JEN PSAKI in February tweeted that the president “clearly opposes any effort to recall” Newsom. The White House on Thursday had no new information about any upcoming Biden campaigning.
The calls to oust Newsom grew louder after the first term governor was photographed last year at a large group dinner at an exclusive Napa County restaurant, just as Covid-19 cases surged and the state had restricted gatherings. The governor’s actions remain in the spotlight as he continues to take the lead in managing the pandemic — most recently mandating vaccines or regular testing for teachers across the state.
Newsom’s team to fight the recall includes Harris’ former campaign manager JUAN RODRIGUEZ and senior advisers ACE SMITH and SEAN CLEGG — the three behind the rebranded political shop Bearstar Strategies, formerly SCRB Strategies. The Stop the Republican Recall of Governor political committee has paid Bearstar $178,206.76 so far this year, according to campaign finance disclosures.
It’s a big test for Rodriguez, who took the brunt of criticism after Harris’ presidential campaign fell apart in 2019.
The recall fight team also includes COURTNI PUGH, the former California state director for Harris’ presidential bid and BRIAN BROKAW, a strategist who served as Harris’ campaign manager for her first run for attorney general.
Harris’ approval rating in California has taken a dip this summer — at 49 percent approval and 38 disapproval in late July compared to 53-33 in May. But stumping for Newsom would still show the California recall battle is a priority for Democrats. The Democratic Governors’ Association contributed $500,000 to the effort in May and another $1 million this month.
The first question on the ballot asks whether Newsom should be recalled from the office of governor. The second will ask who should succeed Newsom if he’s recalled. If a majority of voters vote “yes” on the first question, the candidate with the most votes on the second question would win, with no majority required.
We asked some veteran California political consultants, and former Harris alums, whether the vice president and any efforts from national Democratic groups will actually help Newsom.
“It's really just about making sure that enough Democrats aren't so fucking distracted, just to use a term of art, or confused, or don't care to take a pass in a mid-September off-year election,” said NATHAN BARANKIN, a strategist who served as Harris’ chief of staff as attorney general and in the U.S. Senate.
“People like the DNC, yes, they have money, but they have organizers, resources and tools that help ping people. Kamala Harris, just like many of the other people that the governor has and will deploy between now and Election Day, are folks who are going to get people's attention and help focus the mind.”
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PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA
With the Partnership for Public Service
How many U.S. presidents have visited all 50 states while in office?
(Answer is at the bottom.)
The Oval
BACK TO REALITY — Top Biden adviser ANITA DUNN has left the White House, for real this time. Dunn is returning to SKDK, the firm she co-founded, but she’ll remain an outside adviser to Biden. Dunn also served as an outside top aide to President OBAMA early in his presidency. Reports of Dunn's departure from Biden land had been reported as early as November 2020. SKDK still has a press release up noting she’d be heading back to the firm last year.
Of note, Dunn didn’t have to file a public financial disclosure, which is usually required of presidential appointees, because her position was considered to be temporary. Dunn’s salary as a senior adviser was $129,000, according to a July 1 financial disclosure of White House staff.
HOPE THERE WAS CAKE TODAY: JORDAN FINKELSTEIN, the special assistant to Dunn, also left the Biden administration on Thursday, he announced on Twitter. He received some Twitter love from MEGHAN HAYS, White House director of message planning, who wrote, “Will miss my Upper Press buddy <3.” No offense to the lower press staffers, I guess.
ELLA IN THE SPOTLIGHT: ELLA EMHOFF, the daughter of second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF, scored a feature in Vanity Fair’s September 2021 issue. She chats with BRITT HENNEMUTH about how she learned to knit and how she didn’t expect to jump into modeling.
And yes, she still dreams about that Miu Miu coat she wore at Biden’s inauguration that caught everyone’s attention. “I feel like if I ever wore that [again], it would just be like, ‘Really? We get it.’” The West Wing Playbook team votes for you to re-wear it, Ella!
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: A CNN story that says parents reported less trouble paying for food and household expenses after receiving the first payment of the enhanced child tax credit. That’s according to the latest Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, TAMI LUHBY reports. The next payment goes out on Friday. White House deputy press secretary CHRIS MEAGHER tweeted out the story, adding “Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan is helping families.”
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: An NPR story reminding them that only one of Biden’s ambassadors to another country has been confirmed. “That's raising concerns about how effectively the administration is conducting foreign policy — and the message such a diplomatic vacuum sends to the global community,” FRANCO ORDOÑEZ notes.
“‘There's no other country in the world, I think, probably that has ever had 80 vacant ambassadorships at one time,’ said Ambassador Eric Rubin, president of the American Foreign Service Association, the union for the diplomatic corps.”
THE BUREAUCRATS
MORE MANDATES — The Department of Health and Human Services is requiring all of its front-facing health care employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19, ADAM CANCRYN reports, making it the second federal department to mandate vaccinations for a portion of its workforce. The VA was the first.
The policy announced Thursday will apply to more than 25,000 officials under HHS’ sprawling umbrella, including staff at the Indian Health Services and National Institutes of Health who operate health and clinical research facilities or could come into contact with patients.
Agenda Setting
WARNING SHOT — The Center for American Progress is pressing Democratic lawmakers to keep the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package as close to its original blueprint as possible, arguing that it’s vital for helping women workers hit hard by the pandemic, LAURA BARRÓN LÓPEZ writes.
CAP’s focus on the benefits they say the proposal would provide women is a not-so-subtle warning shot to the party: The voting bloc they depend on won’t necessarily be there in the midterms unless they rally around the totality of Biden’s sweeping economic agenda. It also echoes the case a number of progressive groups and some lawmakers have made as they push for the bill.
What We're Reading
Joe Biden ties Capitol riot to Charlottesville violence on 4th anniversary of the rally (Huffington Post’s Philip Lewis)
Pentagon deploying thousands of troops to Kabul to evacuate embassy (Politico’s Quint Forgey, Nahal Toosi and Alexander Ward)
President Biden’s visits to Delaware disrupt business for local airfield (WPVI’s Gray Hall)
Where's Joe
The president delivered remarks on prescription drug prices in the East Room, then left the White House to head to Wilmington, Del. for the weekend.
Where's Kamala
Harris held a meeting with business leaders including Global Gap Brand CEO and President MARK BREITBARD, Patagonia President JENNA JOHNSON, Etsy CEO JOSH SILVERMAN, Chobani CEO HAMDI ULUKAYA, and Seventh Generation CEO ALISON WHRITENOUR to talk about care policies.
Microsoft President BRAD SMITH and AirBnB co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer NATHAN BLECHARCZYK joined virtually.
The Oppo Book
Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN will never turn down an opportunity to jam out. At one point, he formed a group with ELI ATTIE, former speechwriter for AL GORE; DAVE SEGAL, a reporter for The New York Times; journalist DAVE MCKENNA and JAY CARNEY, former White House press secretary.
“We were basically like the Beatles after they stopped touring. We never toured,” Blinken told Rolling Stone in June. “We just went right to the recording studio.”
“In the case of the Beatles, it was getting too loud with all the screaming girls and they couldn’t do justice to the recordings live,” he added. “With us, it was because no one would actually pay to see us. About once a year, we would find a town associated with music and rent a recording studio there.”
Yeah, sounds like this band of Washingtonians was just like the Beatles back in the day…
Trivia Answer
Four — BARACK OBAMA, BILL CLINTON, GEORGE H.W. BUSH and RICHARD NIXON.
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