Happening this Monday: Israel intensifies air strikes into Gaza, as U.S. promises flow of aid… Nine House Republicans compete for speaker job… President Biden discusses the economy at 2:15 pm ET… Donald Trump stumps in New Hampshire… Tim Scott, in Chicago, delivers remarks on race and power… And Ron DeSantis vs. Nikki Haley hits the airwaves.
But FIRST… The TV ads from the upcoming contests in Kentucky and Virginia look a whole lot like the TV ads we saw in the 2022 midterms.
With two weeks until Election Day 2023, just check out these advertisements.
In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has attacked GOP opponent Daniel Cameron over not allowing exceptions in abortion for cases of rape and incest, while Cameron has linked Beshear to President Joe Biden and crime.
Cameron also has a new ad touting his endorsement from Donald Trump, who won Kentucky by nearly 26 points in 2020.
Meanwhile, in the battle for control of Virginia’s state legislature, Republicans are hitting Democrats on rising prices, on crime and “defunding the police,” and on Biden.
And Democrats are returning the fire on the issues of abortion and on “MAGA” Republicans.
Abortion, crime, inflation, Biden, Trump, MAGA Republicans — sound familiar?
They were the issues that dominated the 2022 midterms, and they’re once again dominating the contests of 2023.
By the way, a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll of Virginia found Democrats ahead of Republicans by 17 points on abortion and by 6 points on education, while it showed the GOP leading on crime by 13 points and on the economy by 12 points.
For more on the TV ads dominating Virginia’s airwaves, check out this piece by NBC’s Jack Pedigo. And read NBC’s Adam Edelman on how Democrats are betting big on abortion in Kentucky.
Headline of the day
The number of the day is … 9
That’s how many Republican House lawmakers are running to be speaker after Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, lost a third vote on the House floor Friday and dropped out of the running.
The nine candidates — all men — who threw their hat in the ring over the weekend include Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, GOP Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Byron Donalds of Florida, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Austin Scott of Georgia and Pete Sessions of Texas.
On “Meet the Press” Sunday, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called the dysfunction in the House Republican caucus “embarrassing,” and he backed Emmer for the job.
“We need someone who understands how to do this job,” McCarthy said, adding, “[Emmer] sets himself, head and shoulders, above all those others who want to run.”
But McCarthy did not explicitly rule out running for speaker again if Emmer can’t get the votes, saying, “Look. I don’t need the title. I’m going to help in any way I can.”
Eyes on 2024: DeSantis vs. Haley hits the airwaves
The escalating feud between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley has hit the airwaves, with the super PACs boosting their campaigns launching dueling TV ads over the weekend.
SFA Fund Inc., the group backing Haley, is up with a new 30-second spot responding to attacks from DeSantis over her past comments about refugees from Gaza. A narrator says DeSantis is “lying” and “throwing mud,” and the ad then plays footage of Haley saying: “I’ve always said we shouldn’t take any Gazan refugees in the U.S.” The ad has aired in Iowa and in markets covering New Hampshire, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
Never Back Down, the group backing DeSantis, launched another attack against Haley — this time knocking her for working with Chinese businesses when she served as South Carolina governor. The 30-second spot has aired in Iowa markets as well as the Boston market, which also reaches New Hampshire, per AdImpact.
Never Back Down has not just been boosting DeSantis on the airwaves. NBC News’ Alec Hernández reports that the group has been hosting more events featuring the Florida governor on the campaign trail, helping the campaign save cash for the final stretch before the Iowa caucuses.
In other campaign news …
The virtual campaign: The New York Times examines the DeSantis campaign’s “hyper-online strategy,” noting that the strategy is now a “glaring weakness” and shows how “losing the virtual race can drag down an in-real-life campaign.”
On the airwaves: The Biden campaign is considering expanding its early advertising effort, per the Washington Post, although Democrats are divided over whether the campaign’s positive economic messaging is an effective strategy.
Losing support: President Joe Biden’s staunch support for Israel may be costing him support among Muslim and Arab Americans in Michigan, a critical swing state Biden won by a narrow margin in 2020, NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald, Shaquille Brewster and Kailani Koenig report.
Vivek’s take: Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has called for the U.S. to implement its own “Iron Dome,” referring to Israel’s missile-defense system. But NBC’s Katherine Koretski writes that the U.S. does not actually face threats from the same kind of missiles as Israel.
Scott doubles down: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., defended his comments that Biden has “blood on his hands” after Hamas attacked Israel, telling ABC, “I’m a happy warrior, without any question. But we are now in the midst of a conflict, and so the warrior in me requires responsibility to start at the top.” Scott has struggled to break through the GOP primary, and Politico reports that some of Scott’s allies are disappointed in his campaign.
Trump trials: A judge paused the partial gag order issued to former President Donald Trump in the federal election interference case. In the Georgia election interference case, Trump’s co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who advised Trump’s campaign, agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors on Friday. And in the civil fraud trial in New York, a judge fined Trump for posting about the judge’s law clerk online, and threatened to put Trump in prison if he continues to violate a partial gag order in that case.
He’s out: Businessman and longshot presidential candidate Perry Johnson dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Friday, NBC’s Alex Tabet reports, as Johnson considers running for Senate in Michigan.
Litmus test: NBC’s Henry Gomez chronicles the GOP Senate candidates grappling “with Trump-skeptical pasts.”
He’s out, too: Montgomery County Councilman Will Jawando dropped out of Maryland’s Democratic Senate primary on Friday, leaving it as largely a race between Rep. David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
Wanted: Election officials: The Associated Press documents the “vacuum of institutional knowledge across the country” as many election officials have left their posts or retired, including in one key county in Pennsylvania.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world
Members of the U.S. intelligence community tell NBC’s Dan De Luce and Courtney Kube that Iran is not seeking direct war with the U.S.
The White House on Friday requested more than $105 billion in aid from Congress for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs.
Federal agents discovered more than two dozen minors working at a poultry plant in Ohio earlier this month, NBC’s Julia Ainsley, Laura Strickler and Didi Martinez report.
