WASHINGTON — If it’s Thursday ... Biden aides discover a second batch of classified documents at different Biden location. ... More New York Republicans call for Rep. George Santos to resign. ... Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorses Katie Porter in California Senate, NBC’s Ali Vitali scoops. ... Rep. Barbara Lee tells colleagues she plans to run for California Senate. ... Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he’s “humbled” by 2024 talk in interview with NBC’s Gary Grumbach. ... And New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu calls himself a “firm maybe” on a presidential run, per NBC’s Julia Jester.
But first: Republicans just lost another competitive race — thanks, in part, to the issue of abortion.
“Republicans in Richmond are trying to pass a new ban on abortion in Virginia. And Kevin Adams, he wants to join them to take away women’s freedom to make our own personal medical decisions,” went one TV ad from Democrat Aaron Rouse, who flipped a GOP-held state Senate seat in Virginia from red to blue.
At issue is a push by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and GOP legislators to ban abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Yet that defeat didn’t deter congressional Republicans from moving on abortion legislation Wednesday, including passing a “born-alive” protection act.
Remember, no issue appeared to fire up Democratic voters in last year’s midterms more than abortion did. Just look at the enthusiasm numbers from our NBC News poll before and after the leaked Dobbs opinion first surfaced in May.
Also look at the national 2022 exit poll, which found 59% of voters believing that abortion should be legal in all or most cases (versus 36% saying it should be illegal in all or most cases).
And now there’s at least one House Republican saying the GOP has been tone-deaf on abortion.
“We have been tone-deaf on this issue since the time that Roe was overturned. We buried our heads in the sand,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. told reporters. “We didn’t have any policy alternatives. We were not compassionate to both sides of the aisle on this argument.” (Still, Mace voted for yesterday’s “born-alive” legislation.)
But the biggest abortion story will be in state legislatures across the country — all dealing with abortion in a post-Roe political world.
Chart of the day
Thousands of flights were delayed Wednesday as the Federal Aviation Administration experienced a computer outage.
Data Download: The number of the day is … 4
That’s how many Republican members of New York’s congressional delegation are calling on GOP Rep. George Santos to resign, per NBC News’ Kyle Stewart. Santos, who admitted to exaggerating his resumé, is facing multiple investigations.
Reps. Nick LaLota and Brandon Williams, who were both first elected in November along with Santos, called on Santos to step aside following a similar call from the Nassau County Republicans. Fellow freshmen GOP Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler and Nick Langworthy, the state party chairman, have also called on Santos to resign. Santos has said he will not step down.
The Santos scandal also presents a problem for GOP leaders as they weigh whether to seat Santos on House committees. Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Santos should not serve on any top committees, but did not call on Santos to resign.
“The voters elected him to serve. If there is a concern and he has to go through the Ethics [Committee], we’ll let him move through that, but right now, the voters have a voice in the decision ... so he will continue to serve,” McCarthy said.
Other numbers to know
1: How many House Democrats backed the so-called Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act on Wednesday — just Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, per NBC News’ Capitol Hill team. Fellow Texas Democrat Vicente González voted present.
3: How many House Democrats supported a resolution condemning attacks on “pro-life facilities, groups, and churches,” including González, Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan and freshman Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
$5 billion: The value of liquid assets, including cash, that the cryptocurrency company FTX has recovered, attorneys said in a hearing regarding the company’s bankruptcy.
2: How many cancerous lesions first lady Jill Biden had removed on Wednesday.
25%: The share of patients admitted to hospitals in the U.S. who will experience harm during their care, a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found.
5: The age of a boy who was swept away from his family amid flooding in California, where rescuers have been searching for him since Monday and more than 4 million people are under flood watches.
40: The age of Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who became the youngest governor in the U.S. when she was sworn in on Tuesday.
Eyes on 2024: California dreamin’ for Democrats
The California Senate race continues to heat up, with NBC News’ Ali Vitali scooping that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is endorsing Rep. Katie Porter in the race.
Warren says in a video announcing her endorsement that Porter has “a backbone made out of steel,” later adding, “We need her and her whiteboard in the United States Senate.”
The endorsement comes even though Warren’s Senate colleague, Democratic Sen Dianne Feinstein, has not yet announced if she is retiring. But Vitali reminds us that Warren and Porter have a long personal history. (You can read more about that on the Meet the Press Blog.)
Warren’s endorsement is another boost for Porter, whose campaign announced on Wednesday that it raised $1.3 million in its first 24 hours — all of the donations were online and almost all of them were less than $100.
Vitali and NBC News’ Haley Talbot also report that Porter will not have the primary to herself. Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee told fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus that she also intends to run.
In other campaign news:
Doc drama: Some Democrats are acknowledging that the discovery of documents with classified markings at Biden’s former office gives Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, an opening to attack the president, NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald reports.
Humbled: Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin told NBC News’ Gary Grumbach in an exclusive interview that he’s “overwhelmingly humbled” by talk of him as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. Asked if he was ruling out a run for President, Youngkin said, “Virginians hired me to do a job and I am enjoying doing it. I feel every day that there’s folks who are counting on us and I’m looking forward to delivering for them.”
Call him maybe: New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu told Fox News he is a “firm maybe” on a presidential run in 2024, NBC News’ Julia Jester reports. Sununu also told CNBC that he is “having conversations” about a run for the White House. He was also asked about Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, another potential presidential contender and said, “Ron’s good. We’re very different in our styles.”
Trump on the trail: Trump is planning to head to South Carolina later this month for his first public campaign event of the year, but the event is not expected to be one of his signature rallies, Politico reports.
Stay just a little bit longer: Democrats are pressuring West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Montana Sen. Jon Tester to run for re-election next year, Politico reports. Manchin told Politico he hasn’t decided if he’s running, and a Tester spokeswoman said Tester is “having conversations with his family.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, launched a trio of digital ads pressuring the two senators, and Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, to “retire or get fired.”
Return of the Mac: West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner jumped into the GOP primary to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Jim Justice, per West Virginia MetroNews.
Pillen’s pick: Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen is set to announce his Senate appointment on Thursday. His pick will replace GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, who recently resigned to lead the University of Florida.
Rouda running: Former Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda announced Wednesday that he’s running for Democratic Rep. Katie Porter’s House seat now that she’s running for Senate, per a campaign press release.
Kent re-run: Joe Kent, a pro-Trump Republican who cost the GOP a House seat in Washington, announced that he is running again in the 3rd District.
ICYMI: What else is happening in the world
The Federal Aviation Administration said a corrupted file was to blame for a computer outage that delayed thousands of flights Wednesday morning.
The Supreme Court allowed a New York gun control law to continue, at least while challenges to the law continue to play out in court.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was released from the hospital in Buffalo Wednesday after he collapsed on the field at a game in Cincinnati on Jan. 2.
