DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: HERSCHEL’S LIES PILE UP – BIG OIL LAXALT WRONG FOR NV – AZ GOP PRIMARY GOES “SCORCHED EARTH” – SPOTLIGHT EXPOSES OZ

HERSHEL WALKERS’ LIES ARE TRENDING. HERE ARE SOME OF THE *MANY* HEADLINES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED… It has been another “relentless week of negative headlines for Republican Herschel Walker.” You’ve seen the big news – now catch up quick on the additional “blitz of negative headlines” on Walker you might have missed:

• Washington Post: As Herschel Walker’s GOP profile rises, the falsehoods mount.  “During the course of Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign… [he] has also faced blowback from critics and Democrats for false claims he made before and during his candidacy that have surfaced in recent months — from his college education and business background to his questioning of evolution and promoting a ‘mist’ he said would ‘kill any covid on your body.’”

• New York Times: ​​The Strange Tale of Herschel Walker and the Chicken Empire That Wasn’t. “In an interview with Fox Business in 2018, Walker said that Renaissance Man Food Services was ‘the largest minority-owned chicken business in the United States,’ which was not true.”

• Atlanta Journal Constitution: Herschel Walker said he worked in law enforcement — he didn’t. “‘I worked for law enforcement, y’all didn’t know that either?’ he said. ‘I spent time at Quantico at the FBI training school. Y’all didn’t know I was an agent?’ It wasn’t the first time Walker said he was in law enforcement, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found while reviewing dozens of speeches and motivational talks by Walker that were posted online.”

• NBC News: Herschel Walker faces blitz of negative headlines. “It’s been a relentless week of negative headlines for Republican Herschel Walker.”

• MSNBC (WATCH): The Last Thing: Herschel Walker’s Lies. “As we said, that is just the latest of Walker’s lies that have recently come to light. He also claimed that he owned companies, companies that don’t actually exist. He lied about his college achievements, and in 2020 falsely claims that he knew of a mist that prevented COVID.”

SENATOR CATHERINE CORTEZ IS FIGHTING FOR NEVADA – SLEAZY, CORRUPT ADAM LAXALT’S FIGHTING FOR BIG OIL. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto gets Nevada and always puts her state first. It’s a clear contrast from Adam Laxalt – a corrupt politician who is out for himself, not Nevada. With the general election in Nevada starting this week, Cortez Masto wasted no time ensuring voters know the truth about Big Oil Adam Laxalt:

WATCH: Big Oil’s Adam Laxalt

• Nevada Independent: Day after Laxalt Senate primary win, Cortez Masto takes aim at ‘big oil’ ties. “The 30-second spot targets Laxalt for an effort he made in 2016 to block a multi-state investigation into Exxon-Mobil following news reports that the company had sought to minimize its own research on the role of fossil fuels on climate change. That investigation would have also centered on oil companies linked to the billionaire Koch brothers, who were for years among the largest Republican campaign donors and later gave Laxalt a $2.5 million outside spending boost for his gubernatorial campaign.”

• Nevada Independent: Labor leaders attack Laxalt as pawn of Big Oil. “As gas prices force Nevadans to cut back on driving or other necessities, Susie Martinez, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, reminded reporters at a news conference Thursday of how Laxalt, as Attorney General, ‘used the power to stop investigations into friends of Big Oil.’”

• Las Vegas Review Journal: ​​Cortez Masto campaign slams Laxalt over Big Oil link.“The Cortez Masto campaign announced that workers would gather today at the Nevada State AFL-CIO headquarters in Henderson to protest Laxalt’s work for a Washington law firm whose clients include oil companies like Shell Oil Co. and Chevron Corp.”

IT’S “SCORCHED EARTH” IN THE DESERT AS ARIZONA GOP PRIMARY IS “TURNING INCREASINGLY BLOODY.” Brnovich, Lamon, and Masters are “throwing elbows and millions of dollars around in a race that polls show remains fluid,” eliciting a storm of opposition research, a slew of aggressive attack ads, and the promise of more to come.

→ The Hill: Republicans go scorched-earth in Arizona Senate primary.

• Businessman Jim Lamon, former tech executive Blake Masters and state Attorney General Mark Brnovich are throwing elbows and millions of dollars around in a race that polls show remains fluid.

• Lamon has dumped millions of his own dollars going scorched-earth against Masters over his ties to PayPal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel after Masters scored former President Trump’s endorsement earlier this month.

• While the candidates duke it out to collect support from undecided voters, some Republicans are voicing concerns that their ultimate nominee will be too bloodied after the late primary and aren’t focusing on a message that appeals to a purple state general electorate.

 📺 🍿MUST SEE TV: “John Oliver skewered Arizona’s Republican US Senate candidates on ‘Last Week Tonight” 📺 🍿

LIGHTS TOO BRIGHT? SPOTLIGHT BURNS MEHMET OZ AS BRUTAL WEEK OF NEWS COVERAGE EXPOSES THIS SELF-SERVING FRAUD. A series of news stories this week are exposing Oz as a self-serving fraud – and revealing why Pennsylvania can’t trust him.

• Salon: Dr. Oz invests up to $715,000 in companies he blames for skyrocketing insulin costs. “A personal financial disclosure filed by Oz’s campaign in April shows that he stands to profit from investments in the exact companies he blamed for causing the price increases.”

• Business Insider: GOP Senate candidate Mehmet Oz misspelled the name of his Pennsylvania address in official campaign form. “Oz… who had been living in New Jersey in the years before running for office put down “Huntington Valley” instead of “Huntingdon Valley.” While there’s also a town called Huntingdon in Pennsylvania, Huntington Valley does not exist.”

• Daily Beast: Dr. Oz Reverses Himself on Science for GOP Votes. “Oz’s slow but steady descent into quackery…”

• Business Insider: Dr. Oz says he’ll fight to end illegal immigration. A business owned by his family, in which he is a shareholder, faced the largest fine in ICE history for hiring unauthorized workers. “In a Sunday tweet, Mehmet Oz vowed to “fight to end illegal immigration” should he be elected to the Senate, a promise that helped resurface the fact that his family’s business faced a record-breaking fine for hiring unauthorized workers.”

• NBC News: Oz had Trump’s endorsement, but didn’t win in Trump country. “Trump won by massive margins in four of these types of locations: The largely rural types of Graying America, Rural Middle America, and Working Class Country, as well as the blue-collar suburban Middle Suburbs. … But Oz lost in the first three of those types and only narrowly eked out a win in the Middle Suburbs.”

… AND IN THE KEYSTONE STATE, PA DEMS CALL OUT “SELF SERVING, CARPETBAGGING MILLIONAIRE.” Pennsylvania Democrats’ slammed Mehmet Oz in State College as “a self serving, carpetbagging millionaire” who has gotten rich from “peddling lies and fake medicine” and “can’t be trusted to represent the people of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.”

• Centre Daily Times: Centre County Dems rally to support Fetterman over ‘carpetbagging millionaire’ Dr. Oz. “A handful of Democratic Centre County leaders gathered Wednesday for a press conference to fully pledge their support for the Democratic nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, and to speak against the Republican nominee… ‘We are here today for one purpose, and that is to call out the fraud from New Jersey, Dr. Oz, who thinks he can buy a Senate seat here in Pennsylvania with his multi-million dollars,’ Pipe said. ‘Mehmet Oz is a self serving, carpetbagging millionaire, who thinks he can just lie and scam his way into the U.S. Senate.’”

• WJAC (WATCH): Anti-Oz Rally Held Today. “In State College today, an anti-Oz rally… Democrats say Oz can’t be trusted to represent the people of Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.”

IN FULL BLOOM: NC DEMS CONTINUE “THIS BUDD IS NOT FOR NORTH CAROLINA” TOUR IN GREENVILLE. Pitt County Democratic Party Chair Charles McLawhorn, Commissioner Ann Huggins, and local parent Claire Kempner held a press conference in Greenville highlighting Washington insider Congressman Budd’s record and how his agenda is wrong for North Carolina.

• Daily Reflector: Speakers: Budd not right for North Carolina. “Budd added to Washington gridlock by voting against the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided aid to families and local governments, and against legislation that would have penalized oil companies for price gouging, McLawhorn said. He said Budd supported a plan proposed by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida that suggested all Americans should pay some amount of income tax. It was one statement in a larger plan Scott described as a “rescue plan” for America.”

🚨NEW POLL: BEASLEY UP 4 POINTS OVER BUDD 🚨

“PATTERN OF AGE AND DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION” – LAWSUIT ALLEGES CO GOP CANDIDATE O’DEA DISCRIMINATED AGAINST WORKERS. GOP Senate candidate Joe O’Dea’s treatment of workers at his business Concrete Express is under scrutiny after Colorado Newsline reported that he settled a lawsuit which alleged that O’Dea discriminated against workers based on age and disability. According to the lawsuit, O’Dea “asked the General Superintendent if the ‘old guys were a liability’ and then became determined to “make [elderly workers] disappear.”

• Colorado Newsline: Senate candidate Joe O’Dea settled age, disability discrimination lawsuit with ex-employee in 2021. “Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea’s construction company last year settled a lawsuit brought by a former employee who alleged a pattern of age and disability discrimination, federal court records show.”

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS

• Brunswick News: Warnock’s bill to address price gouging passes. “A bipartisan bill co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia., to address potential price gouging passed the U.S. House Monday 369-42. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act, passed unanimously earlier by the Senate, now heads to President Biden. The bill addresses the concerns of Warnock and others who claim shipping companies are using the pandemic as an excuse to increase profit margins.”

IN THE STATES

FL – Miami Herald (Editorial): With no assault-weapons ban in sight, Rubio and Scott must do bare minimum on gun control. “Florida — home of the Parkland and Pulse nightclub mass shootings — will be looking to its senators, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, to do their job. But neither have said they will support any form of gun legislation beyond encouraging states to pass ‘red flag’ laws. Lawmakers should, at a minimum, strengthen background checks and gun-storage requirements.”

NH – Monadnock Beat: Maggie Hassan comes to Peterborough, after filing for her second term, to listen to voters. “‘Big oil right now is taking advantage not only of the crisis of the pandemic, but also the crisis of the war,’ she said. Hassan said she has been pushing bills that would help people with the rising cost of living. ‘One of the accomplishments I am proud of — that I did with a Republican Senator — is ending the practice of surprise medical bills,’ she said. ‘That is saving people money on hospital and other provider bills, they might other wise get.’”

NC – Citizen Times (Opinion): WNC seniors can’t afford Congressman Ted Budd in the U.S. Senate. “Simply put, North Carolina seniors and persons with disabilities who rely on Medicare or Social Security can’t afford Congressman Ted Budd in the U.S. Senate. We cannot afford leaders who forfeit their responsibility to take care of communities in pursuit of personal and political gain.”

NC – The Digital Courier: U.S. Senate candidate Beasley visits county. “‘This is a campaign for all of North Carolina — and we’re committed to hearing from voters across the state and working hard for every single vote,’ Beasley said.

OH – Cleveland.com (Opinion): J.D. Vance has placed himself on the continuum of extremism with his reckless words. “Ohio voters who wish to support Mr. Vance and his naked embrace of hate need to realize that such support feeds the sick procession from replacement theory to violence and, inevitably, death. After Buffalo, it’s too late. You just cannot vote for Mr. Vance and deny to yourself or anyone else that you are supporting a racist candidate and giving racist ideology a free hand.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK

David Bergstein
@DavidABergstein

Amanda Sherman
@asherman89

Pat Burgwinkle
@Burgwinkle

Nora Keefe
@norakatekeefe

Freedom Murphy
@F_AlexanderM

Eli Cousin
@elicousin

Claire Berry
@claireliseberry

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