January 29, 2022 Press Releases

DSCC FRIDAY TAKEAWAYS: SCOTUS VACANCY REINFORCES STAKES OF DEM MAJORITY – HERSCHEL MOCKED RELIEF MONEY HE TOOK – NRSC CHAIR SCOTT VOTES NO, TOUTS DOUGH

SCOTUS VACANCY REINFORCES STAKES OF PROTECTING DEM SENATE MAJORITY. A wave of news coverage following Justice Breyer’s retirement highlighted how the Supreme Court vacancy is “reminding Democrats of the importance of holding on to Senate control” in 2022.

Washington Post: President Biden has promised to nominate the first Black woman to the high court, a prospect his party hopes will excite his core supporters by delivering on a campaign promise, keeping the politics of abortion in the headlines and reminding Democrats of the importance of holding on to Senate control.

CNN: Deliverance on a historic promise could resonate with Democratic voters, particularly in states like Georgia, a crucial Senate midterm battleground, where Black voters last year helped deliver the very Senate majority that will likely allow Democrats to confirm Biden’s pick this year.

AP: Democratic incumbents from New Hampshire to Nevada seized on the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation debate, highlighting abortion rights in particular.

Axios: “Democratic candidates in states like Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin are expecting abortion to motivate base voters and move suburban women away from Republicans — especially if the Supreme Court upholds Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban before it breaks for its summer recess.”

Fox News: A Democratic strategist who works on Senate campaigns predicted that the nomination process will pump up fundraising and “will energize Democratic base voters and that’s one of the most important components of a successful midterm election for the party in power. And it will put issues that are favorable to Democrats front and center in the conversation in the Senate campaign races.”

STATEMENT FROM DSCC CHAIR SEN. GARY PETERS:

“This vacancy reinforces the stakes of this year’s election and why we must defend and expand our Democratic Senate majority with the power to confirm Supreme Court justices. Protecting Roe v. Wade, coverage for pre-existing conditions, workers’ rights and so many other issues central to the lives of every American are all on the line. And in 2022, voters will make their voices heard by standing with Senate Democrats.”

WITH ROE V. WADE ON THE LINE, DSCC CHAIR SEN. PETERS PENS HIS FAMILY’S OWN ABORTION STORY. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the new SCOTUS vacancy serve as powerful reminders that the right for women to make their own health care decisions is firmly on the ballot in 2022, which is why Chair Peters shared his own family’s story this week in a guest column in People. Key points:

For many, this issue is not just about a legal case. It’s about extremely tough, heart-breaking, painful decisions.
I know that, because, like so many folks, it was a situation my own family faced.
Now, as the Supreme Court is reviewing a Mississippi law banning abortion at 15 weeks and overturning Roe v. Wade as we know it, I am sharing this story once again — because the stakes have gotten even higher.
The power of the Senate to confirm or reject Supreme Court Justices means Senate campaigns are the frontlines of the fight. We must send a firm message: attacks on Roe v. Wade and the rights of women to make their own health care choices will not be tolerated.

→ Read Sen. Peters’ full column in People HERE

🚨NEW REPORT🚨 – 11 ALIVE: “HERSCHEL WALKER MOCKED BUSINESSES THAT TOOK PPP MONEY, EVEN THOUGH HE USED IT HIMSELF.” Bombshell reporting from Georgia’s 11Alive exposed Walker for taking the same pandemic relief loans that he publicly ridiculed. Key points from the report:

U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker had business interests that took government bailout money during the early stages of the pandemic, records show. Yet, on Twitter, Walker has also ridiculed businesses that took such money.

In April 2020, the government reported Sotherly got two PPP loans totaling more than $9.7 million… at a time when one of its board members was urging big companies to turn it away. That board member was Herschel Walker, now running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia.

Walker on Twitter mocked “big companies (that) are giving back their PPP money…. Maybe they felt embarrassed (or) ashamed,” wrote Walker, before he launched his senate race.

Sotherly has paid Walker $247,227 the last six years, according to stock disclosure statements filed with the government.

In April 2020, Walker told the Atlanta Business Chronicle he was “not relying on PPP or the government to save his chicken business,” according to the article’s headline. But a few weeks later, Walker’s company likewise benefited from two payments totaling $182,800 in PPP money.

→ NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME: WALKER STUMBLES ON CAMERA OVER BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE QUESTION

AJC Reporter Patricia Murphy: “This is…not good.”

AND GOP RIVALS POUNCE: WALKER A “WIND-UP TOY” WITH A “NO SHOW, EMPTY CHAIR” CAMPAIGN. This week Gary Black called Walker a “wind-up toy” and Latham Saddler slammed his “no-show, empty chair” campaign. Black also attacked Walker’s “strategy of hiding” after his disastrous interview with the Daily Caller. Read more from the GA Democrats.

💸SEN. WARNOCK RAISES 9MIL IN Q4, HAS “AMASSED A $23M WAR CHEST”💸

AJC: “With his latest report, Warnock further cements a reputation as a fundraising juggernaut who can attract small-dollar donors”

RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL: FORMER POLICE UNION LEADER “SLAMS LAXALT FOR ‘FUNDRAISING OFF THE BIG LIE.” The Reno paper highlighted how Laxalt was called out for failing to respond to calls to donate the campaign funds he raised off of the Big Lie to law enforcement families impacted by the attack on January 6th.

Reno Gazette Journal: Ex-police union leader slams Adam Laxalt for ‘fundraising off the Big Lie‘. “‘Stop trying to ignore the facts when it comes to our law enforcement officers,’ McCann said. ‘They are the best of the best. They are hard working. I see what they go through, and it’s tough work.’”

GRANITE STATE GOP PRIMARY FREEZES OVER: “CRAZY,” “COMPLICATED,” “HEATED,” & “MESSY.” Reporters gave a brutal assessment of the emerging NH GOP Senate field this week: Boston Globe’s James Pindell declared that “it’s going to be a crazy, complicated, messy Republican primary,” while NH Today’s Chris Ryan emphasized that “Republicans have squandered” their opportunity by not having “an A-list candidate” and are now headed for a “heated, contested primary.”

DOCTORS BLAST RON JOHNSON FOR PROMOTING A “CLOWN CAR” OF COVID CONSPIRACY THEORISTS. Wisconsin doctors called out Johnson this week saying: “Sen. Johnson isn’t going to save lives, protect people, or get people back safely in schools or work by rolling out a clown car of COVID-19 conspiracy theorists who will only give people very bad and dangerous ideas.”

THAT’S NOT ALL – JOHNSON FACES BACKLASH ON CHILD CARE COSTS. And Johnson faced a new scandal, after the self-serving millionaire politician said he does not support helping families afford child care.

Wisconsin Public Radio: “[Johnson] was widely criticized for comments made in opposition to child care aid”
WBAY: “Sen. Johnson faces criticism… over child care comments.”
Stephen Colbert: “Quick, someone send some money to Ron Johnson’s mother and pray that it works retroactively.”

→ NEW MORNING CONSULT POLL SHOWS JOHNSON UNDERWATER.

“The souring has been steepest among independent voters in Wisconsin. Among independents, 56 percent disapprove of Johnson’s job performance — up 14 points since the third quarter of 2020.”

KEYSTONE CHAOS: PA GOP PRIMARY “SPURS BIG SPENDING.” As wealthy, out-of-state candidates parachute into Pennsylvania’s Republican primary, POLITICS PA reported that “money is being thrown around” as the candidates pour millions of dollars into attacking each other.

Politics PA: Multimillionaire Candidates Spur Big Spending in GOP Senate Race. “15.3 million. Let that sink in for a minute. Then realize that figure is just a drop in the bucket as the race for the Republican nomination for the open Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat heats up.”

READ: THE BULWARK ON DAVID MCCORMICK: “WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A GLOBALIST CUCK TRIES TO GO FULL MAGA?” Key quote: “How does a ‘globalist’ with ties to China and a record of outsourcing Pennsylvania jobs sell himself as the MAGA purist this race demands?”

THIS HEADLINE SAYS IT ALL: “DEMINGS GOES AFTER RUBIO. SAYS SHE DEALT WITH DANGER ‘WHILE MARCO RUBIO WAS HOME IN HIS BED SLEEPING.’” RUBIO SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED.

MARK WALKER “DEFIES TRUMP,” STAYING IN NASTY NC GOP PRIMARY. The already nasty North Carolina GOP Senate primary is set to ramp up after Mark Walker announced he would be staying in the race – rebuffing efforts from Trump as he “struggles to clear [the] GOP field.”

CNN: MCCRORY COMPARES NOT GETTING JOB TO 1960S SEGREGATION. CNN uncovered past comments from McCrory in which he compared not receiving an offer to teach at Duke University to the discrimination that Black Americans experienced at lunch counters in the 1960s during segregation.

CNN: Pat McCrory compared his not getting a job at Duke University to 1960s segregation. “Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said last year that not receiving an offer to teach at Duke University upon leaving the governorship was ‘blacklisting’ and comparable to the refusal to serve Black Americans at lunch counters in the 1960s during segregation.”

TRUMP TROUBLE – NEW REPORTS HIGHLIGHT FEUD WITH MCCONNELL, CHAOS IN GOP PRIMARIES. New reports from Reuters and NBC this week continued to highlight how Trump is escalating the chaos in Republican Senate primaries – and how the “power struggle between McConnell and Trump is one of the more consequential subplots of this midterm election season.”

Reuters: Trump is nowhere — and everywhere — in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race. “Pennsylvania’s primary race illustrates how Trump has maintained his iron grip on the Republican Party as he aims to play king-maker in the midterm elections ahead of a possible 2024 presidential bid.”
NBC News: McConnell is battling Trump for loyalty of Senate GOP. “The power struggle between McConnell and Trump is one of the more consequential subplots of this midterm election season, and its outcome promises to affect not only which party controls the Senate next year but also whether the Senate GOP is more or less Trump-flavored a year from now.”

NRSC CHAIR RICK SCOTT GETS ROLLED FOR TAKING CREDIT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING HE OPPOSED. Our advice to Scott: next time vote for the bill.

WPTV: “Scott said that both he and Rubio helped secure the billion dollars for Everglades restoration. However, neither Republican senator voted for the infrastructure bill.”

HuffPost: “Scott on Tuesday became the latest Republican lawmaker to seek credit for the bipartisan infrastructure overhaul he opposed in Congress.”

MSNBC: “But now that the investments are starting to reach the public at the local level, many of these same Republicans are nevertheless eager to present themselves as champions of the funding that probably wouldn’t exist if they’d been successful in derailing the legislation.”

JUST THIS WEEK, THANKS TO SENATE DEMOCRATS:

→ Heat turned on, costs turned down. Democrats are once again cutting costs for American families thanks to Senate Democrats’ Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced $100 million in funding will be directed towards families to help pay for their outstanding heating and cooling bills. Read more here.

→ ‘Business Is Boomin:’ GDP up big thanks to Senate Dems. The GDP grew at a 5.7% pace in 2021, “the strongest pace since 1984.”

IN THE STATES:

AZ – Arizona Republic (Opinion): Mark Brnovich’s desperate (and deceptive) use of Trump makes it clear: He needs to resign“But it seems painfully clear – to me, at least – that you can’t be both the attorney general of Arizona, in charge of investigating all aspects of the 2020 election, and a Senate candidate who is chasing Trump’s endorsement.”

FL – Palm Beach Post (Editorial): Florida Senators Marco Rubio, Rick Scott on wrong side of voting rights issue. “As his words betray, for Rubio it’s about stirring insecurities and resentments to manipulate public opinion, to benefit a political party that reads its future in the tea leaves of changing demographics, and that would rather suppress Black votes than win hearts and minds by reconsidering policies so obviously tilted against them.”

NH – Boston Globe: N.H. was supposed to be the GOP’s best chance for a Senate pickup in 2022. After a few GOP inflicted wounds it’s unclear where things stand now. “One tactical move may have cost the Republicans dearly.”

NC – News and Observer: North Carolina’s 2022 primary election is in flux. Your guide to the uncertainties. “The Republican primary is already shaping up as a slugfest between former Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Rep. Ted Budd.”

TWEET OF THE WEEK: