| | |  | BY STEPHANIE MURRAY | GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday! HIGH COURT TO HEAR BALLOT ACCESS CASE — The state's highest court could deliver another unexpected twist in the Sept. 1 primary this week. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is holding an emergency hearing this morning on a lawsuit brought by Newton City Councilor Becky Grossman, who is running for Congress. Grossman is asking that the state count ballots postmarked by Sept. 1 and received up to 10 days later. Right now, city and town officials must receive ballots by voting day. The primary was already hard to predict. The state is testing its new vote by mail program for the first time, we're in the middle of a pandemic and the final campaign push is happening in the last days of summer. If the court sides with Grossman, campaigns will again have to retool their get-out-the-vote strategies and turnout models. The lawsuit comes amid concerns that the U.S. Postal Service may be unable to handle the volume of mail-in ballots leading up to the election. The USPS warned Massachusetts last month that ballots may not arrive on time. And Secretary of State Bill Galvin is now asking voters to return their mail-in ballots by hand to local drop boxes. Voters can also cast ballots early in-person ahead of the primary, or head to the polls on Sept. 1. Grossman's lawsuit is garnering support from other primary election candidates. Dr. Robbie Goldstein, the infectious disease specialist running against Rep. Stephen Lynch, filed an amicus brief. And Jordan Meehan, a Democrat running against state Rep. Kevin Honan, also voiced his support. Rep. Joe Kennedy III said it's clear many in Massachusetts want to vote by mail, citing the 1 million voters who requested mail-in ballots , when I caught up with him at a campaign stop in Medford on Sunday morning. Kennedy said Grossman's effort is something he would consider supporting, and warned that the state legislature took too long to craft a vote by mail program. "I haven't looked into the details of the case yet but it's certainly something I would consider. Look, as you know, I've been leaning into the issue about ballot access for a while now," Kennedy said. "It was the reason why I was pushing on this back in March and April. … Leaving this to the last second to try to figure out — You are asking for problems." Down the street in Malden, Sen. Ed Markey encouraged voters to use drop boxes when I asked whether he was concerned the postal service may not be up to the task of delivering ballots. Markey dropped off his own ballot yesterday. "I'm here to urge people to just go down to the local voting station and to vote by mail, hand in their ballot right now, they can do it," Markey told me. "I hope everyone who can does that, and if they can't and they want to be more safe, then they should vote by mail." Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. TODAY — The Republican National Convention begins. Sen. Ed Markey campaigns in Chelsea, Revere, Everett and Lynn. Rep. Joe Kennedy III campaigns with Texas Rep. Al Green in Worcester, Brockton and Boston. | |
| | PLUG IN WITH PLAYBOOK AT THE RNC : Join POLITICO Playbook co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman for "Plug In with Playbook," our new political show popping up at the Republican National Convention each morning at 9 a.m. EDT. Cut through the noise and go behind the scenes with elected officials, political VIPs and top journalists for the latest campaign news and whispers, in-depth analysis of down-ballot races, and the latest juicy nuggets from reporters' notebooks. Aug. 25-27. Watch it live here. | | | | | |  | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
| – “Race for vaccine raises ethical dilemmas,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “The race for a coronavirus vaccine is showing positive results, but medical experts say when it becomes available drug makers won't be able to produce enough doses for the entire country, creating difficult questions about who gets it first. Large-scale trials of vaccines developed by companies including Pfizer and Cambridge-based Moderna are underway.” – “Licensing of new childcare providers on hold,” by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: “As many existing childcare providers struggle with the decision about whether to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a crop of potential new providers have been prevented from opening by pandemic-related delays in the state’s licensing process.” – “New State Guidance: Remote Teaching Should Happen From The Classroom,” by Carrie Jung, WBUR: “Massachusetts education leaders say they expect teachers working in districts using a remote learning model to conduct their lessons from inside their classrooms or learning spaces each day. The announcement was one of several updates included in a memo from education commissioner Jeff Riley on Friday afternoon.” | | FROM THE HUB |
| – “The lack of Black leaders in New England college sports is ‘what institutional and systemic racism look like,’” by Bob Hohler, Boston Globe: “For 40 years, Charlie Titus witnessed up close one of the starkest racial inequities in American sports. From the summer of 1980, when he became UMass Boston’s first athletic director, until he retired in June, Titus could count on one hand the number of Black men and women running intercollegiate athletic departments in New England.” – “State criticized over calls for teachers to work from empty classrooms this fall,” by John Hilliard, Boston Globe: “New state guidelines calling for K-12 educators to work from empty classrooms while students learn remotely from home was blasted Saturday by teacher unions who said the plan needlessly risked public health as schools move to reopen amid the pandemic.” | | THE NATIONAL TAKE |
| – “In Mass., two Democrats chase generational change from opposite corners of the movement,” by Paul Kane, The Washington Post: “Alex Morse and Joe Kennedy both want to turn the page to a new generation of Democrats, suggesting that entrenched incumbents sometimes just tend to coast. Who should have the real clout on Capitol Hill?” – “Kennedy turns to family’s 'legacy' in final days of Senate race,” by Zach C. Cohen, National Journal: “Rep. Joe Kennedy III was pleading. Early voting in his primary against Democratic Sen. Ed Markey was starting in just two days, and many voters had already received their ballots at home.” – “Alex Morse Was Accused, Condemned and Then Vindicated. Will His Experience Change Anything?” by Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times: “Mr. Morse is a 31-year-old, gay, small-city mayor and a rising star in national progressive politics. It wasn’t just his job on the line, but also the hopes of an entire movement: His primary challenge against one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress is being closely watched as an indicator of the strength of the Democratic Party’s insurgent left wing.” | | THE SENATE SHOWDOWN |
| – “Joe Kennedy wages fierce campaign to reach voters,” by Dugan Arnett, Boston Globe: “For generations, no name in Massachusetts politics has held more clout. But Joseph P. Kennedy III — 39-year-old congressman, heir to the Kennedy dynasty — suddenly finds himself in the fight of his political life.” – “Ed Markey defines self with digital strategy aimed at young voters,” by Hanna Krueger, Boston Globe: “As he vies for his second full term as the state’s junior senator, he’s in a close race with his opponent, 39-year-old Joe Kennedy III. Those Air Revolutions — conspicuously weathered, but perennially hip — are a focal point of the 74-year-old’s campaign.” – “‘Wildly overdrawn’: Kennedy-Markey race becomes referendum on who is the real progressive,” by Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: “At an early June debate, incumbent Senator Edward J. Markey got right down to framing the race as he saw it: ‘Congressman Kennedy is a progressive in name only,’ he declared. It’s a narrative that has been seized by Markey’s campaign and his Internet-savvy supporters.” – “Kennedy Fails to Return Fossil Fuel Lobbyist Donations,” by Donald Shaw, Sludge: “Joe Kennedy’s campaign did not refund contributions it received from an oil and gas lobbyist in violation of the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge despite telling Sludge earlier this month it would do so, according to a recently filed Federal Election Commission report.” | | PRIMARY SOURCES |
| – FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: “Two More Bristol County Leaders Endorse Becky Grossman,” from the Grossman campaign: “Today, Becky Grossman’s campaign announced two more endorsements from Bristol County activists: Rehoboth Democrats Chair Paul Jacques and Attleboro Council on Human Rights Chairperson Laurie Sawyer. Jacques and Sawyer join a dozen other Bristol County leaders and elected officials in endorsing Grossman’s campaign to replace Joe Kennedy III.” – “Super PACs flex muscle in race to replace Kennedy, shelling out $1.6M,” by Ted Nesi, WPRI: “ Democrat Alan Khazei is criticizing super PAC spending in the race to succeed Congressman Joe Kennedy — even as one of the groups starts spending big money to prop up Khazei’s own candidacy. So far none of the eight Democrats competing in the 4th Congressional District primary have run negative TV ads, other than a fairly mild spot from Wellesley tech entrepreneur Chris Zannetos.” – “Candidates for Congress keep pitching as voters start casting ballots,” by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: “On one side of City Hall Sunday, Fourth Congressional District candidates campaigned side-by-side with advocates for affordable housing. On the opposite side, voters were depositing ballots into a specially marked drop box casting their votes in a primary that was still nine days away.” – “Race to replace Joe Kennedy III in 4th Congressional District a heated affair,” by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: “There’s an open congressional seat in Massachusetts where 10 candidates are waging war across a 34-town battlefield, each attempting to drown the others out on the airwaves as outside groups fan the flames and pot shots fly.” | | THE WILD WEST |
| – “Alex Morse promises to change system that Richard Neal has mastered in 1st Congressional District race,” by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: “One man has mastered the system. The other wants the system, politically and economically, to change.” | | YOU'VE GOT MAIL |
| – “Letter carriers rally for postal service in Cambridge,” by Gal Tziperman Lotan, Boston Globe: “Letter carrier Bob Tremarche, a 38-year veteran of the US Postal Service, said he’s recently found himself trying to reassure people on his route through East Cambridge. They’ve been worried, he said. Will their mail-in ballots get to the city on time? Will their medication be delivered quickly?” | | THE OPINION PAGES |
| – “What did Mayor Alex Morse do when Holyoke police beat a 12-year-old boy?” by David Daley, Boston Globe: “We’re unable to shake the terror of George Floyd’s final eight minutes and 46 seconds. We say the names of Breonna Taylor and Philando Castile to assert that Black Lives Matter in the face of unnecessary, overwhelming police force against people of color. Yet it might come as a surprise that a horrifying example of police brutality occurred in Western Massachusetts.” | | DAY IN COURT |
| – “DA seeks bail increase after learning nonprofit fund would pay it,” by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: “In a move that reform advocates call an alarming turn away from the effort to reduce the role of bail in the criminal justice system — a position her own campaign embraced two years ago — Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office is seeking a dramatic increase in bail for a defendant after learning that the Massachusetts Bail Fund was prepared to post the money to free him.” | | TRUMPACHUSETTS |
| – “Someone painted ‘TRUMP 2020’ on the streets of Southie, and people are riled up about it,” by Ainslie Cromar, Boston.com: “After South Boston woke up to the phrase 'Trump 2020' painted in bright yellow on the streets of Southie Saturday morning, residents took to the city’s 311 website and app, sharing their frustration and support. One complaint read ‘This doesn’t represent all of South Boston, can we have this removed and people arrested for illegal graffiti and littering?’” – “Trump ‘boat parade’ splashes along Massachusetts shore,” by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: “Fans of President Trump hoped to make a splash Saturday in Newburyport, bringing one of the Republican’s ‘boat parades’ to the shores of the Bay State. ‘It’s way beyond what we thought it was going to be,’ organizer James Haynes told the Herald. ‘The interest just exploded.’” | | IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN |
| – “Climate Activists Gain Seats on Harvard Oversight Board,” by John Schwartz, The New York Times: “Bucking tradition, a group of climate activists has won three seats in an election to an important governing body at Harvard University, the Board of Overseers, the university announced Friday. The slate of candidates ran on a platform that included calls for the university to drop fossil fuel investments from its portfolio, part of a divestment movement that has swept college campuses for the better part of a decade.” – “Alleging ‘environmental racism,’ residents protest plan to remove scores of mature trees in Roxbury,” by David Abel, Boston Globe: “In a vast expanse of asphalt, it’s a rare stretch of urban greenery. The rows of oaks, lindens, maples, and other trees that line Melnea Cass Boulevard in Roxbury have for decades provided vital shade, fresh air, and a leafy balance to a city corridor that can feel like a furnace in summer and a windswept tarmac in winter.” | | MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| – “N.H. Demands Massachusetts Stops Taxing Remote Workers Living In Granite State,” WBUR: “New Hampshire is demanding that Massachusetts stop imposing a state income tax on New Hampshire residents working remotely from their homes for Massachusetts companies. In a letter to the Baker administration sent on Friday, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu says he would like to avoid taking the issue to court.” – “Trump to hold rally in Manchester, N.H., on Friday,” by Alyssa Lukpat and Caroline Enos, Boston Globe: “President Trump will hold a rally in Manchester, N.H., on Friday night — a month after he canceled a planned rally in Portsmouth. Trump will speak at the PeriCohas Hangar near Manchester-Boston Regional Airport at 6 p.m., his campaign team said in a statement.” | | ABOVE THE FOLD |
| — Herald: “PUMPED,” — Globe: “Generations apart, together in pursuit," "COVID plasma treatment gets emergency OK.” | | FROM THE 413 |
| – “MASS MoCA’s Founding Director to Step Down,” by Colin Moynihan, The New York Times: “Joseph C. Thompson, who became the founding director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in 1988, will step down from that post near the end of October, the institution announced on Friday. Mr. Thompson spent his first 11 years as director working to open the museum in an industrial complex of brick buildings that had formerly been home to a textile mill and an electronics plant.” – “7th Hampden District state rep. race pits ‘life experience’ against youth: James ‘Chip’ Harrington vs. Jake Oliveira,” by Stephanie Barry, Springfield Republican: “Two Ludlow School Committee members and town natives — one Republican, one Democrat -- pitching experience against youth are running for the 7th Hampden state representative seat left open when longtime Rep. Thomas Petrolati announced he would not run for another term.” | | THE LOCAL ANGLE |
| – “Two Wellfleet beaches temporarily shut after shark detections,” by Alyssa Lukpat, Boston Globe: “Wellfleet’s Newcomb Hollow and Lecount Hollow beaches were closed to swimmers Sunday after a shark was detected in the water, officials said. Newcomb Hollow Beach was closed for an hour four times starting at 12:05 p.m., 1:22 p.m., 2:05 p.m., and 3:40 p.m. after a shark pinged a buoy, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app.” – “After 19 years in refugee camps, a new home in Lowell,” by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: “Paw Pya, spent more than half of her life in Thai refugee camps, longing for a permanent home. Coronavirus tacked another five months onto her wait. But following the July 29 lifting of a ban on refugee admissions put in place when the pandemic broke out, Pya and her family became the first refugees to arrive in Massachusetts in five months through standard resettlement channels.” TRANSITIONS – Alexis Finneran Tkachuk is starting her own law firm focused on administrative and municipal law, regulatory processes and public policy. Tkachuk leaves her role as director of emerging industries in Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s office, and previously served in the mayor’s administration as chief of staff for the law department and director of labor relations. HAPPY BIRTHDAY – to Lawrence Bacow and Sarah Heinonen. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. | |
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