FLORIDA VIRUS SURGE. PPP LOANS, WHO FUNDING, RUSSIAN BOUNTIES, MARK MEADOWS

Bill Arienti

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WHERE DID YOU TAX DOLLARS GO?

The funds of the paycheck protection act instituted to give small businesses money to keep people employed during the pandemic was quickly gobbled up before most small businesses even knew it was available. Here are some of the "small businesses" that happened to get their money right away:

Mitch McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's family's business, Foremost Maritime, got a loan valued at between $350,000 and $1 million.

Perdue Inc., a trucking company co-founded by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, was approved for $150,000 to $350,000 in loan money.

Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in New Jersey, which is named after Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner’s grandfather, got a loan in the range of $1 million to $2 million. Jared Kushner’s parents’ family foundation supports the school, NBC News reported.

KTAK Corp., a Tulsa-based operator of fast food franchises owned by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.). KTAK reported receiving between $1 million and $2 million

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) benefited when three of his car dealerships, located outside of Pittsburgh, received a combined total of between $450,000 and $1.05 million

Several plumbing businesses affiliated with Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), all based in Broken Arrow, Okla., each received between $350,000 and $1 million.

Triomphe Restaurant Corp, which operates the Jean-Georges restaurant at the Trump International Hotel on Central Park West, got between $2 million and $5 million.

New York law firm Kasowitz, Benson & Torres, headed by longtime Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz, received between $5 million and $10 million in PPP funds

Rep. Roger Williams, (R)

From Texas received a PPP loan for an undisclosed amount for his Roger Williams Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Weatherford, Texas, Politico reported. Williams’ wife is employed at the dealership

Rep. Susie Lee's (D) husband is

President and CEO of

Full House Resorts, received $5.6 million through the PPP,

Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s (R) family, which owns farms and equipment suppliers across the Midwest, received a PPP loan for under $2 million

Rep. Debbie Mucarsel Powell, (D, FL)

Mucarsel Powell's husband is an executive of Fiesta Restaurant Group received $15 million in federally backed money through the PPP before RETURNING ALL MONEY IN FULL.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband who is an investor in EDI Associates. This company is listed as a recipient of a loan between $350,000 and $1 million.

Representative Rick Allen (R-Ga.), received a loan for between $350,000 and $1 million

Four companies owned by Representative Marywayne Mullin (R-Okla.) were awarded PPP loans. One was for $350,000 to $1 million, while three were each for $150,000 to $350,000. In total, the loans ranged from $800,000 to $2,050,000

House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), husband Stephen Lowey, was once part Lowry Dannenberg, PC, but has since retired, was awarded between $1 million to $2 million for 54 positions.

Representative Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) Alph Omega Winery and Phase 2 Cellars, each received a loan for $1 million to $2 million

And how many small restaurants, hair salons, and other small businesses that could have gotten by with $20,000 had to let their employees go because of this greed?

SIDE NOTE...Sen. McConnell, Rep. Rogers, Rep. Kelly, Rep. Hern, Rep. Hartzler, Rep Nunez, Rep. Mullin and Rep. Allen all voted to NOT DISCLOSE who received money.

Louisiana school board member who denied online shopping during BLM meeting left receipts

• Louisiana school board member who denied online shopping during BLM meeting left receipts
• 
  In late June, a video of Louisiana resident Gary Chambers calling out East Baton Rouge School Board member Connie Bernard for allegedly shopping online during a meeting went viral. In the video from a June 18 public meeting, Chambers told Bernard: “You sit your arrogant self in here and sit on there shopping while the pain and the hurt of this community are on display. You should walk out of here and resign and never come back because you are the example of racism in this community. You are horrible."

  This came after images appeared of Bernard’s computer browser showing a retail website during a board meeting when the public was discussing the need to consider changing the name of Lee High School in Baton Rouge, named after Confederate General Robert E Lee, in the current political climate. Bernard told The Advocate that the image people saw on her laptop was a “pop-up” that she had failed to close, but “I wasn’t shopping. I was actually taking notes, paying attention, reading online comments.” Well, WAFB has the receipts.
  Through a public records request, the news outlet was able to obtain a copy of Mrs. Bernard’s search history during the meeting. Lo and behold, for a few minutes during that meeting, Bernard looked through all kinds of cool discounted clothing from an online consignment store called thredUP. In fact, Bernard was so not paying attention to this “pop-up” that “she forgot” to close that she also threw one of the items into her virtual shopping cart. According to the news outlet, the time stamps on these transactions took her through the board’s discussion of “adding a new position at the school board office as well as a vendor for COVID-19 prevention products” and into the renaming of Lee High. According to the receipts, Chambers seems to have stopped shopping for clothing in time to hear the public comment portion of the meeting.  

  While Bernard ultimately voted to have the name changed, she did so after first condescending to Louisiana citizens by saying they should "learn a little bit more about" Robert E. Lee before deciding. She subsequently apologized for saying such a stupid and racist thing. Side note: The argument that many people use to draw more sympathy towards Robert E. Lee’s decision to lead the rebel insurgency to protect slavery was that his family fell on the that side, but that in general, he was super smart. One could say that family obligations also drove Caligula. Maybe in a couple thousand years people will have a better perspective on Robert E. Lee.

  While activists and community members have repeatedly called for Bernard to resign, she told WAFB that she has no plans to give up her position.
• 
  
• Far-right 'Patriots' beclown themselves on the Fourth of July with two hoax rallies
• 
  The marchers in Gettysburg, who were there to ostensibly prevent "antifa" from burning the American flag, carried a number of Confederate flags with them as well.
• America’s far-right “Patriots” explored new ways to snooker themselves this holiday weekend in two rallies, both ostensibly aimed at attacking the “radical left,” on opposite sides of the country.

  In Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, hundreds of militiamen swarmed to the Civil War historical site to defend it against a supposed “antifa” protest that was in fact entirely a hoax and so never materialized. Meanwhile, in Seattle, a small cluster of about 30 Proud Boys and assorted far-right “Patriots” responded to a fake-news outfit’s plans to march through the city’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone—which in fact had been cleared out earlier in the week and was under control of the Seattle Police Department—and found themselves eventually chased out of the city by a similarly sized contingent of counterprotesters.
  The Gettysburg rally attracted an armed crowd, many of them carrying semi-automatic rifles and handguns, waving all kinds of banners: the American flag, the Confederate flag, the bright-yellow Gadsden flag, and Trump flags. They all believed they were coming to prevent “antifa” from burning American flags.

  “These people are acting like savages,” one AR-15-toting participant told his fellow patriots, according to the Washington Post.

  “We’ve been letting them get by with it for too long, but that changes now,” said Don Kretzer, 52, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

  Rather like the crowds of similar so-called “Patriots” around the country who turned out with guns to protect their small towns from “antifa buses” they were told were about to descend on their communities, the militiamen who gathered in Pennsylvania had been duped on social media. There never was a legitimate threat from any antifascist group to burn flags—just trolling spread widely on social media, particularly Facebook.

  As the Post explored in some depth, the tales of a July 4 “antifa” rally at Gettysburg appear to have originated with a Twitter account with dubious provenance by a man named Alan Jeffs, who claimed to be a 39-year-old graphic designer and onetime Bernie Sanders supporter (his former handle was @Bernieorelse). His personal photo was faked, and none of his claims checked out.

  Still, the posters promoting a “Flag Burning” event in Gettysburg (“Antifa is Coming to Take Our Country Back From Right-Wing Lunacy”) created by Jeffs’ new Twitter handle—@LeftBehindUSA—spread quickly on social media, which accelerated even more rapidly when right-wing media such as the Gateway Pundit blog picked it up and ran with it.

  

  One of the Facebook posts featuring the “antifa” rally hoax.

  Pretty quickly, other hoaxers jumped aboard. One poster shared widely on Facebook—announcing a “4th of July Flag Burning” featuring “Children Welcome—Antifa Face Painting”—was accompanied by dead-serious text claiming that the “antifa plan” had been “confirmed by the Gettysburg Police Department” and chiding readers: “If you fail to copy or share this you are not a patriot you are part of the problem.” It told readers that the “antifa” activists in every state were “trained by radical Islam” and that “they plan on killing as many Trump supporters and whites as possible!”

  Hal Turner, a notorious ex-radio host with a long history of involvement in white-supremacist movements, also promoted the Gettysburg hoax, along with a similarly groundless tale that “Antifa” was distributing fireworks in Black neighborhoods as part of a nefarious scheme to condition Americans to the sounds of explosions just before they went on a national rampage killing white people. He claimed the July 4 flag burning was to occur “just before they begin MURDERING White people and BURNING DOWN Suburbs the same day.”

  “So yes, this is the great purge,” Turner wrote. “The evidence is all there. … The objective is clear: It makes no difference as to what ideology a white person has; as long as you are white, you must be erased. This is their sick agenda.”

  None of this was true, of course. That, however, did not seem to perturb the people who turned up with guns on Saturday.

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s a hoax or not,” one of them told the Post. “They made a threat, and if we don’t make our voices heard, it’ll make it seem like it’s okay.”

  The gathered crowd was apparently on edge for much of the day. An African-American man named Trent Somes showed up to pay his respects to an ancestor buried in the Gettysburg cemetery wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt. He was instantly surrounded by a cluster of “Patriots” who proceeded to badger him. Police escorted Somes from the scene “for his own safety.”

  In Seattle, the hoax was more direct: A fake-news site called Prntly began promoting a rally to “retake” the autonomous zone on Capitol Hill, which supposedly featured the participation of Bikers For Trump and the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia organization. The only problem was that both groups denied they were involved in any such plans.

  Prntly’s owner/founder, Alex Portelli, boasted on social media that he had convinced “12,000 patriots to commit to tearing down the barricades” on the Fourth of July. He collected donations for it as well.

  But the crowd of “Patriots” who turned up Saturday on Capitol Hill numbered closer to 30, according to Puget Sound Anarchists (the gathering was so small that the Seattle Times did not bother covering it). Most of the participants were familiar to observers of the far-right rallies that have been organized over the past three years in the Pacific Northwest by the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, particularly onetime Proud Boy Alan Swinney of Portland.

  They marched relatively peacefully from nearby Volunteer Park down to the CHOP zone farther south, and then found themselves surrounded by a crowd of residents when they attempted to march through Cal Anderson Park, the center of the zone. Police intervened and largely protected the marchers for awhile, but eventually they wound up being chased back to their cars at Volunteer Park, spraying mace in the direction of their pursuers as they fled.

  At least one “Patriot” participant, Drew Duncomb—an African-American who apparently flew up from California to participate—voiced his disappointment at being hoaxed. “Alex with Prntly never showed up to this event,” he wrote on Facebook. “He organized it then left us out to face the violent mob alone. If you donated money for the event in Seattle demand a refund.”

  “They claimed they were going to ‘clear CHOP’ yet when faced with an evenly-matched crowd largely comprised of the same people they claimed they were going to remove from the city, most of whom have spent the last month fearlessly confronting SPD and facing down violence and mass arrests, they literally ran away,” noted Puget Sound Anarchists reported AlterNet. “Antifascists didn’t even call for a public mobilization and still the far-right were run the fuck out of town.”
• 
  
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• Guess who's even more unpopular in Maine than Donald Trump? That's right, it's Susan Collins!
  
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• Cartoon: Cancel landlords
  
• Amid dueling polls, Gideon demolishes Collins in fundraising
• 

• LEADING OFF

  ● ME-Sen: We have two new polls of the Maine Senate race, and they show very different outcomes for the November general election.
  Last week, the NRSC unveiled a survey from Moore Information that showed Republican incumbent Susan Collins beating state House Speaker Sara Gideon, who is the heavy favorite to win the July 14 Democratic primary, by a wide 45-37 margin. However, it’s notable that the GOP’s numbers still found Collins, a longtime incumbent who has pulled off landslide victories in her three previous re-election contests, in the mid-40s. That could be especially bad news for the Republicans because Maine uses instant-runoff voting for this contest, so Collins can’t win with just a plurality; it’s also possible that supporters of third-party and independent candidates may break disproportionately against the four-term senator after their first choice is eliminated.  
  Meanwhile on Monday, the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released a survey giving Gideon a 47-43 edge, which is identical to what they found back in early March. PPP also showed Joe Biden carrying Maine 53-42, while the NRSC did not publicize any presidential numbers.
• Unfortunately, while this is one of the most contested Senate races this cycle, we've seen very little polling from the Pine Tree State. In fact, the only other survey that's been released in the last four months was a mid-May poll from Victory Geek for a local progressive organization, and it gave Gideon a 51-42 lead.
  Gideon, though, is very much winning the money race against Collins. From April 1 to June 24, which is the time the FEC defines as the pre-primary period, Gideon outraised Collins $8 million to $3 million, and the Democrat held a small $5.5 million to $5 million cash-on-hand edge. Gideon's campaign also announced that she'd raised a total of $9 million for the second quarter of 2020, which would mean that she took in another $1 million during just the final seven days of June; Collins has not yet announced her total haul for the quarter.
  If Gideon wins the primary next week, she'll get another big financial boost. Several organizations, including Daily Kos, raised about $4 million in 2018 right after Collins became the decisive vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the funds will go to whoever wins the Democratic nomination.
  Meanwhile, Gideon is up with another commercial pushing back on Republican attacks that she was too slow to take action against a state representative and teacher named Dillon Bates who had been accused of having improper relationships with his students. The narrator declares, "It's Sara Gideon who was the first to call on the state representative to resign when evidence of misconduct was revealed."
  The narrator then goes after the incumbent for voting to acquit Donald Trump rather than remove him from office, declaring, "But even with mountains of evidence, Susan Collins gives Donald Trump a pass." The ad proceeds to show a clip of Collins from earlier this year saying, "I believe that the president has learned from this case. I believe that he will be much more cautious in the future." Gideon's new commercial came after the NRSC launched another spot on the Bates story.

  PRIMARY NIGHT

  ● Primary Night: 10 Things I Hate About Van Drew: Tuesday is primary night in New Jersey, and as always, Daily Kos Elections has put together a preview of the key races to watch.
  Most of the action will be in two competitive South Jersey seats. Democrats have a competitive contest in the 2nd District to take on Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who joined the Republicans last year, while Republicans have a nasty contest in the 3rd District to face Democratic Rep. Andy Kim. Van Drew also is going through his first-ever Republican primary, while Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Albio Sires also face intra-party challengers.
  Polls close at 8 PM ET, and our live coverage will begin then at Daily Kos Elections. You can also follow us on Twitter for blow-by-blow updates. And you'll want to bookmark our primary calendar, which includes the dates of the presidential and down-ballot primaries in all 50 states—many of which have been changed—as well as our separate calendar tracking key contests further down the ballot taking place nationwide this year.

  ELECTION CHANGES

  Please bookmark our litigation tracker for a complete compilation of the latest developments in every lawsuit regarding changes to election and voting procedures.
  ● Alabama: The Supreme Court has, without explanation, stayed a lower court ruling that made it easier for certain Alabama voters to cast absentee ballots in the state's July 14 primary runoffs, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the same request for a stay from Republican officials.
  The ruling had barred officials in three of the state's biggest counties from enforcing a requirement that voters who believe "it is impossible or unreasonable to safely" do so provide the signature of a notary or two witnesses when voting absentee. It also waived a requirement that absentee voters include a copy of their photo IDs for those 65 and older or with a disability who likewise believed they could not do so safely. In addition, it prevented Republican Secretary of State John Merrill from banning curbside voting.
  The Supreme Court's decision places that ruling on hold while Republicans appeal it, but in practice, time has run out to resolve the matter before the runoffs. However, the plaintiffs, who include the NAACP, say they will continue to litigate their case, which likely would mean concentrating their efforts on the November general election.
  ● Arkansas: Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced at a press conference late last week that voters could cite concerns about the coronavirus to request an absentee ballot for the November general election, but he specifically said he would not issue an executive order to that end. An attorney for three Arkansas voters who recently filed a suit in state court seeking to loosen the state's excuse requirement for voting absentee said Hutchinson's proclamation "lacked legal authority" and would therefore continue pressing his clients' case.
  Republican Secretary of State John Thurston also said at the same event that the state would not send absentee applications to all voters, citing a "lack of funding." Thurston said that local officials could still do so, but the county clerk in Democratic-leaning Pulaski County, the state's largest, said that doing so would be "cost prohibitive."
  ● Connecticut: The League of Women Voters and the NAACP have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block Connecticut from requiring that voters present an excuse to request an absentee ballot for the November general election. As the suit notes, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order in May waiving the excuse requirement for the state's Aug. 11 primary but he has not taken similar action for November. Early last month, Lamont told lawmakers he plans to convene a special session of the legislature "very soon" to address the matter but has not yet done so.
  ● Delaware: Democratic Gov. John Carney has signed a bill that would allow all voters to request absentee ballots without an excuse for any election this year, including the state's Sept. 15 downballot primary and the November general election. The new law directs officials to mail applications for absentee ballots with prepaid postage to all voters in both elections.
  ● Georgia: A bill to bar Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and local election officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters has died after Georgia's Republican-run legislature adjourned at the end of last month without passing the measure. Raffensperger had mailed applications to all active registered voters ahead of the state's June 9 primary but said shortly afterward that he would not do so again for the November general election, claiming he lacks the funds.
  ● Massachusetts: Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has signed a bill passed by Massachusetts' Democratic-run state legislature to allow excuse-free mail voting in the state's Sept. 1 primary. The measure would also expand early voting before the November general election and establish an early voting period ahead of the primary for the first time. In addition, officials would be required to count ballots for the November election that are postmarked by Election Day and received within three days afterward (currently, ballots must be received by Election Day).
  ● Vermont: Republican Gov. Phil Scott has allowed a bill passed by Vermont's Democratic-run legislature that would pave the way for an all-mail election this November to become law without his signature. The legislation would let Democratic Secretary of State Jim Condos institute emergency election procedures without seeking Scott's approval. Condos has long sought to conduct elections this year by mail, but Scott has resisted such plans. However, Scott said he did not oppose lawmakers removing him from the decision-making process. Condos has not yet announced any specifics.

  2Q FUNDRAISING

  ● GA-Sen-B: Raphael Warnock (D): $2.85 million raised
  ● MA-Sen: Ed Markey (D-inc): $1.9 million raised, $4.8 million cash-on-hand; Joe Kennedy III (D): $1.9 million raised, $4.7 million cash-on-hand
  ● MT-Sen: Steve Bullock (D): $7.7 million raised, $7.4 million cash-on-hand
  ● NC-Sen: Cal Cunningham (D): $7.4 million raised, $6.6 million cash-on-hand
  ● NC-Gov: Roy Cooper (D-inc): $5.5 million raised, $14 million cash on hand
  ● VA-Gov: Jennifer Carroll Foy (D): $776,000 raised
  ● CA-45: Katie Porter (D-inc): $2.5 million raised, $6.6 million cash-on-hand
  ● IA-01: Abby Finkenauer (D-inc): $875,000 raised, $2.7 million cash-on-hand; Ashley Hinson (R): $1 million raised, $1.6 million cash on hand
  ● IA-02: Rita Hart (D): $620,000 raised, $1.35 million cash-on-hand
  ● SC-01: Joe Cunningham (D-inc): $863,000 raised, $3.1 million cash-on-hand
  ● TX-10: Mike Siegel (D): $250,000 raised; Pritesh Gandhi (D): $256,000 raised
  ● TX-24: Kim Olson (D): $438,000 raised; Candace Valenzuela (D): $465,000 raised

  SENATE

  ● GA-Sen-A, GA-Sen-B: Politico reports that the NRSC has reserved $2.1 million for TV commercials that will begin July 15, though it's not clear whether these ads will go towards protecting Sen. David Perdue or appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler. The Republican firm Medium Buying also says that Perdue will begin running TV ads this week.
  ● IA-Sen: The progressive group End Citizens United has released a poll from GQR that shows Democrat Theresa Greenfield leading Republican Sen. Joni Ernst 49-47. A trio of other surveys released in the month since Greenfield secured the Democratic nod have also given her a small edge.
  Greenfield's allies at Senate Majority PAC are also devoting more money to help her. Roll Call reports that the group has booked an additional $3.6 million in fall TV time, which takes their total reservation here to $16.7 million.
  Meanwhile, Ernst is up with her first TV ad of the campaign. The senator talks about her military service in Iraq and bashes China as a "supply chain threat."
  ● KS-Sen: Wealthy businessman Bob Hamilton is using his first negative TV spot against Rep. Roger Marshall ahead of the Aug. 4 Republican primary to focus on the congressman's 2008 conviction for reckless driving and the charge's subsequent erasure.
  The ad begins with audio of a 911 call where a Marshall neighbor named Randy Suchy tells the dispatcher, "I've got Dr. Roger Marshall over here trespassing. He just about ran over me." The narrator then jumps in, "Roger Marshall, charged with battery and reckless driving. Convicted. Sentenced to jail time." She continues, "But Marshall had ties to the prosecutor and got it erased. The conviction: eliminated. The evidence: sealed."
  Hamilton is also running a positive commercial with a lot of bad puns. You have been warned.
  ● MI-Sen: The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling's newest survey for Progress Michigan gives Democratic incumbent Gary Peters a 47-39 lead over Republican John James, while Joe Biden leads 50-44. PPP found Peters ahead by a similar 48-39 margin in late May.
  ● MT-Sen, MT-Gov, MT-AL: The University of Montana is has released a poll looking at this trio of races:
  • MT-Sen: Steve Bullock (D): 47, Steve Daines (R-inc): 43
  • MT-Gov: Greg Gianforte (R): 46, Mike Cooney (D): 36
  • MT-AL: Matt Rosendale (R): 45, Kathleen Williams (D): 37
  The sample also shows Donald Trump ahead 52-38 in a state he carried 56-35 four years ago.
  A May survey from Montana State University gave Bullock a 46-39 lead, while we haven't seen any surveys looking at the gubernatorial or House race in months.
  ● NC-Sen: The NRSC is out with the first of what will undoubtedly be many commercials against Democrat Cal Cunningham, and it attempts to tie him to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
  ● TX-Sen: EMILY's List, which is backing Air Force veteran MJ Hegar in next week's Democratic primary runoff, has released a survey from Public Policy Polling that gives Republican Sen. John Cornyn a 42-35 lead over her in a hypothetical general election; the sample also favors Joe Biden 48-46. The release did not mention Hegar's intra-party rival, state Sen. Royce West.
  We haven't seen any polls of the runoff in months, but Hegar, who outpaced West 22-15 during the first round in March, does hold a dominant lead in the money race. Hegar outraised West $1.6 million to $430,000 during the pre-primary period, and she outspent him $1.1 million to $390,000. Hegar also held a $1.6 million to $160,000 cash-on-hand lead for the home stretch.
  Hegar is also getting some outside help from the DSCC. The Texas Tribune reports that Hegar and the committee are spending at least $500,000 on a coordinated ad buy in the Dallas and Houston media markets, which together are home to just over half of the state's residents.
  Meanwhile, West earned an endorsement last week from Rep. Joaquin Castro, who considered running for this seat last year.

  GUBERNATORIAL

  ● AR-Gov: Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced last week that she was entering the 2022 contest to succeed Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a fellow Republican who is termed-out next cycle. Rutledge joins Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, who launched his campaign in August of last year, in the primary.
  ● MT-Gov: The RGA has launched what the National Journal's Mary Frances McGowan describes as a "six-figure statewide ad buy across tv and radio platforms" against Democrat Mike Cooney. The commercial declares that Cooney has been "a political insider since Jimmy Carter was president" and argues he's raised taxes in office.

  HOUSE

  ● AL-01: Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl is out with a commercial ahead of next week's Republican primary runoff that accuses former Sen. Bill Hightower of "trying to hide his disgust for President Trump."
  The spot then shows a picture of a 2016 tweet Hightower liked from conservative columnist Quin Hillyer (who unsuccessfully ran here back in the 2013 special election), where Hillyer expressed his "disgust" for both presidential candidates. The narrator interprets this as Hightower admitting his own disgust for having to back Trump, and he goes on to accuse the former state senator of supporting tolls and having "voted to make it easier for illegal immigrants to vote."
  ● ME-02: A newly-formed group called the American Policy Fund is spending about $125,000 on commercials attacking 2018 Senate nominee Eric Brakey ahead of next week's Republican contest to take on Democratic Rep. Jared Golden. The offensive comes after two conservative groups, the Club for Growth and Protect Freedom PAC, deployed a total of $865,000 to support Brakey.
  Brakey is one of three Republicans competing in the primary for this northern Maine seat, which will be conducted using an instant-runoff ballot, and he holds a big financial advantage over his rivals heading into the final weeks of the campaign. Brakey outraised real estate agent Adrienne Bennett $150,000 to $90,000 during the pre-primary period, while former state Rep. Dale Crafts took in just $57,000 and self-funded another $50,000.
  However, it was Crafts who narrowly outspent Brakey $173,000 to $167,000 during this time, while Bennett used just $98,000. Still, Brakey held a $150,000 war chest on June 24 for the final days of the campaign, while Crafts and Bennett had $60,000 and $30,000 left to spend, respectively.
  Whoever emerges with the GOP nod will start out far behind Golden in resources. The congressman raised about $500,000 during the pre-primary period, and he had $2 million in the bank to defend this competitive seat.
  ● NY-02: On Thursday, Mike LiPetri conceded the June 23 Republican primary to fellow Assemblyman Andrew Garbarino. With 19,000 ballots tallied as of Monday evening Garbarino, who had the support of retiring Rep. Peter King and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, leads 62-38.
  Garbarino will take on Babylon Town Councilor Jackie Gordon, who easily won the Democratic primary, in the general election for this district in central Long Island. Gordon, who began running months before King announced his departure last November, has decisively outraised Garbarino so far, though the Republican may gain ground now that he's secured the GOP nod. This seat swung from 52-47 Obama to 53-44 Trump, and Republicans do well downballot in this area. Daily Kos Elections rates this contest as Lean Republican.
  ● NY-09: On Wednesday, the Associated Press called the June 23 Democratic primary for this safely blue seat for Rep. Yvette Clarke. With 60,000 ballots counted in this central Brooklyn district as of Monday evening, Clarke leads community organizer Adem Bunkeddeko 62-18.
  While the margin may shift after mail-in votes are tabulated, this outcome looks very different than Clarke's surprisingly small 53-47 victory against Bunkeddeko from two years ago. One big reason this contest was this lopsided may be that Clarke learned from her past mistakes: While she said during the 2018 campaign that she didn't take Bunkeddeko seriously, the congresswoman declared months later that she "definitely will not be caught by surprise" this time around.
  ● NY-10: On Wednesday, the Associated Press called the Democratic primary for this safely blue seat, which includes the West Side of Manhattan and part of southern Brooklyn, for longtime incumbent Jerry Nadler. With 31,000 votes counted as of Monday evening, Nadler leads Lindsey Boylan, who is a former Cuomo administration official, 62-25.
  ● TN-01: On behalf of the local station WJHL, the GOP pollster Spry Strategies is out with the first survey we've seen of the Aug. 6 Republican primary for this safely red East Tennessee seat:
  • Pharmacist Diana Harshbarger: 22
  • State Sen. Rusty Crowe: 14
  • State Rep. Timothy Hill: 11
  • State Rep. David Hawk: 6
  • Former Johnson City Mayor Steve Darden: 6
  • Physician Josh Gapp: 6
  • Former Kingsport Mayor John Clark: 5
  • Machinist Jay Adkins: 3
  • Internet consultant Nichole Williams: 2
  Spry did not ask about the other seven contenders on the ballot, though 3% of respondents volunteered that they support "another candidate." The remaining 21% were undecided.  
  ● TX-10: 314 Action Fund has launched a six-figure ad buy ahead of next week's Democratic primary runoff supporting physician Pritesh Gandhi and opposing 2018 nominee Mike Siegel. The spot argues that Siegel has "already lost" to Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, while Gandhi is a stronger choice.
  ● TX-13: Miles of Greatness Fund, a super PAC that supports former White House chief physician Ronny Jackson, is publicizing a survey from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates that shows Jackson leading lobbyist Josh Winegarner 46-29 in next week's Republican primary runoff. The only other poll we've seen here was a mid-June survey for another pro-Jackson group, the Club for Growth, which had him up 49-41.
  ● TX-23: On Friday, Donald Trump endorsed Navy veteran Tony Gonzales in next week's Republican primary runoff for this competitive open seat. Trump made his move days after Sen. Ted Cruz threw his support behind Gonzales' intra-party opponent, businessman Raul Reyes. Amusingly, the New York Times reports that, while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy worked hard to secure that endorsement tweet for Gonzales, Cruz unsuccessfully tried to convince Trump to remain neutral.
  While Trump's support could help Gonzales, who has the backing of retiring Rep. Will Hurd, beat Reyes on July 14, it could be a big liability in November. This seat, which stretches from San Antonio west to the El Paso area, swung from 51-48 Romney to 50-46 Clinton, and Cruz lost it 52-47 two years later. And while Hurd did narrowly win re-election in 2018 against Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, he had to constantly portray himself as a congressman who was willing to defy the White House when necessary.
  Gonzales, though, doesn't seem concerned with the possibility that his allegiance to Trump could hurt him in November against Ortiz Jones, who is again the Democratic nominee. Gonzales went up with an ad last week shortly before the Trump tweet went up arguing, "President Trump needs allies. But Raul Reyes never even bothered to vote in a Republican primary."
  ● TX-24: The Texas Tribune writes that End Citizens United is spending $100,000 on digital ads and mail supporting local school board member Candace Valenzuela in next week's Democratic primary runoff. The Latino Victory Fund also recently launched a TV spot against Valenzuela's opponent, Air Force veteran Kim Olson, though we do not have a copy of the commercial or the size of the buy.
  ● VA-07: On Thursday, local Republican Party officials announced the rules governing the July 18 convention, where Team Red will select its nominee to face Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
  The estimated 4,000 delegates will drive to the Meadow Event Park and leave their vehicles to cast ballots at the exhibition hall. The delegates will then return to their cars or hang around outside and wait for result to be announced: If another round of voting is needed, the process will repeat itself until a nominee is selected. There are six Republicans competing here, so there's a good chance that it could take quite a few ballots to pick a candidate. If this sounds like a truly miserable experience, just be glad you're not a Republican convention delegate.
  ● WA-10: Former Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland is up with a TV spot ahead of the Aug. 4 top-two primary that stars her most prominent supporters, former Democratic Govs. Gary Locke and Christine Gregoire.
  Locke introduces Strickland by telling the audience, "The daughter of a veteran and immigrant, Marilyn Strickland knows the importance of creating opportunity for everyone." Gregoire goes on to laud Strickland's service as mayor during the Great Recession, and the two former governors continue by talking about the candidate's progressive accomplishments.

  OTHER RACES

  ● Los Angeles County CA, District Attorney: Democratic Rep. Alan Lowenthal announced last week that he was withdrawing his endorsement of incumbent Jackie Lacey and would instead back former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón in the November general election. Lowenthal argued that Gascón, who is running to Lacey's left, had a "transformative vision" and displayed "progressive leadership." Rep. Adam Schiff also recently retracted his Lacey endorsement, but he is not publicly supporting Gascón.
  ● UT-AG: The Associated Press announced Friday that it was calling last week's Republican primary for state Attorney General Sean Reyes. With 491,000 votes counted as of Monday evening, Reyes leads Utah County Attorney David Leavitt 54-46. Reyes will be the heavy favorite in the fall against Democrat Greg Skordas in this very red state.

  AD ROUNDUP

  • AZ-Sen: Martha McSally (R-inc); NRSC - anti-Mark Kelly (D)
  • ME-Sen: Susan Collins (R-inc) - anti-Sara Gideon (D)
  • MI-Sen: Gary Peters (D-inc)
  • AZ-06: Hiral Tipirneni (D)
• Five times white privilege failed to save these racists in aftermath of George Floyd's death
  
• Sign and send the petition: Demand Congress broaden the moratorium on evictions and provide emergency rental assistance so people are able to pay their rent.
  
• Survivors in Weinstein lawsuit to receive $18.8 million settlement, but some consider it ‘sellout'
  
• The Georgia town that was home to Ahmaud Arbery has an environmental racism problem
  
• New study says 30% of U.S. children do not have adequate internet access to learn from home
  

ICYMI: Here are the top stories of the week so far:

• Trump accidentally tells the truth about his dumpster fire of a presidency
  
• COVID-19 rages, Trump melts down, and Congress takes a two-week break
  
• Neo-Nazi neighbor guns down Oklahoma woman for swiping his swastika banner
  

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