POLITICO NIGHTLY: A Trump-size hurdle for Biden’s vax goal

BY MYAH WARD People talk with health care workers before receiving their Covid-19 vaccines at the mass vaccination site at Boston’s Fenway Park in January. | Getty Images WHERE THE JABS AREN’T — President Joe Biden announced a “month of action” today to try to put at least one Covid vaccine dose in the arms of 70 percent of American adults by Independence Day. The number currently stands at around 63 percent. But vaccinated Americans are not evenly distributed from sea to shining sea. The numbers look markedly different, depending on what state you’re in — and especially how that state voted. Twelve states, according to the White House, have vaccinated at least 70 percent of their adult population. Every one of them voted for Biden in 2020. The numbers look slightly different if you measure based on the entire population, but even then, one state has already crossed the 70 percent threshold. Here’s the top 10 breakdown from CovidActNow, ranked by the percent of total population who are at least partially vaccinated: Vermont: 70.7 percent Hawaii: 66.9 percent Massachusetts: 66.6 percent Connecticut: 63.4 percent Maine: 63.2 percent Rhode Island: 61 percent New Jersey: 60.5 percent New Hampshire: 60 percent Pennsylvania: 58.5 percent New Mexico: 57.9 percent The regional champion for the most vaccinated? The deeply Democratic New England states. All six reached Biden’s goal before Memorial Day. Vermont has a Republican governor, and he tweeted Tuesday that the state is approaching an 80 percent vaccination rate for its 12-and-older residents. “There are just 3 people hospitalized in the entire state with COVID-19,” Gov. Phil Scott wrote. “Yesterday, we reported just 2 new cases, and thankfully, we have not reported a death from COVID-19 in two weeks. Vaccines work.” Mark Levine, the Vermont Health Commissioner and a professor of medicine at the University of Vermont, said Vermont’s success can be attributed to good communication from the state government, and a population that trusts and listens to the government. But Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said New England’s high levels of vaccination have a simpler, less technocratic explanation: Partisanship. After all, the national political divide over vaccines exists inside Vermont, too. While it’s true that the New England states are majority white, educated and liberal leaning — all factors that play into the region’s high numbers — there are pockets of rural, vaccine-hesitant populations. In Vermont’s Essex County, 54 percent of voters went for former President Donald Trump in 2020. It’s the only county in the state that Biden lost. And it’s the outlier for vaccine rates in the nation’s most-vaccinated state. Only about 48 percent of the county is fully vaccinated, Levine said. Biden pushed back against the politicization of Covid today, telling Americans that getting vaccinated is “not a partisan act.” The science was conducted under a Republican and a Democratic administration, he emphasized, and the first vaccines were authorized under Trump. Yet Biden may struggle to reach the vaccine hesitant, merely because he’s a Democratic president. Here are the bottom five states for vaccination rates, starting with Mississippi, which has the lowest percentage of people who have received at least one dose. Mississippi: 34 percent Louisiana: 35.8 percent Alabama: 36 percent Wyoming: 37 percent Idaho: 37.7 percent Every one of these states voted for Trump. This is a new and different breed of vaccine resistance, Adalja said. In most cases, Covid vaccine skeptics are people who have received other vaccines, but are just against getting the Covid shot. Mississippi, for example, has one of the highest MMR vaccination rates in the country. Read David Lim’s report on the White House’s push to boost vaccinations through longer pharmacy hours, free child care for recipients, expanded community outreach, and as though ripped from the Onion’s depiction of “Diamond” Joe Biden, free beer. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at mward@politico.com, or on Twitter at @myahward.   SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.     WHAT'D I MISS? — Senate Democrats call on Google to conduct racial equity audit: A group of Senate Democrats led by Cory Booker is calling on Google to investigate how the tech giant’s products may contribute to discrimination. In letters sent Tuesday to executives at Google and parent company Alphabet, the lawmakers expressed alarm about the recent ouster of two women who led the company’s ethical artificial intelligence team and over reports that Google’s tools may perpetuate racial biases by relying on data that under-represent minorities. — Second Capitol riot defendant strikes plea deal: A 38-year-old man from Tampa, Fla., today became only the second defendant charged in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to plead guilty to obstructing Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results — an agreement that could shed light on the government’s strategy for prosecuting the hundreds of other alleged perpetrators of the insurrection. — Iranian Navy ships could reach the Atlantic by Thursday: Two Iranian Navy ships heading south along the east coast of Africa are expected to round the Cape of Good Hope and reach the Atlantic Ocean as early as Thursday , according to two U.S. officials with direct knowledge. National security officials tracking the ships do not know the ships’ final destination, but believe they may be ultimately bound for Venezuela, POLITICO first reported on Saturday. The ships were still moving south today, and at their current pace they are on track to turn west around the Cape on Thursday, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive operations. — Biden goes ‘full steam ahead’ on Trump’s nuclear expansion: Biden ran on a platform opposing new nuclear weapons, but his first defense budget backs two controversial new projects put in motion by Trump and also doubles down on the wholesale upgrade of all three legs of the arsenal. The decision to retain a low-yield warhead that was outfitted on submarine-launched ballistic missiles in 2019, and to initiate research into a new sea-launched cruise missile, has sparked an outcry from arms control advocates and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which is vowing a fight to reverse the momentum. AROUND THE WORLD BIBI’S ERA CLOSING — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opponents announced they have reached a deal to form a new governing coalition, paving the way for the ouster of the longtime Israeli leader. The dramatic announcement by opposition leader Yair Lapid and his main coalition partner, Naftali Bennett, came moments before a midnight deadline and prevented the country from plunging into what would have been its fifth consecutive election in just over two years. In a statement on Twitter, Lapid said he had informed the country’s president of the deal. “This government will work for all the citizens of Israel, those that voted for it and those that didn’t. It will do everything to unite Israeli society,” he said.   SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     PALACE INTRIGUE INFRASTRUCTURE MIDWEEK — Democrats and Republicans remain worlds apart on infrastructure. But Biden is holding out hope for a breakthrough in negotiations, having had a “constructive and frank conversation” with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito today even as Senate Democrats pave the way to pass legislation along party lines. In the latest POLITICO Dispatch, Christopher Cadelago breaks down why Biden is betting big on bipartisanship (or at least the appearance of it). Listen to the latest POLITICO Dispatch podcast NIGHTLY NUMBER 64 The number of Bulgarian entities sanctioned by the Treasury Department, alongside high-profile power brokers, in a sweeping anti-graft action announced today. The move constitutes the U.S.’ biggest-ever action in one day under the country’s Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of corruption and human rights abuses around the globe. PARTING WORDS New York City mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia has been lauded for her competence, but the lackluster parts of her record are now being called into question. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images ‘PILES OF TRASH’ — Kathryn Garcia spent months as a second-tier candidate in the New York mayor’s race, a competent administrator but lesser known politician whom Andrew Yang said he’d hire as a deputy mayor. But an endorsement by The New York Times helped thrust her to the top of the Democratic primary field, and her rivals are turning on her. Yang, a leading candidate, now faults the former city sanitation commissioner for “piles of trash” lining New York’s sidewalks. Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president who regularly ranks first or second in the polls, said the city needs a “visionary” instead of a “manager,” Danielle Muoio and Sally Goldenberg report. Garcia, who had previously polled in the single digits and struggled to secure endorsements and campaign cash, must now contend with the scrutiny that comes with being a major candidate. That includes separating herself from her seven-year tenure working for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is hardly celebrated for his managerial skills. Several of her rivals are weighing whether to go after Garcia in a televised debate tonight. The mayor, set to leave office next year, routinely tapped Garcia to pinch hit in times of crisis. She has been lauded for her competence — earning her the Times endorsement and another from the Daily News. But the lackluster parts of her record are now being called into question. “Many people have been despondent for months and know that we need something different. We need someone very different than Mayor de Blasio,” Yang, the former presidential candidate, said recently on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show. “And Kathryn, despite her service to the city, is part of an administration that a lot of New Yorkers know has not worked.” Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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