POLITICO Nightly: How Michigan became the anti-Florida

 

View in browser   BY ADAM WREN Presented by Shut Down SHEIN Current and former students from Michigan State University and supporters attend a rally outside of the Michigan Capitol Building after a gunman opened fire on the campus of MSU. | Scott Olson/Getty Images OUT OF THE BLUE — When the Michigan Senate sent a so-called red flag bill to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer today, it became the latest example of the increasingly blue swing state morphing into what the bill’s author likes to call “the anti-Florida.” The legislation — authored by Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow—is part of a raft of comprehensive firearm restrictions signed into law in response to the Feb. 13 mass shooting on Michigan State University’s campus. It allows law enforcement agencies to seize guns owned by those considered a threat to themselves or others. More broadly, the measure is just one of a handful of progressive policies ushered into law by Democrats since winning the legislature last November. They repealed the state’s 1931 abortion ban. They added LGBTQ rights in the state’s anti-discrimination protections. They passed a Working Families Tax Credit . And they even became the first state in decades to repeal the union-restricting “right-to-work ” law, a rare victory for organized labor in the increasingly red industrial Midwest. In short order, Democrats have refashioned a state that Donald Trump won in 2016 into a laboratory of economic and social policies (not to mention giving Whitmer a possible success story to sell Democratic primary voters should she run for president in 2028.) “When we got a Democratic trifecta, our first tranche of legislation included things that were social issues and economic issues,” McMorrow said. “And we as Democrats have to prove that those things go together.” McMorrow says Michigan’s transformation was years in the making, and not just the result of voters rejecting the state’s Republican party over the Supreme Court’s seismic abortion ruling last year. “The important thing is it didn’t change overnight,” she said. “The Senate was under Republican control my entire lifetime. But what we saw was because Michigan was so badly gerrymandered, even though we are a very purple swing state, the Republican Party just by the nature of the gerrymandering kept getting more extreme and out of touch, even with moderate Republicans.” In 2018, a wave of elected women swept into office, though, including Whitmer. And the state switched to an independent redistricting commission. All of which has embattled Democrats in other states looking to the Michigan playbook. Call it the Michigan model, a mix of both economic and social progressivism. “We’re seeing states around the country, whether it’s Nebraska, or Tennessee, or Florida, really struggle and kind of go full on into the culture wars,” said McMorrow, who vaulted to national prominence a year ago today after her viral and fiery “We Won’t Let Hate Win” speech , which she used to launch a PAC that flipped control of her chamber to the Democrats for the first time since 1984. “We’re not New York or California,” McMorrow said. “We’re a pivotal swing state. And if we can prove that we can do it here, then that’s the signal to the rest of the country that there is a different way forward. It’s the anti-Florida — and we have two peninsulas instead of one,” she joked. McMorrow surprised some earlier this year when she declined a bid of her own for retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat. She said she weighed it, but ultimately decided to stay in the state legislature, where she sees the nation’s most pitched legislative battles taking place. “This is where everything is happening right now,” McMorrow said. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at awren@politico.com or on Twitter at @adamwren .   A message from Shut Down SHEIN: SHEIN has become a nefarious, fast-fashion juggernaut that’s a major threat to U.S. national security. SHEIN is likely violating U.S. law, committing “crimes against humanity” through slave labor in China, and engaging in anti-competitive and insidious business practices – all while harvesting information on as many Americans as possible for the Chinese Communist Party. Learn why Washington must Shut Down SHEIN!   WHAT'D I MISS? — Abortion pill maker sues FDA: The company that makes the generic version of a common abortion pill sued the FDA today , hoping to bar the agency from rolling back access to the drug if the Supreme Court allows sweeping restrictions to take effect this week. The challenge filed in federal court in Maryland, where the agency is headquartered, argues that if the FDA implements a court order suspending approval of the drug, mifepristone, it would be “depriving GenBioPro of its constitutional and statutory rights to market mifepristone without affording GenBioPro due process of law.” — Oklahoma official who discussed killing reporters resigns: A county commissioner in far southeast Oklahoma who was reportedly caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office confirmed today. Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said the office received a handwritten resignation letter from McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings. In it, Jennings says he is resigning immediately and that he plans to release a formal statement “in the near future regarding the recent events in our county.” — Alito extends reprieve for abortion pill access: Justice Samuel Alito maintained the current level of access to a widely used abortion pill for two more days , a temporary measure that gives the Supreme Court more time to weigh emergency appeals from the Biden administration and a company that makes the drug. Alito’s move – issued through a pair of brief orders this afternoon — resembles a hold that he put in place last Friday. Those earlier directives were scheduled to expire tonight.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING : What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today .     NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 OUT OF CONTROL — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis values being in control, writes POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg. Presidential candidate-in-waiting DeSantis is losing it. As he trekked to the nation’s capital to demonstrate strength with the Washington establishment on Tuesday — and before he even set foot in the district — several members of his state’s congressional delegation announced support instead for former President Donald Trump’s White House comeback bid. It was the latest indication of the early shine dulling on a candidate initially heralded by Republicans who don’t want Trump to be their party’s 2024 nominee — and more proof of Trump’s indictment bolstering his standing in the GOP field. MIAMI MOONSHOT — The mayor of Miami visited New Hampshire on Tuesday as he considers a campaign for the White House , WMUR reports. Mayor Francis Suarez said he doesn’t like the choices emerging for the GOP in 2024, so he’s thinking about getting into the race himself and plans to make a decision soon. "The way I look at it is I sort of back out of the first debate, which is Aug. 20, and obviously, there are certain thresholds that need to be met to get on the debate stage," he said. "And the Republican Party wants to have a robust, diverse and large pool of candidates that are on that stage. So, you know, the time is running short." TRUMP TROUBLESHOOTER — Susie Wiles, 65, has ascended to become perhaps the most significant voice inside Trump’s third presidential campaign , the New York Times reports. Born into celebrity — her father, Pat Summerall, was a famed broadcaster — the attention-shunning Wiles has worked to send three Republicans to the White House and two to rule Tallahassee over a four-decade career. A key strength, friends say, is negotiating the egos of swaggering Republican men whom she can come to understand almost viscerally. And she and the rampaging former president suddenly have more in common: They both helped make Ron DeSantis. They would both like to unmake him.   A message from Shut Down SHEIN:     AROUND THE WORLD Smoke is seen in Khartoum, Sudan today. Sudanese are fleeing their homes in the capital Khartoum, witnesses say, after five days of fighting. | Marwan Ali/AP Photo CEASEFIRE IN SUDAN — After five days of violent clashes in Sudan between the government’s military and a paramilitary force, the two sides have agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire. Foreign nationals remaining in the country are planning on using this ceasefire to attempt to leave the country , according to the New York Times, as violence at airports and on major transit routes has previously made it too dicey. Since clashes broke out on Saturday, over 3,000 people have been wounded and almost 300 killed, after negotiations between two generals who were once allies — Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. According to chief UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, civilians in Sudan “are running out of food, running out of fuel and running out of vital supplies” as hospitals have been shut down across the country. “These are flagrant violations of international law and they must stop,” Dujarric said. In 2019, the two generals worked together to help overthrow Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s dictator who ruled for three decades.   GO INSIDE THE 2023 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE:  POLITICO is proud to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage, insider nuggets and unparalleled insights from the 2023 Global Conference, which will convene leaders in health, finance, politics, philanthropy and entertainment from April 30-May 3. This year’s theme, Advancing a Thriving World , will challenge and inspire attendees to lean into building an optimistic coalition capable of tackling the issues and inequities we collectively face. Don’t miss a thing — subscribe today for a front row seat .     NIGHTLY NUMBER More than $1 million The amount of money that Republican group One Nation, which is aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is unloading on a campaign hitting West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin , according to details shared with POLITICO. Simultaneously, a strategist close to GOP Gov. Jim Justice said that the governor has made up his mind and will likely launch his Senate campaign before the end of the month. RADAR SWEEP POLL WATCHING — Is polling broken? It’s a question that political observers have been asking since big misses in key states in 2016 incorrectly predicted a Hillary Clinton victory. For their part, polling firms are changing rapidly as well; 61 percent used different methods in 2022 than they did in 2016 in an attempt to more accurately sample the population. Despite some continued mistakes, though, the industry is booming. There are more polling firms than ever, using more diverse methods : some have an online-opt in only model, while others are still using live phone calls only. Courtney Kennedy, Dana Popky and Scott Keeter have a new report from the Pew Research Center that considers these trends and gives readers a clear picture of polling today. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1995: A man stands in the blown-out doorway of a downtown Oklahoma City business, a few blocks away from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was destroyed by a car bomb set off by anti-government extremists and white supremacists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, killing 168. | Rick Bowmer/AP Photo Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   A message from Shut Down SHEIN: That form you fill out on international flights home stating you’re bringing less than $800 worth of goods into America? SHEIN fills it out for you when you order from them. SHEIN is a multi-billion-dollar Chinese company shipping billions of dollars of goods into America, exploiting a loophole meant to help American tourists traveling home. Making American consumers, mostly young women, an importer of record facilitates SHEIN’s anticompetitive business model that uses forced labor and avoids billions in tariffs, all while crushing American businesses and making Americans unwitting accomplices. Here are the facts: · SHEIN uses slaves to pick cotton in China. · SHEIN’s exploitation of the Section 321 loophole is costing the U.S. Treasury and American taxpayers billions of dollars annually, and shifts any legal responsibility to prove it is operating legally onto American consumers. It’s time for Washington to Shut Down SHEIN and protect U.S. national security! Learn more.     Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh Katherine Long @katherinealong   FOLLOW US

POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA