Subject: POLITICO Huddle: FORBES LOSES -- Heck wins -- GOP can’t keep up with Trump -- ALL SENATE BRIEFING TODAY
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2016 05:29:00 -0600

06/15/2016 07:26 AM EDT

By Burgess Everett (@burgessev or [email-masked]) 

RANDY FORBES GOES DOWN: Eight-term legislator Randy Forbes outspent Scott Taylor 10-to-1 in Virginia's second district, but it was all for naught. Forbes became the third House incumbent to lose his primary last night, joining N.C. GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers and Pa. Rep. Chaka Fattah in a year that has generally favored incumbents. But like Ellmers, Forbes was running in a new district, this one being vacated by Rep. Scott Rigell. And despite spending more than $1 million, renting out Rigell's former campaign HQ and buying his email list, it wasn't enough for Forbes. In the end it wasn't even close: Former Navy SEAL Taylor won 52.5 to Forbes's 40.6 percent. "Tomorrow the sun is going to come up
 for me and I'll have a whole lot less burden to carry on my shoulder than I've had to carry for the last 16 years, so I'm excited about that," Forbes said after his loss. Indeed, but rain is in the forecast. Virginian-Pilot: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eba2e439730aff49741ff8c2d5838adb2e37b790ffd73c85be

Flashback: Forbes was perhaps best known nationally for trying to get the NRCC from giving money to gay candidates in 2013. Austin and Jake had that one: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eb899b85da1614b61d83bfc7945c6d4c4f4162d10e23631cbc

IN NEVADA: Sharron Angle lost quite badly to Rep. Joe Heck, 65-23, for the nomination to take on Catherine Cortez Masto in the race to replace Sen. Harry Reid. And Reid's two anointed candidates, Ruben Kihuen and Jackie Rosen, won House primaries to take on Rep. Crescent Hardy and Danny Tarkanian, who Democrats think is beatable. Ralston: "Reid showed he can still play godfather. Not only did his two anointed congressional hopes win, but because the vulnerable Tarkanian won the primary, he could now help capture two nationally watched seats. And the prince also could preside over taking back both houses of the Legislature on his way out as the Democrats are now slight favorites to win back
 both houses lost in 2014." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eba7ceb7277b0c75c4b55c891ba7b1fdc6b59e7e93fb54c278

WASHINGTON INSIDERS STAGE REVOLUTION: Know where a lot of incumbents lost last night? The D.C. Council. Ouch! Three sitting council members lost last night and Vince Gray is back on the council. The mayoral election in 2018 should be a good one. WaPo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eb7b997ea9624d20d9668a5dbde1d8a86fe119686fb211fdfb

BACK TO DESPONDENT TRUMP TALK: Our ol' pal Manu Raju was the first to get a question of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday. The topic, of course, was Donald Trump's response to the shootings in Orlando. The answer? "I'm not going to be commenting on the presidential candidates today." A few minutes earlier, McConnell's No. 2 John Cornyn of Texas confirmed that his goal was to stop talking about Trump until ... after the election. "Wish me luck," He quipped. Yep, Republican leaders are now giving their nominee the silent treatment, and rank-and-file senators are growing tired of offering Trump advice that he will not take.

-- "I don't know that I really have a lot to say," the usually voluble Sen. Bob Corker said twice yesterday. He eventually noted that he has offered advice to the businessman at key times but said he has been "discouraged by the results," panning Trump's high-profile foreign policy speech in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Monday. "It wasn't the type [of address] that one would expect a person who is wanting to lead the greatest nation in the world to make," Corker added. "Fifty people have perished, and [53] more have been harmed." Trump "continues to be discouraging." If it's possible to be more blunt, Sen. Jeff Flake went there: "He can't win the general election talking the way he is."
 SMK and I: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eb3190f76229377f2058e51e19dcfa218aa4f91b728cb3781e

BUT WHAT OF CONGRESS'S ORLANDO RESPONSE? Unless you like talk mixed in with some failed votes, don't hold your breath for a legislative solution from Congress. Senators are currently discussing their shared belief that terrorists should not be able to buy firearms, but the mood is bearish on deal-making to build something that can actually pass the Senate. '"We agree on the general principle," said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who has opposed the Democratic bill in the past. "The question is whether people want it as a political talking point or they want a real result.'" Our story on tragedies failing to bring Congress together: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eb29524c58e59bf15d4309153a4b50b7e0649cdff8ca763c11

BRIEFING BRIEF: There was not a lot of new information divulged in the all-House members briefing on the Orlando shootings, but there was an interesting wrinkle. Florida Rep. David Jolly left after he said things turned political inside the briefing room. "The first question was about gun control," Jolly, who's running for Marco Rubio's old Senate seat, told reporters after exiting the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium. ... Shame on members of Congress who use a tragedy in Orlando to play politics. And that's on both sides of the aisle. And shame on presidential candidates who do the same thing." Bres has it: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875ebf5f24283fabda9ad2b0803cb907c545787bc7102dd24580a

Mark it: The Senate gets its own briefing today at 4 p.m.

So glad it's Friday. And welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where your author is dealing with the after effects of a poison ivy incident. Please send tips and calamine lotion to [email-masked] and follow along on Twitter @burgessev. 

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to voice vote to advance the CJS appropriations bill at 10:30 a.m. The House is in at 10 a.m. and is working on the defense appropriations bill, with votes expected around 1:30 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL - At 8:30 a.m. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy hosts Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in H-107. At 10 a.m. House Dem Caucus Chair Xavier Becerra leads a presser on gun violence in the HVC-210 alcove. At 1 p.m. on the House Triangle Rep. Rick Larsen and Families of Wounded Veterans talk about in vitro fertilization. At 1:45 p.m. in 2154 Rayburn, Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Elijah Cummings release a Post Office reform discussion draft. 

TUESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: I received several nasty emails about our Trump coverage yesterday, yet Kyle and Bres's story on the GOP's Trump fears was the most clicked story in Huddle. Weird. 

DAILY TRUMP Q FOR REPUBLICANS: "Donald Trump rang in the Army's 241st birthday in unusual fashion on Tuesday - by calling attention to theft of government funds by American soldiers in Iraq. 'Iraq, crooked as hell. How about bringing baskets of money - millions and millions of dollars - and handing it out?,' Trump said at an evening rally. 'I want to know who were the soldiers that had that job, because I think they're living very well right now, whoever they may be.'" Trump's flack said later he was referring to Iraqis, not American soldiers. Ben Schreck: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875ebff7d38bdda89113a353bfa631e0a5e2003ec05f748748a92

SANDERS SLOGS ON: The scene on the Democratic side still pales to what's going on with Trump (can you imagine Reid saying he wouldn't talk about Hillary Clinton?), but Bernie Sanders is still not giving up despite a blowout loss in the District last night. Gabe Debenedetti reports on Sanders's post-campaign script: "Bernie Sanders isn't really running for president anymore. But he hasn't officially given up either. He still has a skeleton staff, a Secret Service detail, a charter plane contract, and the firmly held belief that by formally staying in the race he has the leverage to exact platform and party rules concessions from Clinton. So while he and his staff - no longer aiming to poach
 superdelegates - go out of their way to assure fellow senators and leading Democrats that he is committed to defeating Donald Trump above all else, the Sanders campaign is mapping out a soft, extended landing that could take a few weeks. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eb8dbc951ab5e8778fe0b6b24d57d62db03ae6d8199787fc1c

DAILY MARCO: Marco Rubio was supposed to give a big ol' candidate-style press gaggle yesterday, but the FBI pulled out of its scheduled briefing for the Intel Committee, he told me. That's likely to push his press avail to today after the all Senate briefing, and while he's boning up on his intel knowledge, the questions will likely be all about his electoral future. Rubio's now got nine days to decide whether he will run for reelection, and Manu reports that Democrats are trying to scare him off. "'If Marco decides to run, it's going to be tough," [said] Montana Sen. Jon Tester ... "If he gets beat twice in one year, it's not good for him.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eba6f17ed1a3ef087c609a9d468864308b5c39ffbb7657feb8

THE NEWEST HOUSE MEMBER: John Boehner and his replacement Warren Davidson don't have a ton in common, reports Philip Wegmann of the Daily Signal. They've traded calls since Davidson won the race to replace Boehner but not much else. "'I'm a nonsmoker,' Davidson quips when asked how he compares with his predecessor. 'I was on a golf team once but I don't golf much... And yeah, I'm definitely less tan.'" But does he like mowing the lawn? http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a1255d3c6f2875eb58de0afaf13d98b817605afd6e8d0c5a6a803ba1ff650a98

STRANGER THAN NON-FICTION: Former Senate staffer Colleen Shogan is out with her murder mystery Washington whodunit "Homicide in the House" today. 

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Grant Dubler was the first to answer that GEORGE Voinovich pursued a gas tax increase toward the end of his Senate career. Many apologies for getting the former senator's first name wrong yesterday. 

TODAY'S TRIVIA - I'll take today's question: 99 years ago today, Congress passed this bill as a precursor to getting involved in World War I. Name it. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at [email-masked]

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