Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Wagner declines Missouri Senate race — Q2 FEC preview: Democrats who raised big money online in May — NRSC digital ads attack Dems on single-payer
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2017 08:05:28 -0600
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By Daniel Strauss | 07/05/2017 10:00 AM EDT

With Scott Bland and Kevin Robillard
 
The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)
 
NO GO - "Wagner won't challenge McCaskill for Senate in Missouri," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "Republican Rep. Ann Wagner has decided not to challenge Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2018, instead opting to stay in the House.Wagner had long been expected to run against McCaskill, the two-term incumbent, but said she wanted to focus on her family and her home district. ... Wagner, a prolific fundraiser, had been U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg under President George W. Bush, and was also a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee and chair of the Missouri GOP. She's served in Congress since 2012 and already had $2.7 million in her federal campaign account."
 
- "But now, Republicans will turn their attention to other potential McCaskill challengers, including state Attorney General Josh Hawley and Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Vicky Hartzler. Hawley, in particular, had emerged as a potential primary challenger to Wagner before the congresswoman decided not to run for Senate." Full story.
 
FEC FILING PREVIEW - "Democratic campaigns raised big money online in May," by Campaign Pro's Scott Bland: "Seven Democratic Senate candidates raised $500,000 or more online in April and May, according to recent campaign finance disclosures - providing a first hint at what will be in second-quarter FEC reports when they come out later this month. The disclosures from ActBlue, the widely used Democratic online fundraising platform, also show more than $3 million raised into escrow accounts for Democratic nominees in GOP-held House districts around the country, as well as several individual House challengers poised to disclose large second-quarter fundraising hauls later this month. Sen.
 Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-N.Y.) campaign raised over $1.6 million online in the first two months of the second quarter, including over $965,000 in May, according to aggregated earmarked contributions in ActBlue's FEC filings. Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is running for Senate against GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, also raised over $1 million online via ActBlue in April and May, including $513,000 in May." Full story.
 
- "Kaine raised $2.6M in second quarter, had $7.3M on hand," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "The 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee has now raised $10.6 million over the course of his six-year election cycle. Republicans don't have a clear candidate to face Kaine in 2018, but Rep. Barbara Comstock, former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, radio host Laura Ingraham and Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart have all been discussed as possible challengers." Full story.
 
CUTTING THE ANCHOR - "Lt. Gov. takes unusual dig at Christie over being on closed beach," by the Star-Ledger's Matt Arco: "Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, the second-in-command to Gov. Chris Christie and the Republican nominee to succeed the governor, blasted Christie on Monday over the controversial photo of him taking in the sun at the closed Island Beach State Park. 'It's beyond words. If I were governor, I sure wouldn't be sitting on the beach if taxpayers didn't have access to state beaches,' Guadagno said in a statement issued by her campaign. ... Guadagno is vying for the governorship against Democratic nominee Phil Murphy." Full story.
 
FIRST IN SCORE - NRSC launches digital ads hitting Democrats on single-payer: The National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching digital ads targeting all 10 Democrats up in states won by President Donald Trump next year linking them to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the Democratic push for single-payer health care. The 15-second ads, which autoplay on users' Facebook feeds, feature Warren saying "single-payer" is the next step before noting how frequently a Senator votes with Warren before directing viewers to sign a petition against single-payer. The ads are backed by significant statewide buys, and will run throughout recess and the rest of July. "Socialized medicine
 would be disastrous for the economy and devastating for American families, yet Red State Democrats continually side with Elizabeth Warren," NRSC communications director Katie Martin said. "Red State Democrats need to own up to whether or not they'll follow their leader's extreme plan over the well-being of folks at home." Watch the ads here. 
 
Days until the 2017 election: 125.
 
Days until the 2018 election: 489.
 
Thanks for joining us. You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked].
 
You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin and @danielstrauss4. 
 
TICKET TROUBLE - "San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer says he won't run for governor," by the Los Angeles Times' Phil Willon and Seema Mehta: "Republican San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who has been lobbied intensely by GOP leaders to run for California governor, on Friday rejected the idea and vowed to serve out his second term at city hall. Both House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) and state Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte had urged Faulconer to run. A fiscal conservative and social moderate who has demonstrated crossover appeal by winning over Democrats, Faulconer has been seen as the GOP's strongest potential gubernatorial candidate, and one who could help Republicans
 in down-ballot races if he was at the top of the ticket in 2018. ... Faulconer's decision not to run could impact some hotly contested congressional races in California, and potentially affect Republican efforts to retain control of the House of Representatives." Full story. 
 
HOUSE WATCH - Mark Harris files FEC papers to challenge Pittenger again: Harris, a pastor who ran for Senate in 2014 and came just 134 votes short of Rep. Robert Pittenger in the 2016 NC-09 Republican primary, has formed a committee to run for Congress again in 2018. The FEC paperwork was filed on July 4.
 
- Former Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego also formed a TX-23 exploratory committee on July 4, via the FEC. Gallego lost a rematch for his old seat to GOP Rep. Will Hurd last year and has said he could be interested in running again if the district lines shift (a federal court has ruled that several Texas districts, including this one, were illegally gerrymandered by race when they were drawn earlier this decade.)
 
DIGITAL DOINGS - "Trump campaign's Parscale moves political operation to Florida," by the San Antonio Express-News' Samantha Ehlinger: "Trump campaign adviser Brad Parscale is moving his firm's political data and marketing operation from San Antonio to Florida in pursuit of an airport with more direct flights. ... It's too difficult to get to the East Coast, namely Washington, D.C., and New York City, from San Antonio because of the lack of direct flights, Parscale said. It's also difficult to attract talent when a three-hour flight to New York takes seven hours and includes a layover or two, he said. ... The political operation will be based north of Miami, he said, to take advantage of
 the Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports. He's already found office space in north Miami, declining to disclose details." Full story.
 
- "Kamala Harris maneuvers to help 2018 Democrats -- and build a national profile," by CNN's Eric Bradner: "Harris is using her newfound progressive stardom to raise money for her Democratic colleagues -- and amplifying buzz about the California freshman as a prospect for the party's 2020 presidential nomination in the process. In the first six months of 2017, Harris has raised more than $600,000 for a dozen Senate colleagues -- including $365,000 from small-dollar online contributions, her aides said. The email list Harris has used to raise the bulk of that money is 10 times the size it was at this time last year, during her Senate campaign. She's used that list to raise money for
 incumbents up for re-election in the 2018 cycle, including Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Harris is also planning a travel schedule in the fall to raise money for Democratic Senate incumbents as well as the challengers for seven Republican-held House seats in California that the party is targeting." Full story.
 
ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "Inside the White House's policy-making juggernaut," by POLITICO's Nancy Cook and Andrew Restuccia: "For decades, the National Economic Council has been a home for wonks who quietly helped grease the policy gears in the White House. But under director Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs banker, the once-staid and process-oriented NEC has become a central force in the vicious policy battles playing out in President Donald Trump's White House ... In the run-up to this week's G-20 summit in Germany, Cohn has been among the White House aides trying to prevent Trump from imposing broad and strict trade restrictions on steel imports. Trump is warming to a more targeted
 approach, administration officials say - an outcome that would be a win for Cohn, and a setback for the nationalist wing of the White House, including White House National Trade Council director Peter Navarro." Full story. 
 
- "Forty-four states have refused to give certain voter information to Trump commission," by CNN's Liz Stark and Grace Hauck: "Forty-four states have refused to provide certain types of voter information to the Trump administration's election integrity commission, according to a CNN inquiry to all 50 states.State leaders and voting boards across the country have responded to the letter with varying degrees of cooperation -- from altogether rejecting the request to expressing eagerness to supply information that is public. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which President Donald Trump created by executive order
 in May, sent a letter to all 50 states last Wednesday requesting a bevy of voter data, which he notes will eventually be made available to the public...Just three states -- Colorado, Missouri and Tennessee - commended Kobach's attempt to investigate voter fraud in their respective statements." Full story. 
 
CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "If I start thinking about the future like that or engaging in that stuff ... I think it would make me a lesser of a senator." - Sen. Cory Booker to David Axelrod on possibly running for president in 2020, via The Hill. 
 
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