Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Perez wiped out debt of rival-turned-endorser after DNC race — Senate Leadership Fund hits Brooks as anti-Trump in Alabama — McSally, Curbelo raised big money in Q2
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2017 08:03:06 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_6807634.xt.local>

By Scott Bland | 07/12/2017 10:00 AM EDT

With Elena Schneider, Zach Montellaro 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)
 
CHAIR COVERS - "DNC's Perez covered debt of rival-turned-supporter after chairmanship race," by Campaign Pro's Maggie Severns: "Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez transferred $22,270 to key backer Jaime Harrison in March, a month after Harrison dropped out of the race for DNC chair and threw his support to Perez two days ahead of the vote. The contribution from Perez's campaign committee, which was disclosed in an IRS filing by Harrison's campaign, wiped out the debt Harrison had accrued in the race to lead the DNC. He was said to have had the third-highest number of supporters when he dropped out of the race and endorsed Perez, who went on to win the chairmanship by a 35-vote
 margin out of 435. Harrison, who was chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party at the time, said in an interview that he and Perez did not discuss the transfer at the time of the endorsement, and Perez also transferred funds to two other failed candidates for DNC chairman."
 
- "... Perez also gave $5,000 to political commentator Jehmu Greene, who endorsed him after she dropped out of the race, Greene said - although that only covered a part of her campaign debt. DNC Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa said that Perez also assisted Sally Boynton Brown, now a top staffer for the Florida Democratic Party who did not respond to a request for comment. 'Tom had left over funds after the DNC race and was happy to help the other candidates who asked for help with their campaign debt,' Hinojosa said. Raymond Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman who endorsed Ellison after ending his own DNC campaign, wrote in an email that he was not offered help
 retiring his debt after the race was over. Buckley ... did not specify how much campaign debt he had left over." Full story. 
 
GOING NEGATIVE - "Senate Leadership Fund ads hit Brooks as anti-Trump," by Campaign Pro's Kevin Robillard: "Senate Leadership Fund is launching ads against Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks featuring the congressman's past criticisms of President Donald Trump, in a special-election test of whether anti-Trump sentiment is fatal in modern GOP primary politics. 'I don't think you can trust Donald Trump with anything he says,' Brooks says at the start of the 30-second ad, which puts his picture alongside House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. 'They all attacked Donald Trump, trying to stop him,' a narrator says. ... One Republican who had seen focus groups in Alabama
 said voters viewed Brooks' attacks on Trump - especially attacks questioning the president's honesty - as equivalent to personal attacks against the voters themselves." Full story. 
 
Q2 FUNDRAISING ROUNDUP - FIRST IN SCORE - AZ-02: GOP Rep.  Martha McSally  raised over $1 million in the second quarter, her campaign said, and finished with slightly less than $1 million on hand and no debt after carrying over $218,000 in red ink at the end of the first quarter. McSally's announcement of her big haul, which it said included over 9,800 small-dollar contributions, comes weeks after former Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick said she was exploring a run against McSally in Arizona's swingy 2nd District.
 
- Nevada: GOP Sen.  Dean Heller  raised $1.4 million in the second quarter and finished with $3.5 million on hand.
 
- Wisconsin: Democratic Sen.  Tammy Baldwin  raised $2.5 million in the second quarter and finished with over $3.9 million on hand.
 
- CT-05: Democratic Rep.  Elizabeth Esty  raised about $342,000 in the second quarter and has over $1 million on hand, the Hartford Courant reported.
 
- FIRST IN SCORE - FL-07: Democratic Rep.  Stephanie Murphy 's campaign said it raised more than $410,000 in the second quarter..
 
- FL-26: GOP Rep.  Carlos Curbelo  raised $705,000 in the second quarter, the Miami Herald reported, and finished with $1.1 million on hand.
 
- FL-27: Republican Miami-Dade Republican commissioner Bruno Barreiro raised $176,000 in the second quarter in the race for retiring GOP Rep.  Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 's seat, the Miami Herald reported.
 
- TX-07: Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, one of several Democrats running against GOP Rep.  John Culberson , announced raising over $365,000 in the second quarter.
 
- RGA: The Republican Governors Association announced raising $36 million in the first half of the year. Six donors gave $500,000 or more, according to the group's filing, led by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer's $1.25 million donation. Kenneth Griffin, Robert Hale Jr., Bernard Marcus, Rex Sinquefeld and the Karen Buchwald Wright Revocable Trust gave a half-million each.
 
- Wisconsin governor: GOP Gov. Scott Walker's campaign announced raising $3.5 million in the first half of the year and has $2.4 million on hand. Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and the state GOP have $5.3 million on hand between them.
 
- EMILY's List: The Democratic women's group's non-federal account raised over $3.4 million ($530,000 of it from megadonor Donald Sussman) in the first six months of the year. It transferred the bulk of that money to the group's federal account and sent $34,000 to Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer, too.
 
Days until the 2017 election: 118.
 
Days until the 2018 election: 482.
 
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. 
 
SENATE WATCH - "Missouri Senate race catches Vice President Pence's attention," by the Springfield News-Leader's Deirdre Shesgreen and Will Schmitt: "Pence called Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley over the weekend and encouraged him to run. ... Pence and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., discussed the race over the weekend, while they were horseback riding together in Washington. ... Blunt said he had not talked to Hawley - who is under pressure from other leading Missouri Republicans to run for the Senate seat - about the race. And he declined to say whether he preferred Hawley or some of the other possible GOP contenders lining up to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill." Full
 story. 
 
- Here's the statement from Hawley spokesman Scott Paradise, the first real acknowledgment Hawley is considering a bid: "Josh spoke to Vice President Pence this weekend and has been getting a great deal of engagement to run. He is giving the race serious consideration. Josh has also received calls from others interested in running and he is letting them know of his decision to consider the race."
 
- IN MONTANA - "GOP Waiting on Rosendale in Montana Senate Race," by Roll Call's Simone Pathe: "The Republican field for Montana's Senate race keeps growing, but the GOP is hopeful that an imminent announcement from state Auditor Matt Rosendale will give them a top-tier challenger against Sen. Jon Tester, one of 2018's most vulnerable Democrats. 'He is 95 percent there,' a Republican close to Rosendale said last week. The first-term auditor is expected to make a decision within the month." Full story.
 
WADING IN - "Human Rights Campaign launches $26 million 2018 effort," by POLITICO's Edward-Isaac Dovere: "The Human Rights Campaign is going on a hiring spree ahead of the 2018 elections, announcing plans to bring in 20 new full-time campaign staff - nearly doubling its existing political structure - and focusing efforts in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada. The new effort by the LGBTQ advocacy group will be called HRC Rising and will be backed by $26 million in allocated funds for political, field, grassroots organizing, volunteer engagement, communications and digital staffers. ... The focus states were selected because of the concentration of HRC members and
 supporters, but they're also home to what are likely to be some of the most competitive races for governor, Senate and House next year." Full story.
 
- Democrat Talley Sergent, who worked for the State Department and in Coca-Cola's corporate social responsibility department, will launch her bid against GOP Rep.  Alex Mooney  in WV-02 today.
 
CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "If it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer." - Donald Trump Jr.'s email replying to an offer of documents that "would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father ... This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump," via the New York Times.
 
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