Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: GOP braces for potential new election in NC-09 — Valadao concedes to Cox in CA-21 — The big four’s post-election FEC filings
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2018 09:04:06 -0600
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12/07/2018 10:00 AM EDT
        
By ZACH MONTELLARO ([email-masked]; @ZachMontellaro)

        
Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Score is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Campaigns subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here. 
          THE TOPLINES         
We may not be done with midterm elections quite yet. Various Republican officials have signaled they're at least contemplating a new election in NC-09, where the race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready remains uncertified (McCready also withdrew his concession in an interview with WSOC).

"To sum it up, we think the Board of Elections should hold a public hearing and fully lay out the facts," Dallas Woodhouse, the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, said in a statement to me Thursday. "If they can show a substantial likelihood it could have changed the race, then we fully would support a new election."

Woodhouse also said that if it can be shown "with certainty" that the outcome was not changed, Harris's win should be certified as any potential investigations continue. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Emmer, the newly elected chairman of the NRCC, also noted that the party's lawyers were monitoring the district and keeping him informed. "It seemed to me the worst case was you had another primary and a general. And we're going to plan for the best and if we get the worst, we'll deal with it," he told National Journal's Ally Mutnick.

Republican officials may have known that something was fishy in NC-09 early. The Washington Post's Amy Gardner and Beth Reinhard: GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger "turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered with him on election night at a steakhouse near Charlotte and blamed the 'ballot stuffers in Bladen,' [for his primary loss to Harris] according to three people at the gathering. ... In the days immediately after the race, aides to Pittenger told the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party and a regional political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee that they believed fraud had occurred, according to people familiar with their
 discussions. ...

"'[Leslie McCrae] Dowless's efforts were widely known, and we did share our concerns with several people,' [Pittenger said,] declining to elaborate on who he spoke to or what he said. ... 

Woodhouse said "that he did remember hearing of anomalies - and took 'a cursory look at the end of that race at the vote totals.' ... NRCC spokesman Matt Gorman denied that anyone affiliated with the Pittenger campaign brought up possible fraud to anyone at the committee".

Happy Friday! Talk about a big ouch: A man running in a local Arkansas election didn't have time to vote for himself ... and now the election is tied and will be decided by chance, per the AP. Email me at [email-masked] or DM me at @ZachMontellaro. 

Email the great Campaign Pro team at [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked] and [email-masked]. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @JamesArkin, @ec_schneider and @DanielStrauss4.

Days until the 2019 election: 333
 
Days until the 2020 election: 697
 
POLITICO Pro DataPoint just published a series of biographies on the 116th House and Senate freshman class. The collection of graphics includes vital information about the members-elect - careers prior to being elected to serve on the Hill, campaign platform promises, key support and endorsements.
          IN THE TRENCHES         
ALL OVER IN CA-21 - GOP Rep. David Valadao released a statement saying he officially conceded to Democrat TJ Cox in CA-21. This brings Democrats' net gain in the House up to an even 40.

POST-ELECTION FEC FILINGS - Here are the post-election FEC filings for some of the big players (the filings cover Oct. 18-Nov.26 and the amount raised includes loans). The committees: The NRSC ($20.1 million spent, $19.5 million raised), the DSCC ($24.2 million spent, $11.4 million raised), the DCCC ($44.8 million spent, $41 million raised) and the NRCC ($41.1 million spent, $28.7 million raised). The DGA raised $16.6 million, per Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss.

The super PACs: SLF ($37 million spent, $9.1 million raised), SMP ($50 million spent, $14.1 million raised), CLF ($37.2 million spent, $14 million raised) and HMP ($37.1 million spent, $19.3 million raised).

- Speaking of: SLF was behind a super PAC, Texas Forever, that did not have to disclose its donors before Election Day, per POLITICO's Maggie Severns.

PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Supporters of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are fretting that she could have damaged her 2020 prospects by taking a DNA test. The New York Times' Astead Herndon: "Advisers close to Ms. Warren say she has privately expressed concern that she may have damaged her relationships to Native American groups and her own standing with activists, particularly those who are racial minorities. ... The advisers say Ms. Warren will have to confront the issue again if she announces a presidential campaign, which is expected in the coming weeks, and several would like her to act soon."An addendum: An editorial from Warren's hometown Boston Globe suggested she should not run for
 president.

- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with Iowa Democratic bigwigs, including state party chair Troy Price and former Gov. Tom Vilsack, POLITICO's Natasha Korecki reported. Bloomberg's super PAC, Independence USA PAC, reported $42.8 million in spending and $30.1 million in receipts (almost entirely from Bloomberg) in its post-election filing.

- Outgoing Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is making moves to build out a potential campaign team. The AP's Nicholas Riccardi and James Anderson: Hickenlooper has taken steps "including interviews with dozens of potential staffers and hiring a pollster and national fundraiser, according to a person close to the Democrat. ... 'We're beyond mulling,' Hickenlooper said in an interview this week."

- Sen. Sherrod Brown's former campaign finance chair launched an effort to draft the Ohio Democrat to run for president, BuzzFeed News' Henry Gomez reported.

- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he's not running for president, but his 2018 reelection campaign did pay Jeff Link, a top Iowa consultant, about $280,000, The Albany Times Union's Chris Bragg reported. Link said he didn't talk 2020 with the governor.

- Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick formally announced he won't run in 2020, citing "the cruelty of our elections process," per POLITICO's Stephanie Murray.

UNDER INVESTIGATION - Sen.-elect Josh Hawley is under investigation by Missouri's Republican secretary of state. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jack Suntrup: "Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft has launched an investigation into the way Attorney General Josh Hawley ran his attorney general's office, Ashcroft's deputy general counsel wrote to the Democratic-allied American Democracy Legal Fund on Thursday. The group wrote to Ashcroft on Nov. 2, days before the midterm elections, alleging that Hawley may have 'used public funds as Attorney General to support his candidacy for U.S. Senate' [following reporting from The Kansas City Star]." A spokesperson for the attorney general's office said it
 would be "delighted to cooperate."

NEXT UP - GOP Rep. Ralph Abraham announced he will run for Louisiana governor in 2019. The announcement said he will have a formal launch next year.

- Joe Gruters, a Florida state senator and ally of President Donald Trump, is poised to become the next chairman of the state Republican party, POLITICO Florida's Matt Dixon reported.

RULES CHANGED, CONTINUED - Michigan state Republican lawmakers approved bills that continued to strip power away from the incoming Democratic elected officials, including a law that strips the secretary of state of enforcing campaign finance rules and moves it to a bipartisan panel, The Detroit News' Jonathan Oosting reported.

PAGING THE FEC - The NRA and the Trump campaign used the same consultants for TV buys during the 2016 elections. Mother Jones' Mike Spies: An investigation "shows that the NRA and the Trump campaign employed the same operation-at times, the exact same people-to craft and execute their advertising strategies for the 2016 presidential election. ... Individuals working for National Media or its affiliated companies either signed or were named in FCC documents, demonstrating that they had knowledge of both the NRA and the Trump campaign's advertising plans. ...

"The FEC has the authority to launch investigations and seek civil penalties, but it's unlikely that the NRA or the Trump campaign will face any official action."

- And speaking of the Trump campaign: The president's reelection efforts will be headquartered in Trump Tower, with satellite offices at the RNC headquarters on Capitol Hill and in Rosslyn, Va. (where POLITICO is also HQ'd), POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reported.

REDISTRICTING WATCH - The Census Bureau is planning on field-testing the 2020 census form with the controversial citizenship question on it. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang: "Officials say they are trying to figure out whether the agency needs to hire more door knockers to visit households that don't respond and adapt its marketing campaign for the census because of any negative impact from the citizenship question."

CODA - STAT OF THE DAY: Sen.-elect Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has spent at least $149.5 million of his own money to win three elections: gubernatorial elections in 2010 and 2014 and the Senate election in 2018, per POLITICO Florida's Marc Caputo.
    
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