Subject: POLITICO's Morning Score: Democrats declare victory on voting and campaign reform bill — Gillibrand aide resigned to protest handling of harassment allegation — Biden leads Democratic field in new Iowa poll
From: "Morning Score" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2019 08:02:53 -0600
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03/11/2019 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 Campaign 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.
          QUICK FIX         
- House Democrats passed their major electoral and ethics reform bill, H.R. 1, on a party-line vote, fulfilling a campaign promise from the midterms.

- An aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) resigned last summer to protest how her claim of sexual harassment was handled by her office.

- Former Vice President Joe Biden led a poll of Iowa Democrats even though he's not officially in the race. It's another poll that could qualify candidates for the debate stage.

Good Monday morning. 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, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @lbarronlopez.

Days until the NC-09 primary election: 64

Days until the Kentucky and Mississippi general elections: 239

Days until the 2020 election: 603
          THE TOPLINES         
H.R. 1 PASSED - House Democrats passed their sweeping ethics and electoral reform bill on Friday, their signature legislation that fulfills a campaign promise from many House freshmen. The For the People Act passed on a 234-193 party-line vote.

The bill includes provisions like early voting expansion, redistricting reform and stricter disclosure rules for political activity. And as I've written many times in the past, it has a near-zero chance of becoming law because of stiff opposition from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans.

The bill represents a political victory for Democrats, however. All wings of the party were able to claim a win - from liberals who springboarded to viral moments to Blue Dog Democrats who negotiated with party leadership for changes (I wrote more about the bill's passage and the moves inside the Democratic Caucus; please read it!).

And both Democrats and Republicans think the bill will benefit them on the campaign trail. Republicans think they can run against some of its provisions, while Democrats believe their reform message will win the day. "In a sense, [voters] wanted to clean this place up, and they found the most drastic solution you can think of," Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), the original sponsor of the bill, said of President Donald Trump's election in an interview. "And then they discovered he wasn't interested in it. Their anger still hasn't been solved."

- End Citizens United is running a $100,000 digital ad campaign thanking 12 freshmen Democrats for supporting the bill, including Reps. Max Rose (NY-11), Dean Phillips (MN-03) and Abigail Spanberger (VA-07).
          IN THE TRENCHES         
PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - An aide to Gillibrand resigned last summer after she felt GIllibrand's office did not adequately respond to a harassment allegation. "In July, the female staffer alleged one of Gillibrand's closest aides ... repeatedly made unwelcome advances after the senator had told him he would be promoted to a supervisory role over her. She also said the male aide regularly made crude, misogynistic remarks in the office," POLITICO's Alex Thompson and Daniel Strauss reported.

"Less than three weeks after reporting the alleged harassment and subsequently claiming that the man retaliated against her for doing so, the woman told chief of staff Jess Fassler that she was resigning because of the office's handling of the matter." GIllibrand's office said in a statement that they "valued" the aide who resigned and "immediately sought the advice of counsel [after receiving the letter] and the office ultimately determined that engaging again on an already settled personnel matter was not the appropriate course of action." The senior aide accused of harassment, Abbas Malik, has since been dismissed.

- When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ran for president in 2016, he "was treated like a pariah within the Senate Democratic Caucus," POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine wrote. But now, "Senate Democrats say they're increasingly open to getting behind Sanders if he appears the strongest candidate a year from now. And there's no whiff of an effort to try and deny him the nomination, according to interviews with more than 20 Democratic senators."

- Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke continues his presidential tease, even after he's publicly said he has made his decision, POLITICO's David Siders reported.

The conservative Club for Growth is expected to air a commercial hitting O'Rourke in Iowa - an effort to weaken liberal support for him by saying he doesn't stack up to former President Barack Obama, POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reported. The buy behind it is small, in the "five-figure" range, but is part of a planned "year-long effort to undermine O'Rourke with Democratic primary voters," as Alex wrote.

- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) visited New York City, near the site that would've hosted Amazon's second HQ, to push her policies to rein in tech companies, POLITICO New York's Emilie Ruscoe reported.

- Hopefuls are scattering across the country in an effort to win over black voters. "The early, persistent attention to African-American voters stands in sharp contrast to past campaigns, black leaders say, borne out of recognition of the powerful role those voters will play choosing the nominee," POLITICO's Christopher Cadelago and Daniel Strauss reported.

- Ahead of any run, those close to Biden worry that "he would start off at a fundraising disadvantage compared to would-be rivals" and their small-dollar machines, and that his campaign would rely on wealthy donors, the AP's Steve Peoples and Julie Pace reported.

- Many 2020 hopefuls headed to Austin over the weekend for SXSW, eager to win over "the left-leaning millennial crowd" and "trying to create viral moments and seeking the sheen of authenticity," via The Washington Post's Matt Viser.

- Many in the Democratic field are lining up behind marijuana legalization, the AP's Michael Blood and Nicholas Riccardi wrote.

POLLS POLLS POLLS - A new CNN/Des Moines Register/Medicacom poll in Iowa found Biden leading the state (401 likely Democratic voters, March 3-6). Biden has 27 percent to Sanders' 25 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has 9 percent, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is at 7 and O'Rourke is at 5. Eight other candidates got at least one percent in a poll that qualifies candidates for the debate stage. 

ELECTION SECURITY - Democratic presidential campaigns appear to be in no rush to hire a chief information security officer or other top digital security role, despite what happened in 2016. "You wouldn't climb Mount Everest without hiring a guide or somebody who knows what they're doing, who's thinking every day about the dangers that you might encounter along the way," Aaron Trujillo, who led cybersecurity efforts at the DCCC in the midterms, told Pro Cybersecurity's Martin Matishak.

- Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, "and his staff are pushing ahead with a $150 million plan to switch the state to new voting machines that an array of experts warn would be susceptible to hacking," POLITICO's Eric Geller reported.

SPECIAL ELECTION WATCH - Friday was the candidate filing deadline in NC-03 for the special election to replace the late GOP Rep. Walter Jones. Seventeen Republicans filed (including three sitting state lawmakers and two local commissioners) and six Democrats signed up for the April 30 primary, per The News & Observer's Brian Murphy.

- Candidate filing for the redo NC-09 election starts today and closes Friday.

THE TRUMP REELECT - President Donald Trump's fifth White House communications director, Bill Shine, is leaving his post to join the campaign as a senior adviser, POLITICO's Gabby Orr and Eliana Johnson report.

- Trump's reelect has raised $100 million and he will start a battleground state rally tour soon, The Washington Post's Toluse Olorunnipa and Josh Dawsey reported.

THE SENATE MAP - Republican Roy Moore said he is "seriously considering" another run for Senate in Alabama because he thinks the 2017 race "was stolen" in a radio interview, per Reuters' Alex Dobuzinskis.

TRUMP'S PARTY - The once-staunchly anti-Trump Club for Growth now won't back a candidate who doesn't back the president. "If they're a Never Trumper, we're not going to support them," the Club's president, David McIntosh, told the Daily Beast's Matt Lewis.

STAFFING UP - David Keith, who managed Democrat Randy Bryce's unsuccessful bid in WI-01 in the midterms, will be the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC's first-ever political director, Campaign Pro's Laura Barr&oacute;n-L&oacute;pez reported.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Hello, it's me," Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) quote-tweeting a CNN Politics tweet that read "Justin Amash is the loneliest Republican in Congress".
    
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