Fake Electors Return

Today’s notice: Fake electors from 2020: Where are they now? A vibe check on Republicans in Nevada. How Republicans are navigating post-hurricane politics. And Congress’ resident meteorologist weighs in.

NOTUS is running the numbers, and “nearly a sixth” of the people who sat as fake electors in the scheme to overturn the last presidential election (perhaps you’ve heard of it) are slated to be electors this time in swing states. Or they are state officials overseeing the elections. There are two notable exceptions, NOTUS’ Jose Pagliery and Byron Tau report: Arizona and Wisconsin took steps to keep fake electors away from the actual Electoral College this time. But other swing states are set to seat them.

• Pennsylvania: “Five of its 19 GOP electors went along with Trump’s plan last time around,” Byron and Jose report. It’s one of the states where they had extra legal cover because illegitimate electors there “added a conditional clause to their certificates saying the documents would only be valid if a court recognized Trump as the lawful winner.”
• Nevada: Two of the state’s six electors “took part in the scheme, including the state’s longtime GOP chairman, Michael McDonald, who also became a Trump campaign senior adviser over the summer.”

Other fake electors are serving in important election roles: One is a member of Wisconsin’s state elections commission, and another is the lieutenant governor of Georgia.

Read the story here.

Nevada GOP, We Have Good News and Bad News

Nevada is competitive at the presidential level after years of trending to the right. Yet this is what former state GOP chair Amy Tarkanian told NOTUS’ Alex Roarty this week: “I think the majority of Republicans in the state probably feel hopeless.”

What gives? The rest of the ballot. Alex reports that Democratic incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen is leading in the polls because high-profile Senate recruit Sam Brown has run what one state GOP strategist called “a very, very, very bad campaign, one of the worst campaigns we’ve seen in Nevada in a while.”

Yikes. The hope now is that Trump pulls Brown up along with other Republican boats, too. (As for Democrats, see our recent reporting on the state Reid Machine, which includes a top union official saying Trump would win if the election was held before it works its GOTV magic.)

Read the story here.

Front Page

• Larry Hogan Wants to Be a ‘Maverick’ in Washington. His Senate Debate Showed How Awkward That Might Be: The former Maryland governor held the Republican Party at arm’s length.
• Scott Perry Is in the Battle of His Political Life. He’s Been Battling for Decades: Perry has transformed into one of the most conservative and cantankerous voices in Congress.
• E. Jean Carroll’s Lawyers Are Beginning to Tussle Over Trump’s $88 Million Judgment: The case is on appeal.

Trendspotting: Disaster Relief Pretzeling

Ongoing disaster relief conspiracy theories from the top of the GOP ticket and MAGA-allied media continue to put Republicans in areas affected by hurricanes in a tough spot. As their constituents dig out from Helene and Milton, these lawmakers are contorting their rhetoric in ways that say help is in fact coming but also attack the Biden administration in the process.

On Thursday, Anna Paulina Luna pretzel-ed away.

“Just got off the phone with @POTUS Biden. He is personally overseeing that FEMA does not create problems with the debris removal and is supportive of the 15 Billion in FEMA funds ONLY FOR Hurricane victims,” she tweeted. “If Congress goes into a special session we can get it passed immediately. This needs to happen. @SpeakerJohnson call us back.”

She added another tweet: “He is also agreed that $750 for hurricane victims is unacceptable. Will be in direct contact with him to resolve this,” she wrote. “Thank you @WhiteHouse.”

The tweets contained a number of the rolling theories about FEMA wrapped in a suggestion that help is available and Biden is actually paying attention to the storms, despite right-wing claims. The most prominent falsehood was about the $750, which some have claimed is the maximum amount available for those affected by the storms. False.

It’s also not what Biden said, according to the White House.

“As the President said on the call: it’s unacceptable to sow misinformation and deceive hurricane victims into believing only $750 is available. That’s NOT true. The $750 is *immediately* available to eligible survivors,” a White House spox tweeted at Luna.

Luna did not respond to a request for comment. But she did boost her tweets on Instagram, posting, “When the phone rings, you answer for the American people. 🙏🏼”

—Evan McMorris-Santoro

Congress’ Only Meteorologist Speaks

Before joining Congress, Rep. Eric Sorensen spent decades chasing tornadoes as a local meteorologist. He spoke to NOTUS about disaster relief and hurricane season.

On emergency aid: Drawing on his expertise, Sorensen, a Democrat, hopes Congress will immediately pass relief. “Look, I’m a frontliner, and I’m calling on Congress to do its job,” he said.

“Because what’s going to happen if there’s a third hurricane? What’s going to happen if there’s an earthquake? What’s going to happen if there’s a wildfire? FEMA is not going to be able to … meet the needs of the people.”

On misinformation: Sorensen has heard a gamut of unfounded theories from people calling into his TV station. He said what’s happening now, though, is different.

“I want to be very clear, these conspiracy theories, you know, they’re lies,” he said, adding that they “endanger” emergency workers and first responders. “It’s a slap in the face.”

—Katherine Swartz

Desperately Seeking Voters in Helene-Ravaged North Carolina

The North Carolina State Board of Elections has hired a PR firm to use paid advertising on social media and other nontraditional means to reach people still isolated by Helene with information on how to vote, NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports. That’s on top of emergency tweaks it made to voting rules.

You’ll Never Guess Which Lawmaker Said…

“I just hope that if I was to be remembered as anybody or anything, it was to be a principled person that was polite.”

The affable Mike Johnson, maybe? Or the exuberant Cory Booker, perhaps? Nope. The answer is the Freedom Caucus-leading, Trump-loving, rabble-rousing Rep. Scott Perry.

NOTUS’ Katherine Swartz dives into Perry’s journey from a mild-mannered Pennsylvania state legislator known as a “member’s member” to the troublemaking congressman that Washington has come to know.

Read the story here.

Not Us

We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by … not us.

• Lina Khan told Bloomberg Businessweek she hopes she’s just getting started.
• ProPublica: Wisconsinites are up in arms over ballot drop boxes, and they’re not letting up any time soon.
• Oklahoma and Ohio are spending millions to push religion into schools, The 19th News reports. And civil rights groups have begun making inquiries.

Be Social

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