Today’s notice: South Carolina on our minds. The speaker’s communism-is-bad-repeat pitch. The Supreme Court doesn’t mail it in. Interior reassigning. And: The Reaganite fan club comes for JD.
THE LATEST
It’s been a topsy-turvy primary season, with ups for anti-establishment candidates, downs for incumbents, patchy polling, an out-of-the-Michigan-blue squeaker and bad Wisconsin bets. Now we turn our attention to one of the few remaining contests: the Senate Republican runoff in South Carolina.
Sen. Darline Graham hopes to hold onto her late brother’s seat with Donald Trump’s endorsement and a last-minute $800,000 cash infusion from MAGA Inc. She won the most votes in the Aug. 11 primary, but gaffes have cleared an opening for an upset by Rep. Ralph Norman. A Trafalgar Group poll of the race released late last night found the two candidates deadlocked at 48% each with a 2.9% margin of error.
Trending
Multiple Republican sources told NOTUS’ Al Weaver they think a Graham victory is increasingly unlikely, especially following her debate admission that “national security is not my thing” — not exactly the thing voters were yearning to hear.
“You’re running a campaign with a virtual unknown that took on all of her brother’s unfavorables without any of the good will that her brother has in a very short-sprint special election,” one Republican operative with experience in South Carolina races told NOTUS. “This isn’t rocket science.”
If Norman nabs the Republican nod, it would fit with this year’s prediction-defying theme. There are only a few primaries on the calendar after today — looking at you, Massachusetts — but results from this runoff will be telling.
“There’s just a little tail end of it left,” elections analyzer and Crystal Ball holder Larry Sabato told us of the primary season. “But you never know what could happen. South Carolina will be very interesting.”
Open tabs: Trump Launches Fresh Sanctions Against Iran in Bid to End War (NOTUS); Trump moves to reshape White House’s South Lawn (WaPo); Trump criticism leads to rare criminal charges for Air Force officer (CNN); Administration Prepares to Revoke Up to 200,000 Visas From Asylum Seekers (WSJ); The Tour Guide Who Lived Through 9/11 (NYT)
From the campaign trail
First on NOTUS: The Democratic Governors Association-backed Protect Our Wisconsin is going up with TV and digital ads blasting Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor, over data centers, which might be the issue in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race, NOTUS’ Christa Dutton tells us. “MAGA Congressman Tom Tiffany sold us out on data centers,” says the narrator in the ad, which the group says is part of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in the state.
Mike Johnson’s Great American Road Trip: The House speaker is still on the road, crisscrossing through New York and New Jersey, campaigning for a handful of swing seats that could determine who holds the majority in the lower chamber. While Johnson intended to message on the One Big Beautiful Bill tax cuts, NOTUS’ Kadia Goba reports, his delivery often fell to something else: vote Republican to save us from the communists.
After a slew of democratic socialists dominated their primaries in New York City earlier this year, Republicans have pushed hard to cast Democrats as communists, and particularly in those swing districts. As November approaches, Johnson is messaging that hard.
“I can be here all day telling you the reasons we’re going to win but ultimately it boils down to one thing: The Democrat Party is being taken over by communists,” Johnson told a crowd on Long Island.
From the Supreme Court
Go ahead, for now: The Supreme Court allowed Trump to move forward with parts of his executive order restricting mail-in voting ahead of this year’s midterms, NOTUS’ Adora Brown reports.
The court didn’t rule on the legality of the president’s order; rather it declared that states who challenged it could only say they “might” be harmed. “Emphasis on might,” the court said. And it won’t be the final word, as the decision is likely to wind up back in the justices’ hands to deliberate on the overall executive order. “On that score, time will tell,” the per curiam ruling said.
From the Hill
Dad draws a line: At least one House Democrat has left the Congressional Dads Caucus — which is “dedicated to championing the needs of working families” — after the House Ethics Committee opened a sexual misconduct investigation into Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-California), who chairs the group, NOTUS’ Kadia Goba reports.
A spokesperson for Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Massachusetts) confirmed that he left the caucus following the ethics probe announcement.
THE BIG ONE
Reassignment or resign: The Department of the Interior has reassigned around 30 of its most senior staffers to teams outside of their areas of expertise, sparking concerns over a loss of institutional knowledge, NOTUS’ Eric Katz and Anna Kramer report. The career experts face a tough decision with only two weeks notice: accept the reassignment or resign.
The personnel moves come as the Trump administration is tightening its grip on the top career employees who serve as the liaisons between political appointees and rank-and-file workers.
One employee put it simply: “They want us all to leave and be replaced by more politicals.”
NOTUS PERSPECTIVES
Trump suggested he might militarily attack the bond market. Dana Milbank has thoughts about the options.
NOTUS METRO
Sign up for our local newsletter, written by Martin Austermuhle and Zara Norman.
Local news: D.C. Groups Hit the Road to Flip Congress — And Gain Statehood, by Martin Austermuhle
What $1.5 Million Gets You in D.C., Maryland and Virginia (Back-to-School Edition), by Rebecca Ritzel
Sports desk: Natty and Me: Sitting Down With the Nationals’ Team Dog, by Jesse Dougherty
After a Lackluster Preseason Performance, the Commanders Work Overtime, by Martenzie Johnson
NEW ON NOTUS
It’s no secret that Vice President JD Vance is thinking about 2028. But his comments in recent weeks attacking several conservative icons could potentially alienate old-guard Republican allies if he were to run, NOTUS’ Jeff Stein reports.
Vance has taken shots at various Reaganites in the past few weeks, striking a populist tone. And while any skirmishes are primarily playing out on social media, they provide a look into what the factional rifts may look like come 2028.
“You can’t be the Republican nominee for president if you actually think Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman are not the future direction of the party,” said Stephen Moore, a Reagan acolyte who has served as an outside adviser for Trump. “He’s off message right now and that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
More: U.S. Removes Syria From State Sponsor of Terrorism List, by Torrie Herrington
Rep. Al Green Wants to Impeach Trump — Again, by Jackie Llanos
Florida Prepares to Roll Back School Vaccine Requirements, by Jenna Monnin
NOT US
- Farmers Struggle to Get Basic Services from Depleted Agriculture Dept., by Linda Qiu for The New York Times
- How a Trump-world lobbyist tried to save a Bay Area mayor’s career, by Julie Johnson and Cynthia Dizikes for the San Francisco Chronicle
- In Building His Border Wall, Trump May Bring Down a 110-Year-Old Church, by Jazmine Ulloa for The New York Times
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton. Photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images.
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