Today’s notice: The latest from Kansas. A court smacks down the White House press freeze, again. A scoop about ICE body cameras. Obama’s Michigan mission. What yesterday’s Senate debates sounded like. And: Small-town cops vs. their small towns on DHS enforcement deals.
THE LATEST
Just how real is this Kansas thing? The Sun’s Elena Schneider traveled to the state that is scientifically flatter than a pancake for a story about politics on tilt. “You have a perfect storm brewing,” one Republican strategist told her, “but all of that said, Kansas is red and super partisan.”
So what’s the problem? Take one incumbent Republican senator’s baggage, mix it with one terrible environment for the party, and voila: “They’re going to try and buy it because it’s their best available option,” a Kansas Republican operative said of the national GOP moneybomb currently detonating on state airwaves on behalf of Sen. Roger Marshall. “But it’s not what Marshall is lacking,” the operative went on. “He’s lacking a ground game and a good message.”
Trending
Democrats have the opposite issue. Their nominee, Adam Hamilton, has the bio, the message and the campaign skills to make moves. But he’s still got to make them in … Kansas. “He was convinced by Democrats in high places that the two-party system is too locked in,” Stephanie Sharp, a Republican strategist in Kansas who advised Hamilton in the early stages of his campaign — when he was considering running as an independent — told Elena.
We’ll find out how good that advice was in a few weeks. In an interview with The Washington Sun after an event in Lindsborg, Kansas, last week, Hamilton called the GOP spending “a great compliment.” He added: “It means you’re recognizing that there are a lot of Republicans who might be voting for a Democrat in the state of Kansas, and that’s actually what’s happening.”
More: Trump Stumps for Alaska Republicans and Hands Out Two Pardons • Press Groups Compare Gov. Moore’s ‘Censorship’ of Sinclair News Outlets to Trump’s Media Ban • WaPo: U.S. probe of Ilhan Omar focuses on birth date, citizenship papers, people familiar say
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
Breaking overnight: U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly issued a preliminary injunction in the CNN, Politico and MS NOW lawsuit against the White House, extending the status quo that it can’t deny reporters from those outlets hard passes while the case proceeds. In a 26-page order, Kelly dismissed the Trump administration’s reliance on national security as a reason to deny access.
“Defendants — for whatever reason — chose not to submit any other material, classified or unclassified, under seal or ex parte, in support of their asserted national security interest,” Kelly wrote. “There is practically nothing national security-related in the record connected to the President’s decision to revoke Plaintiffs’ hard passes to which the Court can defer.”
FROM DHS
Scoop: ICE declined bodycam recommendation. The Department of Homeland Security dismissed the suggestion that ICE agents’ body-worn cameras would start recordings if agents drew their weapons or stood near others who turned their cameras on, according to the Government Accountability Office, The Sun’s Jackie Llanos reports. Rather than following the GAO recommendation for automatic bodycam activation, DHS said it will stick with manual activation of agent body cameras during arrests, searches and similar activities.
More: ICE Wants to Use AI to Monitor Detainee Calls and Movements
FROM MICHIGAN
Why Abdul El-Sayed is bringing in Obama: The Sun’s Igor Bobic reports from Grand Rapids, where an AES event to bolster his support among Black voters got awkward as one local advocate, unsatisfied with an answer from El-Sayed, began walking out. Democratic surrogate Lisa Blunt Rochester, the first Black senator from Delaware, had to jump in to try to smooth things over.
FROM THE DEBATE STAGE
All you need to know from last night’s Senate debates: It was sequel night behind the lecterns in Georgia, Iowa and Maine.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) pledged to serve out a full term if he’s reelected. “I have zero interest in running for president,” he said. Time to cash out those 2028 bets? Maybe, but also he’s been saying that “zero interest” line for a while.
Over in Iowa: “We need to lower gas prices, we need to lower diesel prices, but I don’t think we need to make a deal with Russia to do it,” Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican nominee, said, attempting to put more distance between her campaign and Donald Trump. Ironically, the president’s deal on Russian diesel is supposed to help candidates like Hinson with big agricultural electorates after more than a year of tariffs and energy price spikes.
In Maine, they’re still arguing about how important Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ congressional seniority is. “Look, Sen. Collins paid for the bullets at Trump’s command. Now she wants credit for not pulling the trigger,” Democratic nominee Troy Jackson said.
Collins suggested earlier in the debate that Jackson will never have her juice. “He has said that the past two governors vetoed 100 of his bills,” she said, referring to his time as a state senator. “He couldn’t work with a Democratic governor nor a Republican governor. If Troy wins, that is the record he’ll bring to Washington.”
ON NOTUS PODCAST
From your favorite podcast app: Sen. Brian Schatz, who is poised to be the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate next year, sat down with The Sun’s Igor Bobic this week to give his frank assessment of the midterms. While Schatz thinks his party will do well, he cautioned against Democrats thinking winning was about them.
Trump “has sort of driven people into our arms, and if people give us a chance, we should understand that we’re sort of the rebound boyfriend,” Schatz said. “They’re going to give us a first date. They’re not trying to marry us. They are just sort of being forced into our arms.” And that means Democrats are going to have to work on a legislative agenda that’s more broadly appealing if they want those voters to stick around in 2028.
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
Police vs. elected officials on ICE deals: Typically mundane municipal meetings have erupted in passionate debate in some cities across the country after police chiefs have signed enforcement deals with ICE without first telling elected officials. The Sun’s Jose Pagliery has a thorough look at the tension.
The chiefs say they have the power to cut these lucrative deals, but the politicians are blindsided when the public finds out. In Clarion, Pennsylvania, Police Chief William Peck IV backed off an ICE deal after a raucous public meeting. “Bill said he felt a police car is not worth dividing the community or council,” the borough council president told Jose. “He’s such a good-hearted person, and he just felt terrible about it.”
But in the Pittsburgh suburb of Pitcairn, Chief Scott Farally refused to back down. “I don’t know where this came to light that I gotta ask the borough for the operation of the police department,” he said. The council and local residents complained, but in the end the deal went through.
More: Judge Halts USDA Relocation Plans, for Now • Housing Groups Say Canceling HUD Funding Violated First Amendment Rights • Democrats Are Asking the FAA to Stop Using AI Air Traffic Control Tool
NOT US
- RFK Jr.’s views helped stall bird flu plan, by Rachel Shin and Marcia Brown for Politico
- The New Campaign Strategy: Don’t Debate, by Philip Elliott for Time
- Mike Johnson’s wife ministers to Hill staffers, but nonprofit funding is a mystery, by Alexei Koseff for The Washington Post
- The Mystery of the Unknown Sailor Who Inspired Trump to Shake Up the Navy, by Marcus Weisgerber for The Wall Street Journal
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton.
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