Category: Politics

A small group of White House officials is exploring whether to cut back President Donald Trump’s decision to increase foreign beef imports, as GOP panic rises ahead of the midterms.

The proposal to reduce the amount of imports is being discussed within the Domestic Policy Council headed by Vince Haley, a longtime Trump speechwriter and former campaign official, and a few other officials at the White House, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversations, who were granted anonymity to share private details.

Trump officials are unsure if anything will come of the talks. The two people said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative disagrees with cutting back the imports, since it aims to lower high consumer beef prices in the short term and since USTR helped implement the move.

But their conversations about partly rolling back the beef policy — which Trump instituted in August — is a clear sign the White House is trying to stem the alarm from battleground and farm-state Republicans as high prices and Trump’s tariffs roil their election campaigns. The White House is also preparing a plan on diesel exports, likely with exemptions, amid sky-high prices from the Iran war.

The White House and USTR, in statements after this article published, denied that there was any official action on the table.

“There’s no pending policy change to ‘disagree’ with,” a USTR official said. “The administration is focused on the interest of American ranchers and consumers. All agencies are supporting the President in these goals.”

“The White House is not considering such action. As the President directed in his executive order, the USDA and USTR continue to monitor beef imports to ensure that savings are being passed onto consumers,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.

Earlier this week, Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson, the GOP Senate nominee, took the extraordinary step of publicly breaking with Trump, saying gas prices were too high because of the Iran war and that farmers in her state are suffering. Michigan Senate GOP nominee Mike Rogers and other vulnerable House and Senate Republicans have made similar breaks.

Farm-state lawmakers in Iowa and beyond have publicly called for the White House to provide some relief from the beef import executive action in particular, because of its impact on farmers and ranchers.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the rest of the Iowa delegation and other senior farm-state lawmakers have all pressed the administration to change course — to no avail.

Trump did sign an executive order of rancher-friendly policies as a way to address the initial backlash. But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer made clear to a group of House Republicans in a closed-door briefing earlier this month that Trump’s executive action to import 300,000 metric tons of beef without certain tariffs and at discounted prices would go forward as planned, as POLITICO first reported.

​Politics

Can Mitch Landrieu break through in 2028?

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​Politics

The cryptocurrency industry is at a political crossroads.

Reeling from the demise of its longtime top legislative priority, crypto companies must now decide how scorched-earth to go against Senate Democrats, who last week voted unanimously against the so-called Clarity Act, a sweeping bill that would create a bespoke new regulatory framework for digital assets.

A crypto-backed PAC network’s move this week provides a hint of what may be to come. The group, known as Fairshake, announced it would spend at least $30 million to help block Democrat Sherrod Brown from recapturing a pivotal Ohio Senate seat, representing the first major signal of how the industry plans to deploy its massive campaign war chest in the final weeks before the 2026 midterms.

Some crypto executives have publicly signaled an appetite in recent days for punishing Democrats. But a partisan strategy carries major political risk for the industry: A broad offensive against Democrats ahead of an election where they have a chance to reclaim power on Capitol Hill could further alienate lawmakers the industry may soon need to revive its agenda.

“As much as some people may want to, they can’t wave a wand and make Democrats go away,” said Sheila Warren, the former CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, an industry trade group. “Every industry — not just crypto — has to figure out what to do with that reality.”

The crypto industry’s spending could have immediate consequences after the election. Democrats are signaling that a Senate GOP-aligned spending spree would suppress any appetite for lame duck dealmaking involving the Clarity bill — although it remains a long shot that it would come back to life regardless. A Senate Democratic aide involved in the crypto effort said a full-scale assault on the party’s Senate candidates “would absolutely eviscerate any hope” of a post-election deal.

The Fairshake PAC group, funded primarily by crypto firms Coinbase and Ripple and venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, had more than $120 million at its disposal as of the end of August. It has previously deployed its war chest to help members of both parties who support industry-friendly policies.

Fairshake is preparing to announce additional spending decisions supporting both Democrats and Republicans in the coming days, according to a spokesperson for the group, Geoff Vetter. But it’s unclear what races — or which chamber — it will target next.

Kara Calvert, Coinbase’s vice president of U.S. policy, said in an interview that bipartisanship has been crypto’s “superpower.”

“Nobody is eager to erode that,” she said.

Though Fairshake says it will maintain a bipartisan approach, it hasn’t specified what shape that will take. One potential avenue for the PAC is to continue to back crypto-friendly Democrats running for the House — where the Clarity bill advanced with 78 Democratic votes last year — but primarily help Republicans in the Senate.

Fairshake spent in favor of several Senate Democrats in the 2024 elections, including in battleground general election races in Michigan and Arizona, where it backed Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Ruben Gallego, respectively. It also plowed more than $40 million into the effort to help defeat Brown in his 2024 reelection campaign — by far its biggest spend of the cycle.

This time, Republicans are pressing the industry to recalibrate its approach and ditch the Democrats.

“To reward people who voted against the motion to proceed on Clarity after the Democrats got 126 amendments in the bill would be a huge mistake,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the crypto bill’s leading champion in the Senate. The Wyoming Republican is retiring when her term ends in January.

Democrats, who feel increasingly confident about their chances in November despite the GOP’s spending advantages, say Republicans are trying to play the crypto industry.

It’s “been the goal of Republican colleagues all along to try to get folks to invest in races, versus them trying to get a piece of legislation done, and someone needs to call the Republicans out on their bullshit,” said Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who added: “Sherrod’s gonna win.”

​Politics

Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.

“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told POLITICO, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.

Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.

Husted said in the interview that he still thinks Iran needs to reach a deal with Trump to end the conflict, but added: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want the war to come to an end.”

He has a finer line to walk with Trump in his state, and Republicans close to him say he can’t and won’t completely break with the president. Husted does not plan to support the Democratic-led war powers resolution when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week, a spokesperson said. And Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to visit the state in the coming weeks to shore up his campaign and drive GOP turnout.

Husted is staring down a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, where millions in spending and recent polling have put Brown slightly ahead. Top Hill Republicans and Senate GOP operatives have said the Ohio Senate race is among their primary concerns in the battle to keep control of the chamber.

But Ohio is just one in a series of battlegrounds where rising gas prices have become a defining issue. Beyond Hinson and Rogers, a growing number of Republicans are starting to call for emergency actions like a diesel export ban to lower gas prices, including Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

“Hinson broke the dam,” said one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who is locked in an incredibly competitive race, called Tuesday for a diesel export ban to provide voters relief. He didn’t mention the Iran war.

The panic is being felt most acutely in the Midwest, as high gas and diesel prices and Trump’s tariffs hammer families, truckers and farmers just a few weeks ahead of the peak harvest season with no relief in sight.

By Sunday night, Rogers had filmed an ad at a grocery store decrying high prices and, straight to camera, breaking with Trump to call for an end to the Iran war, according to two Republicans involved in the matter, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

Rogers’ team was putting the finishing touches on the ad Monday morning when Hinson posted her break with Trump over the war directly on social media.

“The war’s just gone on too long. Mike still thinks Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but we originally thought this would take six weeks,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations in Rogers’ camp about the move. “Voters have been paying for it at their kitchen tables for too long.”

Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. John James, also said Tuesday the Iran war needs to end “quickly.” And Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s GOP governor nominee, said Tuesday he believes “we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on, we’ve degraded their nuclear facilities, we’ve degraded their military … time to come home, take care of business here in America.”

Trump, for his part, told reporters Tuesday that he asked his team to consider a diesel export ban, and that his administration is mulling it.

But the move is rife with internal GOP fighting behind the scenes: Trump’s team is getting an earful from GOP lawmakers in oil states who oppose the move, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That makes any decision before the midterms highly problematic with at least one corner of the party.

Both the top House GOP leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — have opposed similar measures from the past to protect their oil state of Louisiana. The Texas GOP delegation is also “strongly opposed,” according to another Republican.

Husted told POLITICO on Tuesday that he supports his state legislature suspending Ohio’s gas tax for a period. Democrat Amy Acton, who is running for governor, called for a gas tax suspension Monday. Her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy and a broader swath of Republicans called for the state legislature to convene and pass legislation to suspend the state’s gas tax hours later.

“I think in the long run we are going to have lower gas prices,” Husted said, citing the war in Ukraine as a factor for spiking diesel costs as well as the war with Iran. “It’s taking longer than any of us wish it would. So in the interim, while those things are concluding, the idea of providing relief from the gas tax for Ohioans for a short period of time is a reasonable thing for Governor [Mike] DeWine to consider.”

​Politics

LOCAL INPUT: Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing fresh backlash over sidelining key stakeholders from talks about developing thousands of housing units on top of a Queens rail yard.

The Sunnyside Yard project landed back in the headlines yesterday when Mamdani and President Donald Trump emerged from a chummy meeting at Gracie Mansion to announce they’d agreed to bring conversations about the long-stalled housing plan to “a new level.” The unlikely duo first announced at a White House meeting in February they were looking into reviving the project, which would be contingent on billions of dollars in federal funding and involve constructing a platform over the rail yard, on top of which 12,000 housing units would be built.

But Council member Julie Won — who represents Sunnyside and voiced concerns in February about not being included in the talks — said today she continues to be troubled by the fact that the mayor and the president aren’t consulting her or other local community voices.

“Since the last discussion on Sunnyside Yard months ago between the mayor and president there is no funding from Congress nor any public meetings to move this project forward,” Won said in a statement. “There is no federal, state, or city bill allocating funding for this project. There is still no timeline. Congress would have to fund it, and the State and City Legislature would have to approve it. Our neighbors in Sunnyside yet again were not part of yesterday’s conversation, and there still has been no meaningful engagement with the public.”

Farah Salam, Won’s chief of staff, said City Hall’s continued lack of engagement with her office flies in the face of a commitment Mamdani’s team made in February.

Salam recounted how, in a meeting with Won’s team at the time, Mamdani aides told the Council member’s staff they would keep them in the loop on any Sunnyside Yard-related updates. Nonetheless, Salam told Playbook that Won and her team haven’t heard a peep from Mamdani’s administration since then, and she added that Won only learned of the latest twist from watching Mamdani’s post-meeting press conference with Trump yesterday.

A Mamdani spokesperson declined to respond to Salam’s comments.

Won is a member of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, which has generally been supportive of the mayor, lending more weight to her Sunnyside-related rebuke. Still, she may have some political sour grapes with the mayor, given that she campaigned unsuccessfully this summer for Congress in a race that was ultimately won by Mamdani-endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez.

Won isn’t the only local politician concerned by Mamdani’s Sunnyside dealings with Trump, though.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards told Playbook it would be more fruitful for Mamdani to focus on securing federal funding from Trump for housing developments where shovels can hit the ground on a short timeframe. Inevitably, Sunnyside Yard would need to go through years-long review and permitting processes before construction could begin, and Richards argued Jamaica and Long Island City are better suited for immediate, federally-backed projects, given that both areas recently underwent neighborhood-wide rezonings.

“I’m not saying give up on Sunnyside Yard, but let’s first move somewhere where we can actually get shovels in the ground now,” he said. “We are in a housing emergency.”

Richards also said he’s skeptical Trump will actually make good on his Sunnyside musings. “I have trepidations about how fast the Trump administration is going to move on this — forgive me if I have my trepidations about them,” he said. “Anything you deal with the Trump administration on has to be show and tell, and I don’t have much confidence even with the president’s remarks yesterday.”

When asked about the comments from Won and Richards at a press conference today, Mamdani avoided any direct response. Instead he simply reiterated the merits of the project, which he said would include a significant share of affordable housing.

“I will do everything in my power to build more housing in this city,” Mamdani said. “And working with the president to fulfill an idea that has existed for 50 to 60 years — that to me is clearly an example of what could be done.”

It remains to be seen how much Trump and Mamdani can actually get done on the Sunnyside project. Though they said yesterday their respective housing policy teams are initiating technical talks about the project, there are no funding commitments on the table, and local community concerns remain.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan in 2015 to build housing on top of Sunnyside Yard, but that iteration of the project never went anywhere because of the COVID pandemic and local pushback. — Chris Sommerfeldt and Joe Anuta 

From the Capitol

IT GUY GONE: The top official at the state’s Office of Information Technology Services was removed this week by Gov. Kathy Hochul after she lost confidence in him, her administration said today.

ITS Director Dru Rai held the job since September 2023, and his removal was effective immediately. Jenson Jacob will take over the role in an acting capacity. The office manages the state’s information technology, data centers and hardware infrastructure while providing digital services for state agencies and local governments.

“The administration has informed Dru Rai that the Governor no longer has confidence in his ability to effectively represent this administration and he was removed from his position as head of ITS,” a Hochul spokesperson said in a statement. “Jenson Jacob has been named Acting Director of ITS. Governor Hochul remains committed to holding employees to the highest leadership and ethical standards, and ITS will continue to deliver technology solutions and services for New Yorkers, our agencies and partners.”

Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman.

BLAKEMAN BRUSHES OFF GRACIE GATHERING: Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is downplaying the significance of Trump’s cordial Monday meeting with the mayor.

“Not at all,” he said when asked if Trump’s visit undercut Blakeman’s focus on Mamdani’s radicalism.

“The president is a government official. He’s the highest government official in the United States. And the mayor’s a government official, so I expect that the two of them would talk.”

Blakeman has attacked the mayor he refers to as “Commie Mamdani” while campaigning in every corner of the state. Would he similarly meet with Mamdani? “Depends what he was serving for lunch,” he said.

The Nassau County executive was in Albany today to receive the NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association’s endorsement. Prison guards have had an icy relationship with the state in recent years, due to Cuomo-era limits on solitary confinement and Hochul’s strict crackdown on guards who engaged in an illegal strike last year.

It’s the first time NYSCOPBA has endorsed a gubernatorial candidate.

“Kathy Hochul, I want you to think about that: 95 percent of your employees voted to endorse me, a democratic vote,” Blakeman said. “What does that say about your leadership? You should be embarrassed that 95 percent of your workers didn’t think highly enough of you to endorse you.” — Bill Mahoney

FROM CITY HALL

LEFT ON READ: City Council members — including the mayor’s allies — laced into Mamdani’s administration today at a Council hearing on the use of influencers in city government communications.

The central focus of their displeasure? Team Mamdani declined to send any representatives from the appropriate agencies to testify.

The oversight hearing comes on the heels of news that programs run by city agencies paid influencers to promote city policies. The hearing’s stated purpose: to begin to establish guidelines for how city officials communicate with influencers and disclose such communications.

Emilia Rowland, the mayor’s director of new media, skipped the hearing, despite being invited to testify. Earlier this month, a working paper from the Columbia University Initiative for Policy Dialogue reported that Rowland oversees a Signal group chat with more than 200 hand-picked influencers. In her place, the mayor’s office sent Tascha Van Auken, commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement, and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, commissioner for the Department of Records and Information Services — neither of whom had much to offer on the administration’s use of influencers.

While pressing the two during their testimony, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams expressed disappointment that the communications officials who “should be here are not.”

“I don’t know that anything was done wrong, but there were questions that were raised by this article that I believe the public should hear answers to, so that they can feel sure that nothing wrong occurred,” Williams said. “The fact that the correct folks aren’t here doesn’t really help that story.”

Williams, a progressive Democrat, found himself in agreement with Council Minority Leader David Carr, the Republican who sponsored legislation that would require explicit disclosures on city-funded or directed influencer communications.

Carr pressed Van Auken and Smith-Cruz on specifics about the relationship between City Hall and third-party influencers — such as the number of influencers the administration has worked with, how much has been spent on the social media campaigns, how budgets are determined and how influencers are selected.

Van Auken and Smith-Cruz acknowledged they didn’t have fulsome answers to any of Carr’s questions, in stark contrast with the mayor’s characterization of the situation earlier today.

“I am confident in the testimony that our administration is providing today, that it will be sufficient in answering the council’s questions,” Mamdani told reporters this morning.

Taiwan Green, a Queens-based influencer with more than 50,000 followers, testified he was contacted a year ago by then-candidate Mamdani’s social media team. He said he’s never been offered pay for any content about the administration, though, and that he was never directed as to how to message his videos.

“I believe it’s my responsibility to sacrifice my time and my resources to educate myself and my followers on the political process,” said Green, who goes by the handle @mrfingaz. “Traditional press may not have the time to ask questions that are related to southeast Queens, but I will use this opportunity to do just that.”

Green left abruptly after about 90 seconds of testimony and didn’t take questions from council members.

It wasn’t the first time relevant officials from the mayor’s office skipped a Council oversight meeting. Last month, lawmakers slammed Mamdani’s administration for opting out of a hearing on the city’s controversial pied-à-terre tax rollout. At that hearing, Council Members Gale Brewer and Linda Lee read out 11 pages of questions to a row of empty chairs. — Molly Reinmann

SO MANY GAVELS: The city’s Conflicts of Interest Board fined Council member Mercedes Narcisse $2,500 for filming a reelection campaign video inside City Hall.

In one portion of the video, Narcisse is sitting in the Council chambers at the speaker’s chair, where she strikes a gavel. In another, she sits behind her nameplate in a separate committee room and … also strikes a gavel.

Narcisse is then filmed speaking (though not striking a gavel) at an official Council podium.

Because these areas of City Hall are off limits to the public, the board found Narcisee was using her government perch for personal gain. In a settlement agreement, the Brooklyn lawmaker said she did not intend to break the rules, but admitted wrongdoing. — Joe Anuta

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

AOC IN BUF: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is planning to hit Buffalo Thursday to meet with Mayor Sean Ryan and host an organizing training aimed at inactive voters.

The trip comes amid speculation about whether she’ll run for the White House or Senate in 2028. In comments to The New York Times published on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez said she’s thinking about how her identity will factor into the campaign she chooses to mount.

“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” she told the Times. “And you don’t — and just in life in general — life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”

The Buffalo trip is part of an upstate swing that is also set to include Syracuse and Ithaca, the Times reported last week.

Ocasio-Cortez has been leaning into the curiosity surrounding her next political endeavor — but said she’s keeping her focus on the midterms as she stumps across the country boosting candidates. — Madison Fernandez

TAKING THE STAGE: Candidates for governor, state attorney general and comptroller will debate next month.

Spectrum News NY1 announced Tuesday that Hochul and Blakeman will debate on Oct. 13. Attorney General Letitia James will face off against GOP challenger Saritha Komatireddy on Oct. 8, and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Republican Joseph Hernandez will debate on Oct. 1.

Each of the debates will air live at 7 p.m.

Playbook previously reported that Hochul intended to debate Blakeman, even though she is not required to do so since her campaign declined to participate in the new public campaign finance system. — Madison Fernandez

IN OTHER NEWS

— ZO + BIBI: Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his speech at the U.N. this week. (CNN)

— SCHUMER ON AI: Sen. Chuck Schumer demanded Trump completely block China’s access to U.S. artificial intelligence technology ahead of the president’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow. (Punchbowl)

— MENIN + THE MET: City Council Speaker Julie Menin expanded on her condemnation of the Met Gala’s now-walked back decision to honor John Galliano, who has a history of racism and antisemitism. (New York Magazine)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

​Politics

Republicans are playing defense deep in their own territory as voter anger over price hikes puts more House and Senate seats in play in the midterms.

New rounds of big spending, visits from Trump administration officials and private conversations among top GOP officials overseeing the battle for control of Congress reveal a party rushing to shore up red seats and states President Donald Trump won handily in 2024.

In the House, the fight has expanded far outside the few-dozen seats considered the most competitive as Republicans start to unleash their massive warchest: Since Aug. 1, more than $110 million in ad bookings have gone toward Republican-held districts so red that Trump won them by double digits.

In the Senate, Republicans are racing to shore up Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted as the Midwest struggles under the weight of Trump’s tariffs and high diesel prices. Trump and Vice President JD Vance are both expected to travel to the state before the midterms to boost Husted, according to four people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss not-yet-public plans.

GOP leaders are also trying to keep a handle on contests in Iowa and Kansas — and they’ve quietly begun deprioritizing Georgia and even North Carolina, which a growing number of Republicans are privately bracing for Democrats to flip.

“We need to stop the contagion,” said one senior GOP official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the midterm landscape. 

“The map is hilariously big right now,” said one national Republican pollster.

Since Aug. 1, nearly two-thirds of advertising funds in House races have been booked or spent in races with GOP incumbents, according to a POLITICO analysis of data from AdImpact, which tracks political advertising.

That includes nearly $18 million to embattled Rep. Max Miller in Ohio’s 7th District; $14.6 million to Texas’ 15th District where Monica De La Cruz faces a challenge from Tejano Singer Bobby Pulido; $9.6 million in Alaska where Rep. Nick Begich faces a challenge from independent Bill Hill; and millions more to other districts that Trump carried by double digits two years ago.

The GOP holds a massive cash advantage over Democrats — which, for now, means they can afford to spend more broadly. Republican groups are dividing up the spending deluge in the final weeks ahead of the midterms, with Trump’s MAGA Inc. affiliated super PAC spending heavily to shore up safer red seats and deter Democrats from pushing into those races.

“The voter enthusiasm [for Republican voters] is not where it needs to be but that’s where a money advantage can make a really big impact,” said Mark Bednar, a GOP strategist and former communications director for then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Republicans have adjusted their Senate map expectations: They’re still bullish about Maine, Michigan and New Hampshire. They’re not as optimistic about North Carolina — which Trump won in 2024 — but they are hoping to force Democrats to spend more there.

Republicans are more concerned about Alaska and Texas. And their worries about Ohio have escalated amid soaring diesel prices and backlash to tariffs — challenges they’re also confronting in Texas, Iowa, Michigan and Kansas. 

Already two battleground candidates have called for ends to the Iran war, pointing to the high prices: Iowa GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, whose team has grown increasingly wary of the tight race and Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers. Both Hinson and Rogers use top Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio to guide their campaigns.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Hinson’s and Rogers’ remarks.

Senior GOP operatives’ own internal polling shows Trump’s approval underwater in deep red states across the country. And an Iowa poll conducted last week by a Democratic-leaning pollster found Democrat Josh Turek with a one-point lead in the Senate race and Trump’s approval at 43 percent in the state he won by more than 13 percentage points in 2024, according to a copy of the poll obtained by POLITICO.

“As more races come online, it very clearly is a defensive map for Republicans across the country,” said a national GOP strategist working on multiple battleground races.

In Ohio, Republicans are optimistic that their attacks on former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s voting record are starting to break through, based on recent internal polling. But they’ve been conveying to outside groups for weeks that they need help reinforcing vulnerable incumbents like Husted. On Monday, the pro-crypto super PAC Fairshake said it planned to unleash $30 million against Brown, who was the top Democrat on the Banking Committee before losing reelection in 2024 — fueled in part by more than $40 million against him from Fairshake that year.

“The stakes go far beyond one Senate seat,” Amy Natoce, a Husted campaign spokesperson, said in a statement. “Control of the Senate will determine which agenda moves forward in Washington: Sherrod Brown’s out-of-touch socialist agenda, or Jon Husted’s agenda of lower taxes, a secure border, and an economy that rewards hard work.”

 One Michigan Republican acknowledged the immense weight of the tariffs in races across the battleground state — including in the marquee Senate contest between Rogers and progressive Abdul El-Sayed, as well as across competitive House races.

“Everywhere we go, we are getting hammered on it,” the Michigan Republican said. “It’s crushing us.”

Even skeptical Republicans have been quietly checking in with their colleagues to see if the panic in redder territory is borne out in reality on the ground or just overblown polling. One GOP lawmaker who spoke to Hinson and her campaign team was somewhat surprised by their answers.

“It’s real,” that House Republican told POLITICO.

And POLITICO overheard a senior member of Kansas’ Republican party leadership complaining about their state’s tighter-than-expected race at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month. GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, the person said, was in some trouble even as Republicans tried to dismiss the seriousness of his Democratic challenger, Adam Hamilton.

Trump and Vance, meanwhile, continue to travel to states they won by double digits in 2024 to stump for Republican candidates, as Trump-aligned super PACs hammer the airwaves in far more red territory than blue.

Recently-formed super PACs aligned with MAGA Inc. — Trump’s main spending vehicle that holds more than $400 million — have spent in 42 House districts so far, 30 defensive and 12 offensive. On average, they are spending in areas that voted for Trump by 7.9 points in 2024, according to a POLITICO analysis.

The PACs are even spending in some districts Trump carried by 15 points as a way to shore up Republicans and deter Democratic advances, according to Republicans involved in the conversations.

Major Republican super PACs, including the Trump aligned-super PACs and party-linked groups, have spent in more than two dozen GOP-held seats where Trump won by at least 5 points in 2024.

“Republicans aren’t taking anything for granted this cycle and will deploy whatever resources necessary to protect our majorities and prevent Democrats from taking control,” RNC spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement.

The NRSC argued that “Democrats lack quality candidates and a clear path to victory,” so the party is “feigning optimism” and looking to candidates who have lost before, including Brown, “to somehow deliver [a] majority.” The NRCC said their opposition is “too broke to fight back.”

The geography of the Senate map still favors the GOP this cycle: Democrats have to defend all of their seats, while flipping four Republican-held ones, to take control of the upper chamber.

Republicans believe they have a real shot at flipping New Hampshire, and public polling shows Minnesota’s Senate race closer than expected, forcing Democrats to pay some minor attention to a state Kamala Harris won in 2024.

And Republicans are still hopeful that their mid-decade gerrymandering push could still give them a structural advantage as they fight to defend the House. Republicans won the redistricting war that erupted last summer and will likely net at least six seats from it.

But as economic concerns continue to dominate — with little relief in sight — Democrats are growing increasingly bullish.

“You know, I look at places like Kansas where I never thought we’d have a chance, or South Carolina or even Mississippi, these places are longshots, but they look like they’re competitive,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said.

For their part, senior Republicans have been working the problem from two ends, trying to gently persuade Trump in private conversations to back off some of his recent policy moves and wind down the war in Iran — while also organizing a wave of cash reinforcements across the growing map to try to stem the bleeding.

GOP lawmakers pressed Trump officials at their Dallas convention and since then to take emergency actions around fuel prices and refinery capacity. A band of House Republicans led an unsuccessful attempt to vote on a federal gas tax suspension until after Election Day. And, over the weekend, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) posted several direct appeals to Trump, asking why he hasn’t put an embargo on diesel exports.

But many are convinced the bleeding won’t stop until voters get some relief at the pump.

“The question is: How much longer can we go?” one senior House Republican said.

​Politics

ALL EYES ON GRACIE: Mayor Zohran Mamdani is expected to sit down with President Donald Trump at Gracie Mansion this afternoon, their third in-person meeting in less than a year and the latest wrinkle in one of the strangest relationships in American politics.

Since Mamdani’s first, shockingly cordial meeting with Trump at the White House last November, political observers have scratched their heads about the democratic socialist mayor playing nice with the Republican president despite their deep disagreements on … just about everything. Ostensibly, Mamdani is putting his personal distaste for Trump aside and betting it’s best for New York City to keep things cordial so as to avoid drawing the president’s ire.

But as resistance to Trump remains animating for Democrats nationally ahead of November’s midterms, Mamdani’s strategy for engaging with him stands out.

Earlier today, Gov. Kathy Hochul made clear that she, for one, has no plans to meet with Trump while he’s in New York. “I speak to him on the phone whenever I need to,” she told reporters in Manhattan.

Hochul, who’s facing reelection in November and tends to directly criticize Trump more frequently than Mamdani, said it was her understanding that the mayor agreed to host the president at Gracie Mansion during a previous conversation at the White House.

“The mayor and [Trump] said that when he’s back in town again, he would go to Gracie Mansion,” the governor said. “I don’t have a Gracie Mansion to invite him to.”

Still, Hochul said there’s an opportunity for Mamdani to use the Gracie confab to push Trump on releasing federal funding for New York, including for law enforcement, that she said the president’s administration has been withholding.

“We have to continue fighting for what New York needs,” she said.

Mamdani’s office wouldn’t say who requested today’s meeting or share specifics about the expected focus in advance, only saying the mayor will talk to Trump about “issues affecting New York City.” A Mamdani spokesperson said the mayor will elaborate on what was discussed at a post-meeting press conference that Trump isn’t expected to attend.

After the appointment at Gracie, Trump is slated to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron before headlining a couple Republican fundraisers. By contrast, after his Trump tête-à-tête, Mamdani will have dinner with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s in the city to headline a United Nations Charter event this evening that will also feature pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a person familiar with the plans who was granted anonymity to discuss them told Playbook.

The Queens-born Trump is in town ahead of his Tuesday address to the United Nations General Assembly.

Maintaining a relationship with Trump isn’t without risk for Mamdani.

As Trump remains deeply unpopular amid the war in Iran and other controversies, some Democrats are privately questioning why the mayor sees a need to keep interacting with the president. But so far, Mamdani hasn’t faced any significant pushback from his hard-left base over his engagements with Trump, with leaders of the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America largely viewing it as the mayor acting in the city’s best interests. — Chris Sommerfeldt and Madison Fernandez 

From the Capitol

EYES ON AI: Hochul floated requiring safeguards like an artificial intelligence “kill switch” as part of state-level interventions to address the rapidly evolving technology.

During a Monday event in Manhattan rolling out next steps for enacting the RAISE Act, New York’s landmark AI safety law that is set to go into effect in January, the governor said she’ll “look closely at additional ways to build on” the legislation — including AI kill switches “if they’re deemed feasible and in the best interest of our state.”

The governor in recent days has vowed to take additional AI-related actions beyond the RAISE Act, but has not specified what that might look like. Her suggestion of a kill switch comes days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to explore such a requirement for AI companies’ most-advanced models.

Some in the tech industry have argued implementing one is not technically feasible. Federal legislation to enact a kill switch requirement is currently stalled in Congress.

When asked to expand on the prospect of requiring a kill switch, Hochul said that “all options are on the table,” but wasn’t making a commitment.

“We’re going to do the research and make the decisions that are thoughtful to protect New Yorkers,” she said. “We’ll go as far as we need to to protect people of this state and ultimately this country in the absence of other leadership.”

Read more from Madison Fernandez in POLITICO Pro.

MORE BLAKEMAN MONEY: Billionaire former casino developer Steve Wynn has donated $1 million to the main super PAC supporting Republican Bruce Blakeman’s gubernatorial bid, records filed with the state Board of Elections this morning show.

The committee, Strong and Safe New York, has now raised $5.3 million since July.

Wynn has been a top donor to national Republican causes for over a decade. His most recent large donations in New York came last year, when he gave $361,000 to the state GOP and $500,000 to a super PAC boosting Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral bid. — Bill Mahoney

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

ENDORSEMENT CORNER: Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) endorsed GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in his reelection campaign in suburban New York, Golden wrote in an opinion article published Monday.

Lawler is facing a tough reelection campaign against Democrat Cait Conley in one of the biggest House battlegrounds this November. The lawmakers have previously collaborated to advance the Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act, and are both members of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus.

Golden, who is not running for reelection, was one of two House Democrats to break with the party and twice vote in favor of the Republican legislative agenda earlier in September.

“Mike Lawler has been a true partner to me and a friend to fishing families he will never represent,” Golden wrote. “I strongly back him, and I hope voters send him back to work. Wherever you live, find the members who pass laws with the other party, and keep them.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the cross-aisle endorsement a “smoke and mirrors ploy” that “will do nothing to change the outcome of the race.”

“In desperation, [Lawler] is peddling an 11th hour endorsement from a retiring Congressmember who represents an out of town district more than 400 miles away,” Jeffries said in a statement. “Mike Lawler is an unadulterated phony who has never shown bipartisan courage when it matters.”

Read more from POLITICO’s Elleiana Green.

ON THE AIRWAVES: With fewer than 50 days to go before Election Day, House Democrats’ main super PAC is making its first TV ad buy in support of Conley on Monday.

The House Majority PAC said it is reserving $1.2 million on cable in the Hudson Valley contest. (An additional $1.2 million is going toward fighting Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s re-election in New Jersey, which is also covered by the New York City media market.) HMP said earlier this year that it didn’t include the high-dollar NYC media market in its initial reservations because it was “prioritiz[ing] markets where rates increase significantly.”

Republicans have been largely outpacing Democrats in NY-17 on the ad spending front, thanks to significant buys from super PACs backed by the president and House leadership. From the beginning of September through Election Day, the GOP has placed $15 million on ads across broadcast, cable, CTV and digital platforms, according to ad tracker AdImpact.

The new HMP spend is the biggest from an outside Democratic group so far, but still leaves a large gap between the parties. Democrats have placed around $3 million on advertising in the period between September and Election Day, with the largest chunk coming from the Conley campaign. — Madison Fernandez

IN OTHER NEWS

IN OTHER NEWS:

— JUDGES CASH IN: Brooklyn Democratic Party leaders have raked in $190,000 in contributions from judges and judicial candidates since 2012, raising some ethical and legal concerns. (New York Post)

— AFFORDABILITY AHEAD: Anthony Shorris, the mayor’s new pick for the president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, laid out a vision for solving the city’s affordability crisis that goes beyond Mamdani’s vision for five city-owned grocery stores. (The New York Times)

— BUY NOW, PAY LATER: The Mamdani administration is pushing Albany for tougher ‘buy now, pay later’ regulation, as many New Yorkers use the plans to pay for basic essentials, sinking deeper into debt. (amNY)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.

​Politics

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker revealed Monday that he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes two years ago and began taking a GLP-1 medication, resulting in an 80-pound weight loss that he says has transformed his health and daily life.

The disclosure marks the first time the Democrat has publicly disclosed that he has diabetes, as well as officially acknowledging that he is on GLP-1 medication, which is prescribed both for diabetes treatment and weight loss. The governor told CBS News he started taking the medication after doctors warned that he would likely need insulin for the rest of his life.

Pritzker is viewed as a likely 2028 presidential candidate and has spent two years batting away questions about his visibly slimmer appearance, though he did hint at his weight loss during the Gridiron Club and Foundation’s annual white-tie dinner in Washington, D.C., earlier this year.

“I’m JB Pritzker, governor of the great state of Illinois, and if you’re seeing me in person for the very first time, yes, I’m the guy who put ‘gov’ in ‘Wegovy,’” he told the high-profile crowd.

The 61-year-old governor said he has struggled with his weight since childhood, dating back to when he was a 7-year-old. That’s about the time his father, Donald Pritzker, suffered a fatal heart attack at age 39 while playing tennis.

President Donald Trump has made Pritzker’s weight an issue, often commenting about it in personal attacks. Asked about his weight loss during an interview with POLITICO in the spring of 2025, Pritzker said, “How about, just for health.”

In Monday’s CBS interview, the governor said he closely monitored his cholesterol, triglycerides and other health markers for years because of his family history. But after becoming governor, he acknowledged the stress of leading the nation’s sixth-largest state contributed to additional weight gain.

Two years ago, that concern became more urgent when doctors diagnosed him with Type 2 diabetes, he told CBS. “My doctor said, ‘Oh no, you’ll never come off of it. You’re going to have to do this the rest of your life, and I recommend that you take a GLP-1,’” Pritzker recalled about being told he’d have to take insulin.

His wife, MK Pritzker, encouraged her husband to proceed on GLP-1. “I want him to be around for a really long time,” she told CBS.

The governor’s office confirmed that as a result of the GLP-1, plus improved diet and exercise, Pritzker “is no longer on insulin and down to levels that indicate no diabetes/prediabetic levels.”

Pritzker said the effects were almost immediate. Within days, he said, he didn’t feel the appetite urges. “It was the strangest feeling.”

The governor also has gained local attention for taking walks along the Lake Michigan walking path in Chicago. Along with adopting the healthy habit, it’s allowed him to talk regularly to constituents.

During Monday’s interview, Pritzker side-stepped questions about whether he was running for president. “I honestly am focused on what’s best for the people of Illinois,” he said.

The governor also talked about being proud of Illinois’ decision to cover GLP-1 medications for people with diabetes, becoming emotional describing a woman who approached him and told him access to the medication had saved her life.

The announcement about his weight comes as Pritzker is taking a more prominent role in the 2026 midterms, chairing a political action committee focused on investing at least $20 million in Democratic House races. The move has added to speculation about a potential presidential bid, where the demands of a national campaign would put his health and stamina in sharper focus.

​Politics