Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
In today’s edition, reporter Vaughn Hillyard and the campaign posted a report from Arizona’s Alex Tabet on Kari Lake’s efforts to win over GOP skeptics. Plus, senior national political reporter Jonathan Allen explains why Donald Trump may see this month as a missed opportunity.
Kari Lake is struggling to shake MAGA instincts in her Senate campaign
By Vaughn Hillyard and Alex Tabet
PHOENIX – This winter, Kari Lake faced a terrifying reality: The voters who rejected her in the 2022 gubernatorial race could now put her entire political future in jeopardy.
If Lake — a self-described “heel Trump” — doesn’t quickly change the minds of the people he’s running or mocking, he could still lose his 2024 Senate bid.
“I never thought of myself as a divisive person. But it is not enough for me to believe it. I have to prove it,” Lake wrote on social media post in December acknowledged the need to move away from tendencies to make inflammatory comments and broaden their appeal.
Do you have news? Let us know
But with the election just over seven months away, several key Arizona Republicans tell NBC News they believe Lake’s campaign faces an increasingly uphill battle.
“What I’m hearing is that everybody’s just resigned that we’re going to be stuck with Ruben Gallego — that’s what I’m hearing from all the major players, the big money people,” said Shiri Verdone, a longtime GOP fundraiser in Arizona. , said, referring to Lake’s Democratic Senate opponent. “I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘Lake Cary is going to win.'”
Lake continues to deny that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. tweet this month on President Joe Biden: “81 million votes, my a–.” He continues to call his defeat in the 2022 election a “lie”, as do right-wing provocateurs. Laura Loomerand hosts fundraisers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club with controversial political figures like Roger Stone.
Since running for Senate, Lake has held meetings to mend relationships with other Republicans he sidelined during his gubernatorial bid, such as Kathy Petsas, a former local party chairwoman in Lake’s home legislative district. Lake campaign he tweeted In 2022, he told her: “Katie, you’re the type of demographic we don’t need to appeal to.”
“I don’t know a single person who gets around people they hurt,” Petsas said, suggesting that Lake’s horizons were falling flat. “There’s no one in my circle that he’s won, and he’s even alienated some former supporters that I know.”
A moment of danger for Trump as Biden unifies the party and raises cash
Analysis by Jonathan Allen
If Biden wins re-election in November, Trump may see this as a missed opportunity.
For the first time in memory, Biden is seeing encouraging signs in national and battleground state polls. In few polls, it would be hard to identify the small bumps as the growth or momentum—the “Big Mo”—that politicians chased like Ponce de Leon chased the fountain of youth.
As March draws to a close, Biden is rising a bit more, and Trump, who has sealed his candidacy, no longer has competitive primary victories to point to as proof of strength.
Biden’s Thursday fundraiser at Radio City Music HallFeaturing former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, the film offers a portrait of party unity and energy for a sitting president. More importantly, perhaps, he’s expected to bring in $25 million for his re-election effort — a jaw-dropping number for one day.
Trump spent most of his political money defends himself in court, a coordinated effort by Biden to impeach the dynamics he describes without evidence. Aside from the fundamental paradox — the Republican nominee wants voters to believe that Biden is a cowardly old man who also masterminded four criminal prosecutions — Trump is in danger of not being able to do exactly what Biden is doing today: rally his party and raise the bar. cash load.
Whatever one believes about Trump’s real wealth or liquidity, he has tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on his campaign. If he had won, he would certainly have filled the coffers and returned the money, just as he did when he won the 2016 presidential election.
Trump probably doesn’t have to spend as much as Biden to win, but he doesn’t have the money to mount a full-scale national campaign right now. If he doesn’t put serious money into his campaign or figure out how to raise it from others, he risks going after a Biden campaign that will spend more than $1 billion on its efforts.
Trump said recently put your own money into the campaign. The questions for him now are how much he values the presidency and whether it’s worth the odds. If he waits any longer to make that call, he may find it’s too late.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- ⚖️ 25 years old: Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday for fraud related to the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. More →
- 🪜 Progress in Trump’s World: Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, is seeing his stock rise in Trump’s orbit after helping Bernie Moreno win the state’s GOP Senate primary this month. More →
- 👮 Fact check: Although Trump regularly talks about rising crime in the area, FBI statistics show that last year there was a sharp drop in crime across the country and that violent crime is on the decline in some major cities. More →
- ✈️ Flight problems: The New York Times examines the problems plaguing Boeing and how the company prioritizes speed over quality. More →
- ⏰ Time Out in South Carolina: Although a lower court has ruled that South Carolina’s congressional map constitutes an illegal racial gerrymander, federal judges say the Supreme Court has yet to take notice because the state will have to move along those lines for this election cycle. More →
- 🗓️ Mark your calendar: Speaker Mike Johnson said that the House of Representatives articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will be sent to the Senate on April 10. More →
- ❌ It is classified as: A new Democratic bill would bar people accused of certain crimes of undermining national security from receiving classified information, which has been quietly championed by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. and takes aim at Trump. More →
For now, that’s it from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
If you are a fan, please share with anyone and everyone. They can register here.