Heard on the Hill – 8/12/24
What we’re hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill.
What we’re hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill – please send us more tips!
Exclusive: Biden district Republicans go on offense: Republicans are eager to tie their Democratic opponents to the most radical parts of Kamala Harris’s record. In an ad debuted with the Washington Reporter, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R., N.Y.) is tying his opponent, Laura Gillen, to Harris’s past statements of support for defunding the police and for pro-Hamas protesters. “Gillen and Harris are weak, failed, and dangerously liberal,” the narrator cautions. Joe Biden carried D’Esposito’s district by 14 points. Watch the ad here. Its rollout precedes D’Esposito’s first TV ad of the cycle by a few hours. Watch that ad here.
Exclusive: Rep. Tim Walberg on University of Michigan president’s closed-door testimony: Santa Ono, the president of the University of Michigan, appeared for a closed-door transcribed interview on Friday in front of the House’s Education and Workforce Committee. Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) was the only member to fly back for it, we’re told, and he told the Reporter that the saga reminded him of the need to collaborate to combat antisemitism across colleges well beyond his home state. “Students will soon be returning to campus, and the disgusting antisemitism on college campuses will likely rear its ugly head once again,” the Michigander said. “The same groups that promulgated the harassment of Jewish students after October 7 have signaled they are preparing to once again take over college campuses and create hostile environments for their Jewish peers. We must remain vigilant and work together to eradicate the antisemitic culture that has permeated academia.”
Thune’s treks: Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) is spending August recess criss-crossing the country, campaigning for Republicans in both open and Democrat-held Senate seats. These stops are a family affair for the South Dakotan; his wife joined him on his bus tour of Pennsylvania with Dave McCormick. Thune’s events also included an agricultural roundtable with Mike Rogers in Michigan, the Marion County Fair with Bernie Moreno in Ohio, and a swing through Arizona with Kari Lake, his campaign told us. Thune is in the midst of his own campaign to lead the Senate Republicans next year, which he spoke about with us earlier this summer. He’s already on track to headline almost 200 events for Senate candidates or the NRSC this cycle. Thune’s team sent us some pictures from his Pennsylvania tour here.
Trump cash: Over the weekend, President Donald Trump raised over $10 million at a Colorado event hosted by McKenna & Associates CEO and National Defense Industrial Association board member Andrew McKenna, along with investors John and Amy Phelen. From a source in the room: “Trump was gracious, funny, on message, and genuinely appreciative for a record-setting Colorado event.”
Pritzker’s credit card debacle: Republicans in Illinois have flagged that a law backed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D., Ill.) to effectively ban banks from using credit cards for tips and taxes is “turning into a debacle” and could become a political issue for Illinois’s state races in 2026. Under the law — a handout to “pay for” getting rid of a tax break — customers may be forced to use credit cards for the meal, but cash for tips. A Republican operative told us, “[the measure is] the type of thing that pisses off voters because they’ll feel it every time they eat out at a restaurant. Just stupid.”
