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 | | By Garrett Ross |
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 | THE CATCH-UP | | |
WHAT’S UP AT WAPO — MOLLY ROBERTS, a member of the Washington Post’s editorial board, is resigning — the latest in a string of departures in the wake of owner JEFF BEZOS’ reported decision to pull the board’s planned endorsement of KAMALA HARRIS.
RULES OF LAW — “How America Forgot About One of Trump’s Most Brutal Policies,” by Ankush Khardori for POLITICO Magazine: “A new documentary from ERROL MORRIS examines how DONALD TRUMP’s
family separation policy sparked widespread outrage — and how the government eventually looked the other way.”
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 A ballot box fire in Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's district is a manifestation of fears over challenges to voting with Election Day nearly one week out. | Francis Chung/POLITICO |
SO IT BEGINS — Shocking images out of Vancouver, Washington, this morning show a ballot drop box with heavy smoke pluming out of it after an apparent arson attempt in Democratic Rep. MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ’s district.
“Around 6 a.m., KATU captured footage of first responders releasing a pile of actively burning ballots onto the ground, which continued to smolder and smoke heavily even after the flames were put out,” KATU’s Allison Berry reports. “The Clark County elections auditor told us that the last ballot pickup at that location was 11 a.m. Saturday. Hundreds of ballots were inside at the time of the burning, and KATU was told there were maybe only a few that could be saved.”
Local police said the FBI is now taking over the investigation into the incident. The Election Auditor’s Office is advising those who dropped off ballots after 11 a.m. on Saturday to contact the office for a new ballot. It’s a significant blow in the district,
where Gluesenkamp Perez won a razor-thin election in 2022 by fewer than 3,000 votes. And it’s a striking manifestation of simmering fears over challenges to voting with Election Day nearly one week out. To wit: FBI and DHS agents in a new report “warn state and local law enforcement agencies that domestic violent extremists seeking to terrorize and disrupt the vote are a threat to the election and throughout Inauguration Day,”
NBC’s Brandy Zadrozny reports. “The report identified the potential targets as candidates, elected officials, election workers, members of the media and judges involved in election cases. The potential threats include physical attacks and violence at polling places, ballot drop boxes, voter registration locations and rallies and campaign events.” Mood music:
A new CNN poll finds that just “30% of registered voters think Trump will accept the results of the election and concede if he loses,” CNN’s Jennifer Agiesta and Ariel Edwards-Levy write. Helpful visualizer: “What Threats Does My Vote Really Face?”
by NYT’s Amy Schoenfeld Walker, K.K. Rebecca Lai and Lily Boyce Related reads: “Raphael Warnock worries about a challenge to the legitimacy of the election outcome,” by Holly Otterbein …
“How would Trump and Harris supporters handle defeat? Here’s what they say,” by WaPo’s Colby Itkowitz and HyoJung Kim Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
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| 7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | |
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 Elon Musk's $1 million giveaway to voters is under new legal scrutiny. | Evan Vucci/AP |
1. MUSK READ: Philadelphia DA LARRY KRASNER this morning “sued to halt ELON MUSK’s $1 million daily giveaway to voters in battleground states including Pennsylvania, calling it an illegal lottery that skirts state requirements and violates consumer protection laws,”
the Philly Inquirer’s Jeremy Roebuck and Chris Palmer report. “The suit, filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, is the first legal action challenging the controversial sweepstakes launched earlier this month by Musk’s America PAC. It comes a week after the U.S. Justice Department warned the tech billionaire that the giveaway violates federal laws banning inducements to voters.” 2. WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR HIMSELF: If Democratic Ohio Sen.
SHERROD BROWN wants to return to Capitol Hill, he’s going to have to defy the political conventional wisdom. The stark reality that Brown faces is that no Democrat has ever won a Senate seat in a state that Trump carries when the former president has been on the ballot. “When Brown was last on the ballot in a presidential year, Ohio was a crucial battleground state. Obama held six rallies there in the final days of the 2012 campaign en route to winning the state. Those days are over,”
WaPo’s Theodoric Meyer writes from Austintown, Ohio. “Brown has managed to keep winning
as his state turned redder in part by running up bigger margins in Ohio’s educated cities and suburbs. … But Brown can’t win this year by running stronger in the Columbus and Cincinnati suburbs alone, according to Democratic strategists. He needs to hold his old coalition together — even as he builds a new one — by hanging onto onetime Obama voters who are backing Trump.” 3. A NEW YORK MINUTE: New York Republican Rep. NICK LaLOTA
, who is locked in a tough reelection battle, “starred last month in a slick promotional video for a cancer treatment practice around the same time he took in a generous batch of campaign donations from its doctors,” Emily Ngo reports. LaLota “praised the ‘upbeat spirit’ at the New York Cancer & Blood Specialists in the two-minute spot posted within days of affiliated physicians and a related PAC contributing $18,000 to his reelection bid. They also gave $130,000 to House Speaker MIKE JOHNSON’s
Grow the Majority committee — half of which then went to LaLota, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by POLITICO.” 4. HOT ON THE LEFT: “How a Splintered Left Is Preparing for a Possible Trump Victory,”
by WSJ’s Joshua Chaffin and Valerie Bauerlein: “Across America, more than a dozen progressives in various positions of influence told The Wall Street Journal that they are dreading the prospect of Trump’s return to power, and dismayed that half the country might see a completely different reality than they see. … “On a recent evening,
more than 200 people joined a Zoom meeting titled Mass Training For Women’s Safety Teams — hosted by a Women’s March veteran who noted its timing amid ‘escalating political violence.’ Others are channeling their nervousness into action: They are planning to attend Women’s Marches scheduled in Washington and beyond on the Saturday before the election.”
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Watch Joshua, a firefighter and new father, share his journey to financial well-being. | | | 5. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: As American and Israeli negotiators
meet in Qatar this morning
with hopes of restarting cease-fire negotiations, there is a new reality becoming apparent in the region, NYT’s Mark Landler writes: “Israel, for better or worse, is dictating events in the Middle East. The United States has been relegated to the role of wing man, as its ally wages war on multiple fronts. That is a seminal shift. “Whether on the battlefields
of Iraq or in the presidential retreat at Camp David, the United States has long viewed itself as the pivotal player in the Middle East, acting boldly, if not always successfully, to alter the course of the region’s deadly history. Now, as Israel unleashes attacks against its enemies — including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and their backer, Iran — President Biden finds his influence severely limited. Rather than the grand peacemaking or wars of his predecessors, he is engaged mostly in diplomatic cleanup operations.”
6. WHAT BIDEN IS UP TO: Biden has made the “Cancer Moonshot” one of the signature pieces of his administration’s efforts to impact health care and is still pushing for tangible effects in the final months of his presidency, WSJ’s Brianna Abbott reports
. “The federal government is testing a new way to prevent treatment disruptions for seven pediatric cancer drugs by improving communication between hospitals, nonprofits and wholesalers. Shortages of cancer medicines regularly plague hospitals and patients, sometimes forcing them to delay or change care.” 7. INSIDE CONGRESS:
“In their own words: What it’s like in a ‘chaos’ Congress and why these lawmakers keep coming back,”
by AP’s Lisa Mascaro and Mike Pesoli: “Polarizing. Challenging. A lot of wasted time. That’s how six lawmakers described what it is like being in the U.S. House — a particularly tumultuous period in American history that has brought governing to a standstill, placed their lives in danger and raised fundamental questions about what it means to be a representative in a divided democracy. And yet, they keep at it, running for reelection. The Associated Press sat down separately with lawmakers, three Republicans and three Democrats, to hear what it’s like on Capitol Hill and what they — and Americans — can do to make it better. All hail from safe
districts and are expected to easily win another term.”
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PLAYBOOKERS | | Tim Walz is hitting
the Dan Le Batard Show. Ella Emhoff continues to stand out among the traditional political scene. Bill Hemmer is an
Election Day adrenaline junkie. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Chloe Brown is now director of government relations and stakeholder engagement at Shein. She most recently was member services director and senior adviser to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and the Regional Leadership Council. TRANSITIONS — Kris Quigley
is joining the Consumer Data Industry Association as director of government relations. She previously was regional director of state government affairs for the Plastics Industry Association. … Nick Kreider is joining GSG as EVP of insights. He previously was SVP of growth and insights and head of social impact at Lieberman Research Worldwide. … Sally Laing is rejoining Akin as an international trade partner. She previously was chief international trade counsel for Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor
Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Due to incorrect information from a source, Friday’s Playbook PM misspelled Ryan Heil’s name. |
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