GOFUNDME ADDS A REPUBLICAN: Online crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has added a Republican staffer to its public affairs operation ahead of the midterms, and following harsh scrutiny from conservatives earlier this year. Jalen Drummond , a former White House comms staffer during the Trump administration, is joining the platform as director of public affairs. — The hire comes as Republicans appear poised to win back control of at least one chamber of Congress in tomorrow’s elections. The party has vowed to address perceived censorship of conservatives on tech platforms, and GoFundMe became the latest company to find itself the target of such allegations earlier this year, when it shut down fundraising for the so-called Freedom Convoy of truckers protesting vaccine mandates. — The protests crippled Canada’s capital for weeks and choked off a critical trade corridor along the northern U.S. border, and were largely funded through GoFundMe before the platform cut the convoy off, eliciting rage from politicians on the right. — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) blasted GoFundMe for initially declining to automatically refund donors’ money, and demanded the FTC open an investigation of the incident. Several other Republican state officials pledged to look into the company’s trade practices as well, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. — In August, GoFundMe hired its first federal lobbyists, a team at Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid that includes David Peluso, the former chief of staff to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) — likely the next chair of the powerful Energy & Commerce Committee — as well as Adam Hechavarria, a former aide to Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.). JUST GETTING STARTED: “The $1.2 trillion infrastructure law has kicked off a lobbying scramble by states, municipalities and industries seeking a slice of one of Washington’s biggest cash bonanzas in a generation,” POLITICO’s Alex Daugherty and John Hendel report. — “State and local governments are on pace to spend more than $103 million on federal lobbyists this year, according to the watchdog group OpenSecrets — the most since former President Barack Obama ’s 2009 economic stimulus became law.” — “Other lobbying frenzies will take place in the states, which will receive the bulk of the infrastructure money based on formulas that Congress set years ago. That money will total $60 billion for the coming fiscal year, prompting states like Kansas to try to triage which of their thousands of bridges are worth replacing or repairing.” — “‘The last time you got a historic shift like this time was roughly 30 years ago,’ said Rodney Slater , who was U.S. transportation secretary during the Clinton administration and is now a partner at the lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs. Slater was referring to a 1998 law that authorized $217 billion for infrastructure investments and laid out much of the current funding structure for the Department of Transportation and its programs.” — “Because key decisions on the infrastructure spending are still years away, some governments have had to get creative to get money sooner rather than later,” while lobbying is only expected to intensify “once businesses and governments can start applying for bigger chunks of infrastructure money.” — There’s also the tens of billions of dollars in funding “to expand internet connectivity and foster digital equity, topics that have created their own waves of intense lobbying over the last year. Telecom giants, rural internet providers and advocacy groups are all clamoring to help shape the broadband rollout — though states will decide much of what that looks like over the coming year or so.” WHAT’S ON A GOP MEGADONOR’S MIND: As the shadow primary for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination begins kicking into gear, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin — the party’s second biggest donor this cycle — is ready to open his wallet for one potential White House aspirant in particular, Griffin told our Shia Kapos: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. — “‘I don’t know what he’s going to do. It’s a huge personal decision,’ he said of DeSantis. ‘He has a tremendous record as governor of Florida, and our country would be well-served by him as president.’” — As for the party’s de facto leader and most recent White House occupant, “Griffin liked his fiscal policies while in the White House, but his only financial support to Trump came in donating $100,000 to his inaugural committee. ‘He did a lot of things really well and missed the mark on some important areas,’ Griffin said. ‘And for a litany of reasons, I think it’s time to move on to the next generation.’” — Griffin also “wants to improve the diversity of the GOP and blunt the vein of populism that has complicated the party’s relationship with the corporate world — two things he’s consulted with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about.” HOUSING INDUSTRY PRESSES WASHINGTON FOR A BOOST: “Lobbyists are scrambling to get help from Washington to goose the housing market as demand tanks in response to rising interest rates and high prices,” our Katy O’Donnell reports. — “Groups representing builders, realtors and lenders are urging Congress and the White House to intervene to spur more home construction and boost affordability. It’s an increasingly urgent plea, with mortgage demand down more than 40 percent from a year ago and rates topping 7 percent for the first time in two decades.” — “Advocates are leaning on lawmakers to act before the end of the year, warning of gridlock with Republicans poised to win back at least one chamber of Congress in the midterms. The campaign is getting traction in the Biden administration. Officials at the White House, Treasury Department and HUD are urging lawmakers to move.”
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