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Presented by Meta: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | |  Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) became the latest senator to declare his opposition to the same-sex marriage bill this morning. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | SURVEY SAYS — Justice CLARENCE THOMAS handed Democrats a counterintuitive political opportunity when his Dobbs concurrence raised the prospect of revisiting the legalization of same-sex marriage. Now, facing a bleak midterms environment — and spying an opening to enshrine civil rights gains into law — Dems on the Hill are hustling to codify same-sex and interracial marriage access. Our latest POLITICO/Morning Consult polling makes clear that the bill enjoys the support of a majority of registered voters, potentially putting Republicans on the defensive on another social policy question — though it’s not necessarily a slam dunk. — On same-sex marriage: Fifty-eight percent of Americans support passing a federal bill to codify the right, including 44% who strongly back it, compared to 31% who oppose. — On interracial marriage: Federal legislation has more lopsided support here: Seventy-one percent of voters support it, with just 15% opposing. (From the crosstabs: Twenty-five percent of Republican voters either somewhat or strongly oppose such a bill.) — On abortion: These numbers are nearly identical to popular opinion on same-sex marriage: Forty-seven percent support federal legislation protecting abortion access, while 34% oppose. — On access to birth control: Of the topics we polled, nothing garnered greater support than federal legislation to protect access to birth control: A full three-quarters of voters back the idea, with 15% opposed. But the marriage bill isn’t yet breaking through to voters in a big way. A slim majority say they’ve heard not much or nothing at all about it; just 16% have heard a lot. Toplines … Crosstabs Where the bill stands: Sen. STEVE DAINES (R-Mont.) became the latest senator to declare his opposition this morning, calling the legislation “another attempt by Speaker [NANCY] PELOSI and the Democrats to distract the American people,” and saying he believes marriage is between a man and a woman. PRESIDENTIAL HEALTH UPDATE — President JOE BIDEN seems to be almost through his bout of Covid-19, presidential doctor KEVIN O’CONNOR said in his latest memo this morning : “His symptoms have now almost completely resolved,” with just some lingering congestion and hoarseness left. He’s now on his fifth day of Paxlovid treatment. He seems to be having a fairly good time with remote work. Good Monday afternoon. New on the president’s schedule: Biden will meet virtually with CEOs and labor leaders at 2:15 p.m. to tout the importance of the CHIPS Act.
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Learn how Meta is helping build the metaverse. | | | ALL POLITICS PRIMARY COLORS — Wisconsin Democrat TOM NELSON today suspended his campaign for U.S. Senate, saying he’d run out of money , and endorsed Lt. Gov. MANDELA BARNES in the race. Nelson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bill Glauber that it “made sense to consolidate the progressive vote, which we did.” His name will still appear on the ballot next month, though. Nelson and SARAH GODLEWSKI had been running significantly behind frontrunners Barnes and ALEX LASRY in the polls. — The Arizona Senate GOP contest has divided the state’s Republicans, which could be a boost for Democratic Sen. MARK KELLY in November, WSJ’s Eliza Collins reports . Kelly also enjoys a considerable money advantage. Still, he’s one of Republicans’ top targets in the midterms, and the top GOP candidates have aligned themselves closely with DONALD TRUMP or Trumpist positions. ENDORSEMENT WATCH — With the tight Missouri Senate GOP primary barely a week away, SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS today endorsed state A.G. ERIC SCHMITT, Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser scooped . SWING-STATE DISPATCHES — From Reno, WaPo’s Hannah Knowles takes a look at Democratic Sen. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO’s tough reelection battle against ADAM LAXALT, which combines many of the same narratives undergirding the midterms nationwide: Cortez Masto wants to talk about abortion and Trump’s election lies (and not Biden), while Laxalt focuses on the economy. One pollster says a race that turns on persuasion would benefit Laxalt, whereas one that comes down to turnout could save Cortez Masto. — From Phoenix, ABC’s Libby Cathey dives into the Trump-MIKE PENCE political proxy fight and finds that though Republicans “support Trump’s ‘America First’ policies, they are split on whether he is the right person to deliver them in an already polarized political climate.” CHRIS JACOBS IN THE WILDERNESS — The first-term New York GOP congressman whose outspoken stance on guns has ended his political career tells WaPo’s Joanna Slater in Buffalo that he stands by his May announcement of support for gun restrictions, even though his colleagues and even his wife didn’t know it was coming. “Somebody said, ‘Chris, it’s a profile in courage,’” Jacobs says. “And I said, ‘Well, it’s also a profile in unemployment.’” Though he’d been excited about serving in a Republican majority, he says the decision was worth it — and next year, he’ll head back to his real estate business. “An unwillingness to consider gun control measures as one way to prevent mass shootings is not ‘intellectually honest,’ he said.” DEMOCRACY DIGEST — “2020 Election Deniers Seek Out Powerful Allies: County Sheriffs,” by NYT’s Alexandra Berzon and Nick Corasaniti: “Conservative activists are working to recruit the law enforcement officers to their cause. Several sheriffs have already clashed with election officials.”
| | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today . | | | | | JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH COMMITTEE LATEST — Rep. ELAINE LURIA (D-Va.) put out additional footage this morning of depositions before the House Jan. 6 committee covering Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6 and 7, and his reluctance to speak out against the rioters. The discrepancies between Trump’s prepared remarks on Jan. 7 and what he actually said are also illuminating: The then-president dropped a call for lawbreakers to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” and he changed “you do not represent me” to “you do not represent our country.” Watch the video … Trump’s handwritten edits … More from Insider THE INVESTIGATIONS — A judge today blocked Fulton County, Ga., D.A. FANI WILLIS from investigating one of the 16 false Trump electors in the state, requiring a different office to take over the questioning of state Sen. BURT JONES. The judge said Willis, who held a fundraiser for Jones’ political opponent, had an “actual and untenable” conflict of interest, so she won’t be able to make prosecutorial decisions about him. But the judge tossed out similar requests from nearly a dozen other “alternate electors” who are also under Willis’ magnifying glass. More from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution GARLAND’S BIG DECISION — The House Jan. 6 committee and Willis’ office have proceeded rapidly with aggressive investigations into the Capitol insurrection and the effort to overturn the 2020 election. Meanwhile, DOJ is moving carefully and methodically — a discrepancy “so striking that it has become an issue for [A.G. MERRICK] GARLAND — and is only growing more pronounced by the week,” reports NYT’s Michael Schmidt . Of course, “the Justice Department is bound by a series of laws, guidelines and norms that do not apply to the congressional or Georgia investigators.”
| | | | A message from Meta:   | | | CONGRESS ANOTHER ONE — Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) has mild Covid-19 and is working remotely, he announced this morning. Sen. PATRICK LEAHY (D-Vt.) is still out, too, meaning Democrats could be down at least two for any close votes in the evenly split Senate. CNN’s Manu Raju notes that Leahy can come back for votes if necessary, and Manchin likely won’t be out for long. But as the coronavirus continues to circulate, the tight margins are often touch and go for Democrats. — AND ANOTHER ONE: Sen. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-Alaska) tested positive and has flu-like symptoms . RECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES — Democrats’ incredible shrinking reconciliation bill — now focused on health care — is getting tweaked again based on arguments with Republicans before the Senate parliamentarian last week, Caitlin Emma, Jennifer Scholtes, Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett report in Congress Minutes . The changes to the drug pricing plan come ahead of the next submission to the parliamentarian, which could happen mid-week. “It may yet force the party to further delay its plans for Senate consideration of the bill.” ECA REFORM — Prominent Democratic lawyers MARC ELIAS and NORM EISEN are raising concerns about the bipartisan legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act, WaPo’s Theo Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell report . Elias is particularly concerned about language that he says could allow a governor to certify false results without any recourse: “I’m not sure it’s better than nothing.” But not everyone agrees with his interpretation: “The statutory interpretation that Marc is worried about is so outlandish that it would lose unanimously, I think, in every federal court in the country,” says Yale Law’s MATTHEW SELIGMAN. BUYER BEWARE — Former Rep. STEVE BUYER (R-Ind.) was charged with insider trading by the SEC today. The case centers on actions Buyer allegedly took in 2018 and 2019, when he was working as a consultant, several years after leaving Congress. Authorities say he learned ahead of time about the T-Mobile/Sprint merger and Guidehouse’s acquisition of Navigant, and that he used the intel to purchase $1.5 million in stocks. Buyer is staring down four counts of securities fraud as well as civil charges. The SEC announcement JUDICIARY SQUARE SCOTUS WATCH — Forty-three percent of Americans now say they have “hardly any” confidence in the Supreme Court, a significant leap up from 27% earlier this year, per a new AP/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey . And roughly two-thirds of the country supports the idea of setting term limits for justices or instituting a retirement age threshold. Negative views of the court have been driven by Democrats in the wake of SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade.
| | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY . | | | | | MEDIAWATCH EVERYONE’S GETTING A PODCAST — KEITH OLBERMANN is launching a daily podcast next week, WSJ’s Joe Flint scooped . Working with iHeartMedia, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” “will typically run about 35 minutes. Besides the latest political chatter, it will include some of his trademark segments from previous shows including ‘Worst Person in the World,’ in which he calls out someone who he thinks is particularly bad.” CANCEL CULTURE — It’s time for “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” to cover up. TBS has canceled the prominent weekly late-night show after seven years, per Deadline’s Peter White . PLAYBOOKERS OUT AND ABOUT — The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington held the 40th annual RAMMY awards at the Convention Center on Sunday night, and celebrated the D.C. area’s best restaurants, chefs, and alcohol and service programs. Following the awards, attendees were treated to tasting stations featuring cuisine from around the world, cocktails crafted by awards finalists and a surprise DJ set by electronic trio Cash Cash. Notable winners: Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year: Albi; Chef of the Year: Rob Rubba , Oyster Oyster; New Restaurant of the Year: Daru; Restaurateur of the Year: Scott Drewno and Danny Lee, The Fried Rice Collective (Anju/Chiko). SPOTTED at the RAMMYs: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio, D.C. Councilmembers Charles Allen and Kenyan McDuffie, Eun Yang, Jummy Olabanji, Shawn Yancy, Holly Morris, Kathy Hollinger, Gavin Coleman, Matt Frumin and Zachary Parker. Pic WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Camille Stewart Gloster will be deputy national cyber director for technology and ecosystem security, per Axios’ Sam Sabin . She most recently was global head of product security strategy at Google, and is an Obama DHS alum. MEDIA MOVE — Molly Hennessy-Fiske will be Texas correspondent for WaPo. She most recently has been Houston bureau chief at the L.A. Times. Announcement TRANSITION — Ayris Scales is joining Nareit as SVP of social responsibility and global initiatives. She most recently was CEO of the Walker’s Legacy Foundation.
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