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Presented by Kroger and Albertsons Companies: The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing. | | | | |  | | By Myah Ward, Lauren Egan and Ben Johansen | | | Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren All eyes were on New Hampshire this week. But more consequential 2024 news may have occurred in North Carolina and gone largely unnoticed. The Biden campaign scored its first 2024 legal victory in the state, stemming from a lawsuit filed a few months back by the Democratic National Committee and the North Carolina Democratic Party. The suit challenged several aspects of the Republican-backed election law, S.B. 747, that Democratic Gov. ROY COOPER vetoed but the legislature overrode. The law included new rules for voters who registered and cast a ballot on the same day, requiring additional photo ID and address verification — changes Democrats pounced on. The Dems’ lawsuit, drafted with the help of Biden campaign officials, specifically sought preliminary relief for those same-day registration provisions. Under the new law, voters opting for same-day registration but who don’t get their requirements verified on time could end up having their ballot tossed. Late Sunday, U.S. District Judge THOMAS SCHROEDER, a GEORGE W. BUSH appointee, sided with Democrats and blocked one provision of the law unless it’s revised. In a 94-page filing, he wrote that the plaintiffs are likely to successfully claim that the law violates the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution and that it would result in the tossing of legitimate ballots. Schroeder said that the state failed to show a strong enough reason to prevent these voters’ ballots from being counted if there’s an error by the U.S. Postal Service or poll workers in confirming their address. Under the new law, any voter who uses same-day registration will be sent a postcard to confirm their address. If the postcard is returned undeliverable, election officials can toss the ballot as invalid without telling the voter. While Schroeder’s ruling is not a total take-down of the sweeping law — which also adds new restrictions, removes the three-day grace period for absentee ballots, and empowers partisan poll watchers — it’s a win for President JOE BIDEN. His campaign hopes to put North Carolina on the map in 2024, four years after he lost the state to DONALD TRUMP by 1.4 percentage points. More than 100,000 North Carolina voters have used same-day registration during the last two presidential elections — votes that could tip the scales in a tight rematch between Biden and Trump. While Republicans deemed the law necessary to improve election security, Democrats have denounced it as “voter suppression.” “This ruling is a huge victory for voting rights — but it is just the beginning. Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have openly embraced a platform of election denialism and are working tirelessly to restrict the right to vote, particularly in communities of color,” Biden campaign manager JULIE CHÁVEZ RODRÍGUEZ said in a statement to West Wing Playbook. “Our campaign remains committed to protecting and fighting for those sacred rights.” The court win by the Biden campaign is part of a more aggressive strategy this cycle to fight GOP-authored voting laws. The president’s team said they drew lessons from 2020, when the DNC found the most success in targeted lawsuits against efforts to impose new voting restrictions in state legislatures across the country. The goal here was to successfully overturn some provisions before voters cast ballots in 2024. “North Carolina Republicans’ voter suppression law had nothing to do with election integrity and everything to do with silencing North Carolinians and undermining their fundamental right to vote,” DNC Chair JAIME HARRISON said. “This ruling marks the first victory of 2024 in our fight to protect voting rights for every American and is a critical first step to ensure all eligible Americans can make their voices heard this November.” MESSAGE US — Are you NATALIE MONTELONGO, director of strategic outreach? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
| | | | A message from Kroger and Albertsons Companies: Kroger’s success has always been rooted in delivering more for our customers - more choices, more value, more access to fresh food. Kroger joining together with Albertsons Cos. will allow us to do even more for customers by investing half a billion dollars to further lower prices and $1.3 billion to improve the customer experience. Any other alternative will lead to higher prices and less access for the communities who want and need it most. | | | | | Which president took up oil painting during retirement? (Answer at bottom.)
| | FINALLY, AN ENDORSEMENT: United Automobile Workers President SHAWN FAIN endorsed Biden’s reelection bid in a speech Wednesday at the union’s biannual conference in Washington. Fain focused on the president’s track record of backing unions and argued that Donald Trump, whom he called a “scab,” has consistently sided with the billionaire class. “This choice is clear: Joe Biden bet on the American worker while Donald Trump blamed the American worker,” Fain said. “If our endorsements must be earned, Joe Biden has earned it.” FILLING OUT THE SOTU SEATS: Biden invited KATE COX, the Texas woman who was denied an emergency abortion by the state’s Supreme Court, to attend his State of the Union address in March. Press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE told reporters that the president and first lady spoke with Cox on Sunday and thanked her “for her courage in sharing her story and speaking out about the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas.” ALL BUT DECIDED: Despite his absence from the ballot, Biden came out on top last night in the New Hampshire primary, beating out long-shot candidates Rep. DEAN PHILLIPS and self-help author MARIANNE WILLIAMSON in a successful write-in campaign. As our JONATHAN LEMIRE, ELENA SCHNEIDER and HOLLY OTTERBEIN report, the win — paired with Trump’s win over NIKKI HALEY — all but tees up a matchup this November that the Biden team is feeling particularly good about. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This piece by CNN’s BRYAN MENA, who reports on “3 surprising reasons to be happy”: surging 401k plans, cooling gas prices and a booming housing market. Mena points to those indicators as reasons consumer sentiment on the economy is shifting. “The winds may be changing a bit,” he writes. “The country’s economic vibes are finally vibing again.” Communications director BEN LABOLT and deputy communications director HERBIE ZISKEND shared the piece on X. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by NY Mag’s ANDREA GONZÁLEZ-RAMÍREZ, who writes that even as the Biden campaign sharpens its message around abortion rights, the efforts “aren’t rising to meet the urgency of the moment.” González-Ramírez argues that despite electoral evidence showing that the majority of Americans support abortion access in some capacity, the campaign’s approach has not been aggressive enough. CASH DASH: The Biden team is keeping busy with a number of fundraisers in the coming weeks. President Biden is expected to attend events in New York on Feb. 7, according to an email to donors from Biden Victory Fund national finance chair CHRIS KORGE. As we reported last week, Biden is also headlining a Miami fundraiser on Tuesday. Second gentleman DOUG EMHOFF is headlining two fundraising receptions in Chicago this week, our DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. And he and Vice President KAMALA HARRIS will host events in Los Gatos, California, on Jan. 29. First lady JILL BIDEN will attend fundraisers this week in Raleigh, North Carolina; Palm Harbor, Florida; and Houston, Texas.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes. | | | | | | | | | PERSONNEL MOVES: LIZ BERLIANT has been promoted to White House liaison at the U.S. Department of Energy. She previously was the DOE’s deputy liaison and is a DNC alum. Berliant is taking over the DOE role from DAVID BERRIOS, who is leaving to be the Biden campaign’s North Carolina state director. — EITAN GELLER-MONTAGUE is now special adviser for legislative affairs at the Office of the National Cyber Director at the White House. He most recently was an adviser to the administrator at the TSA.
| | | | A message from Kroger and Albertsons Companies:   | | | | | OBAMACARE SURGE: On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that over 21 million people have enrolled in health plans through the Affordable Care Act, WaPo’s DAN DIAMOND reports. The record level of enrollment is up 9 million since Biden took office, and comes as Donald Trump pledges to repeal the program if elected. “The American people have made it clear: they don’t want the Affordable Care Act weakened and repealed,” Biden said in a statement. “They want it strengthened and protected.” CYBER TALK: Four of the top U.S. officials on cybersecurity will testify next week in front of the House Select Committee on China, our MAGGIE MILLER reports for Pro s. The lineup will include FBI Director CHRISTOPHER WRAY, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Director JEN EASTERLY, Cyber Command and NSA lead Gen. PAUL NAKASONE and National Cyber Director HARRY COKER, where they will discuss cyber threats from Beijing.
| | | | YOUR GUIDE TO EMPIRE STATE POLITICS: From the newsroom that doesn’t sleep, POLITICO's New York Playbook is the ultimate guide for power players navigating the intricate landscape of Empire State politics. Stay ahead of the curve with the latest and most important stories from Albany, New York City and around the state, with in-depth, original reporting to stay ahead of policy trends and political developments. Subscribe now to keep up with the daily hustle and bustle of NY politics. | | | | | | | | | What History Says About Biden’s Power to Strike Back Against the Houthis (POLITICO’s Joshua Zeitz) Can America’s New Union Hero Take on Elon Musk’s Tesla? (Bloomberg’s Josh Eidelson and Gabrielle Coppola) Hunter Biden’s paintings have sold for a total of $1.5 million (WaPo’s Matt Viser)
| | | On Wednesday, KATIE COURIC released an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. The discussion, which also aired on Couric’s podcast “Next Question,” covers the impact abortion rights will have on the upcoming presidential election. “We want to go back to the law of the land being Roe,” Harris said. “Elections matter, Katie. On this issue in particular, elections matter.”
| | George W. Bush began painting portraits of notable figures such as former Secretary of State MADELINE ALBRIGHT and NBA Hall of Famer DIRK NOWITZKI. Many of his portraits have been displayed at his presidential library in Dallas, including those from his book, “Portraits of Courage,” a collection of “stories, 66 portraits and a four-panel mural that he painted to honor military veterans,” CNN reported in 2017. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.
| | | | A message from Kroger and Albertsons Companies: Over the last 10 years, Kroger has grown its unionized workforce by over 100,000 members, making it one of America’s largest unionized workforces. Kroger has raised wages and increased benefits to respect and reward associates who fuel our success. Kroger’s merger with Albertsons Cos. will allow us to build on this track record by securing the long-term future of union jobs and further rewarding associates. That’s why Kroger has committed to invest $1 billion post-close to continue raising associate wages and providing comprehensive industry-leading benefits. If the merger is blocked, the non-union retailers like Walmart and Amazon will become even more powerful and unaccountable – and that’s bad for everyone. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
