NEW from me - Until Friday, the Democratic race that Gavin Newsom was focused on was not the one for the job he’s term limited out of.
How he's approaching the mess of the CA governor's race left in Eric Swalwell's wake: www.cnn.com/2026/04/15/p...
ICYMI from the weekend: my story on retired Marine & Iraq vet Ruben Gallego’s push against the Iran war and funding for it.
If Republicans say that isn’t supporting the troops? “They say that, and then more & more of our troops die over & over again.” www.cnn.com/2026/03/29/p...
When Lindsey Graham said of invading Kharg Island, “We did Iwo Jima, we can do this — my money’s always on the Marines” —
…what Ruben Gallego told me he wanted to post was, “Only an Air Force JAG officer would actually believe that.” www.cnn.com/2026/03/29/p...
NEW from me: this week, ret Marine & Iraq vet @gallego.senate.gov told a veterans town hall, “The most patriotic thing you could do for veterans is to not send us to stupid wars.”
Backstage after, we talked about what that means for Dems--and maybe him--in 2028. www.cnn.com/2026/03/29/p...
NEW from me: as she debates whether to run for president again, Kamala Harris is going to spend April doing a swing through state Democratic Party fundraisers in the South - www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/p...
NEW from me: as she debates whether to run for president again, Kamala Harris is going to spend April doing a swing through state Democratic Party fundraisers in the South - www.cnn.com/2026/03/26/p...
NEW from me: Inside the tense fight between Mike Pence and Heritage that’s really about fighting over the post-Trump GOP
Pence to me: “the president has changed aspects of the Republican agenda, I don’t believe he’s changed the Republican Party.” www.cnn.com/2026/03/23/p...
in the middle of primary day yesterday, I sat down with Pritzker at Manny's deli in Chicago.
He skipped his usual order of a tall pastrami sandwich - but he did talk through what he and others say Stratton's Senate win says about him and how he operates: www.cnn.com/2026/03/18/p...
NEW from me and Steve Contorno:
What JB Pritzker, his team and others think his lieutenant governor Julianna Statton's win in the Senate primary says about him, his operation and 2028: www.cnn.com/2026/03/18/p...
in case you missed from the weekend: my story on how AIPAC has become an increasingly major and tricky issue on the campaign trail, starting with tomorrow's primaries in Illinois - www.cnn.com/2026/03/15/p...
NEW from me: what happens in Illinois races & beyond as AIPAC becomes a major Dem primary issue
“AIPAC historically had a position that there were friends & future friends,” said longtime ally @repschneider.bsky.social. “It appears that they got away from that thinking.” www.cnn.com/2026/03/15/p...
Kamala Harris releases a statement more extensive than her usual criticisms of Trump:
"Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice."
"10-20 years from we'll look back and say, 'What a catastrophic mistake this was,'" Biden said last night in South Carolina, as he decried Trump. "But we don't have to wait 10 years. We know what a grave mistake it is right now." www.cnn.com/2026/02/27/p...
quietly, Biden has been reaching out to wide range of up & coming Dems. He called Spanberger before & after her State of the Union response. He called Padilla before his. A bunch of calls w/Newsom. A long meeting, among several conversations, with AOC. www.cnn.com/2026/02/27/p...
NEW from me: Biden returns to South Carolina tonight on the anniversary of the primary romp that led to his presidency--but after a hard year of his strange post-presidency.
In private he's been saying:
“You think we can actually come back from this?” www.cnn.com/2026/02/27/p...
After the Supreme Court ruling, @JBPritzker writes a letter to Trump asking him to pay back the costs of the tariffs to people in his state:
"On behalf of the people of Illinois, I demand a refund of $1,700 for every family in Illinois."
Includes a mock invoice:
Two months after launching her Senate campaign and under a month until the primary, Jasmine Crockett today added an issues section to her campaign site.
Among the mental health proposals:
“Write out your bullet points here. Anything from a sentence to a paragraph works.”
“Conservatives build permanent organizing infrastructure. Progressives have historically built machines that dismantle after Election Day. Headquarters is the end of that cycle,” the new social media presence off of Harris's account promises: www.cnn.com/2026/02/05/p...
“What happens if we have a close election in ‘28? What is he going to do? He’s going to say, ‘Hey, this was stolen from me in 2020, I’m not going to allow this to happen again.’ And then who knows what he does?” - Mark Kelly on Trump www.cnn.com/2026/01/21/p...
Here's the note that Elissa Slotkin got in the middle of a Novemer briefing on Venezuela:
Mark Kelly on peeking at it: “I’m like, ‘Oh shit. .. Five minutes later, she comes back in, she looks at me and she goes, ‘Well, he called for your execution too.’” www.cnn.com/2026/01/21/p...
“I feel this obligation more so than anything I’ve ever done in my life, Kelly told me about why he's fighting Hegseth.
Will that lead to a 2028 presidential run?
“I still think it needs to be the right person for the moment, and we don’t know what that moment is yet."
Prison? White House? In Georgia, Mark Kelly told me he's been thinking about both possibilities:
“I’m a fucking US senator. I have, in theory — in theory — supercharged First Amendment speech rights under the speech and debate clause, and they’re trampling on that.” www.cnn.com/2026/01/21/p...
NEW from me: Walz was **also** asked about being an agent of a foreign country in his VP vetting.
For him, it was about China, given the trips he took there before being elected to Congress.
new context for the questions Shapiro got about Israel ties: www.cnn.com/2026/01/19/p...
Where we’re at: questions in a recent Ipsos poll on Jewish conspiracies and whether people would kill over them
NEW from me:
For Josh Shapiro, it’s all about being able to win in Pennsylvania.
That starts Thursday as Shapiro launches his campaign for a second term as governor with rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia
www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/p...
“I’ve changed how I think about what I do,” said JB Pritzker, who was seated at a dinner with Hortman the night before she was killed. “Occasionally I have wanted to go without protection in the past, and it has not been a problem. But it is now.” www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/p...
“As governor, I have incredible security around me,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told me. “I know I’m going to be OK. I worry about others.”
Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly told me he only sits in restaurants when he can see the door: “I don’t get rattled easily, but I am aware.”
NEW from me: threat concerns are already shaping the 2028 (and midterm) campaigns, with many candidates saying they have scrapped outdoor events, having to spend more money on security and tearing up at thinking how running may put families in danger www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/p...
