Josh Hawley is ruffling GOP feathers as he stakes out his floor: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the web model of From the Politics Desk, a e-newsletter that brings you the NBC Information Politics group’s newest reporting and evaluation from the White Home, Capitol Hill and the marketing campaign path.

In as we speak’s version, we’ve got a deep dive into Sen. Josh Hawley’s effort to stake out floor for himself within the fashionable Republican Get together. Plus, Adam Noboa breaks down how President Donald Trump’s renewed marketing campaign in opposition to mail voting intersects with the redistricting struggle.

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— Adam Wollner

Josh Hawley irks fellow Republicans as he tries to carve out a lane

By Allan Smith, Julie Tsirkin and Matt Dixon

Since he took workplace in 2019, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has sought to position himself on the entrance strains of orienting the Republican Get together round a mixture of financial populism and social conservatism to enchantment to an more and more working-class base.

However now, with Republicans in full management of Congress for the primary time since he arrived in Washington, Hawley’s mission is coming into battle with members of his celebration, who’re annoyed together with his tendency to comply with the beat of his personal drum as he grows extra crucial of a few of their coverage goals.

Republicans, each in Congress and within the White Home, are more and more speaking about Hawley’s strikes with the belief that he’s contemplating a presidential marketing campaign, 5 folks conversant in such discussions informed NBC Information.

A senior Senate aide mentioned it appeared that Hawley was “making an attempt to load up coverage prescriptions to put the groundwork for a 2028 presidential bid.”

“He’s aligned himself with Democrats on most fiscal points,” the aide added. “Frankly, it has irked plenty of his Republican colleagues.”

However Hawley’s allies say no 2028 plotting is afoot.

“Josh believes we’re at a crucial inflection level in our historical past about the place the celebration’s realigning,” an individual near him mentioned. “He’s been on the identical mission, specializing in the identical challenge since he first ran for workplace, believing that the Republican Get together must develop into a celebration of working folks. What he’s carried out is in keeping with that every yr he’s been in Congress.”

Throughout the aisle: Hawley had been written off by Democrats after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault, when he was seen getting into the Capitol elevating a fist to protesters assembled exterior and later moved ahead together with his objection to the electoral vote depend.

However this yr alone, Hawley has teamed up with Sens., Gary Peters, D-Mich., on a invoice to ban congressional inventory buying and selling; Cory Booker, D-N.J., on laws to reinforce youngster labor legal guidelines; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on a invoice to bar synthetic intelligence companies from coaching fashions on stolen, copyrighted supplies; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on an effort to cap bank card rates of interest; and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on laws to additional regulate pharmacy profit managers, amongst different measures.

“Effectively, Jan. 6 stays behind lots of people’s minds. On the similar time, on points the place we are able to make progress stopping company greed or monopolistic management over markets, there’s a necessity for allies,” Blumenthal mentioned in an interview. “The long-lasting Jan. 6 photograph of him with a fist within the air can’t be erased from reminiscence. But when he can carry Republican assist to the desk for concepts that may assist folks, typically working collectively is sensible.”

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California’s lengthy poll depend could also be Trump’s subsequent goal within the battle over voting

By Adam Noboa

The most recent salvo in President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign in opposition to mail-in voting arrived Monday, as he introduced he desires to “lead a motion” in opposition to mail ballots and advocate as an alternative for in-person and paper ballots, which he says are “quicker, and leaves NO DOUBT, on the finish of the night, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election.”

This push by Trump may additionally have the comfort of being the newest line of assault within the redistricting wars. In California, state Democrats are trying their very own mid-decade gerrymander to counter the Trump-led push by Republicans to attract extra pleasant districts in Texas. And California stands out as one of the distinguished embracers of mail-in voting — and among the many slowest to depend them.

Total, mail-in voting accounted for 30% of the whole vote nationwide in 2024, down from its 2020 peak of 43%. Nevertheless, in California, the follow made up 81% of the whole vote, in keeping with a latest report from the Election Help Fee.

Mail-in voting general has proved to be a difficult course of for a lot of election directors, with hurdles together with voter and poll verification and logistical points like opening envelopes, conserving supplies safe and, in lots of circumstances, hand-counting. Primarily, all the processes that occur in individual when somebody votes at a polling place — particularly checking in and verifying their registration — can pile up quick when it occurs by mail.

However California has had a few of the best difficulties sorting via mail votes shortly. Of the states with the best share of mail-in voting within the 2024 election, California set a benchmark for slowest progress the morning after the election.

Whereas Democrats have achieved regular success on the statewide stage lately, California’s extended vote counts left the nation in suspense over which celebration would win management of the Home of Representatives for days after the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Laws was launched this yr requiring California counties to conclude a majority of their counting course of 13 days after the election. The invoice handed the state Meeting with bipartisan assist and is in a state Senate committee searching for funding sign-off.

In the meantime, Trump faces excessive authorized and political hurdles to altering mail-in legal guidelines on his personal on the federal stage. With out new federal legal guidelines, states have huge latitude to set their very own election procedures.

Nevertheless it’s additionally taking place as California state legislators convened Monday to maneuver ahead on plans for a congressional map that, if accepted by voters, would goal 5 Republicans to lose their seats within the upcoming midterms. The trouble was sparked by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom as a response to Texas Republicans’ congressional redraw searching for to fortify their majority.

It might put the redistricting wars and Trump’s renewed campaign on mail-in votes on a political collision course within the Golden State.

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. As we speak’s e-newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.

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