Someone’s working in Denmark

May 12, 2023

Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help Allie Bice.

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The head of one of the most influential Latino organizations in American politics does not live in America.

NATHALIE RAYES, the president and CEO of Latino Victory, has been running the organization for the past few years from her home in Copenhagen, Denmark, according to four people familiar with the situation.

In the post-Covid era, remote work is not uncommon. But Democrats who work in the Latino advocacy space have expressed frustration that Rayes isn’t living in the country where she is supposed to be building a Latino political power center.

“How are you supposed to win for Latinos if you’re not even here?” said a Democrat who has worked closely with Rayes. The person asked not to be named to protect professional relationships.

Latino Victory, co-founded in 2014 by EVA LONGORIA and HENRY MUÑOZ III, has been a powerful force in raising money for candidates and boosting Latino voter turnout. But Democrats close to the organization told West Wing Playbook that Rayes’ European residency is impacting team morale and leading to weaker relationships with donors and candidates.

Her living situation has also been noticed by the White House. Two administration officials said they have been on Zoom calls with Rayes when it was daytime in Washington, but clearly dark outside in her location. (Denmark is six hours ahead of Washington, D.C.)

The whole matter took on additional relevance earlier this month, when President JOE BIDEN nominated Rayes to be ambassador to Croatia. The post would require her to ostensibly return to D.C., at least for a period of time to handle the Senate confirmation process. It also would require her to step down from Latino Victory, should she be confirmed.

There is a larger concern that the uncertainty around that nomination, combined with the instability caused by Rayes being in Denmark, may have some impact on the president’s reelection process, too. Biden’s approval rating has dipped to 35 percent among Hispanic voters in certain polls, and the president will need all the help he can get to turn out that bloc in 2024 elections, leaders in the Latino community told West Wing Playbook. Latino Victory is one of the more influential groups interfacing with Hispanic voters, making turmoil at the top of its ranks suboptimal.

Latino Victory did not provide a comment to West Wing Playbook. When asked over the phone about Rayes living in Denmark, a spokesperson said they had to hang up to make a TV hit. The spokesperson did not respond to multiple followup emails.

A person familiar with the situation said that Rayes moved to Denmark with her husband, who, according to LinkedIn, is a senior vice president and head of research at Lundbeck, a pharmaceutical company based in Copenhagen.

Some Democratic operatives said that while the situation was frustrating, they hoped it would soon resolve itself.

“They haven’t been the same for a few years,” said another Democratic strategist close to Latino Victory. “They are running out of time."

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POTUS PUZZLER

This one is from Allie. American author MARK TWAIN helped which president write and publish his memoirs?

(Answer at bottom.)

Cartoon of the Week

Bill Bramhall

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The Oval

COMING FROM ALL SIDES: The president is in a political bind after the expiration of the border policy known as Title 42, getting criticism from both ends of the political spectrum on how to handle the aftermath, our MYAH WARD and BRAKKTON BOOKER report. Though the backlash from conservatives was anticipated, progressives also are chiming in, arguing that the administration’s “new rule — similar to a Trump-era policy referred to as the ‘transit ban’ — is too harsh, and will further limit access to the country’s asylum system.”

How the president handles the situation could play a part in the 2024 elections, Ward and Booker write, and “determine whether immigration will be a typical, second-tier campaign issue that fires up the MAGA base but moves few votes — or a topic that rattles voters across the political spectrum and casts doubt on Biden’s competency.”

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Director of digital strategy ROB FLAHERTY really wants you to check out this interactive map on the White House website spotlighting different projects nationwide that have been funded by the infrastructure law. On Friday, Flaherty tweeted he was “obsessed” with it and said it was inspired by a New Deal-era map promoting the Public Works Administration’s projects.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by CNBC’s JESSICA DICKLER about how “education debt isn’t going away” while Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan remains on hold. “College is only getting more expensive. Tuition and fees plus room and board at four-year, in-state public colleges rose more than 2 percent to $23,250, on average, in the 2022-23 academic year; at four-year private colleges, it increased by more than 3 percent to $53,430, according to the College Board.” Many students now borrow to cover the tab, the piece notes, propelling “collective student loan debt in the U.S. past $1.7 trillion.”

THE BUREAUCRATS

MAKING THE ROUNDS: Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN is set to meet next week with top Wall Street bankers over the debt limit. She’ll talk with leaders of the Bank Policy Institute, a lobbying group whose board is led by JPMorgan Chase CEO JAMIE DIMON and includes Citigroup CEO JANE FRASER. This comes after the White House and Republicans delayed a Friday meeting over raising the government’s borrowing limit, SAM SUTTON and BEN WHITE report.

KERRY’S CONFIDENCE: U.S. Climate Envoy JOHN KERRY said he’s confident any future Republican president won’t be able to reverse Biden policies that push for clean energy. He told CNN that the policies are so integrated into the economy that the markets would reject any change. “The power of the marketplace is bigger than the presidency on (climate change) now,” Kerry said. More from CNN’s ELLA NILSEN.

Filling the Ranks

A FED FIRST: The president announced two nominations to the Federal Reserve Board Friday — PHILIP JEFFERSON to serve as the board’s vice chair and ADRIANA KUGLER to serve as a board member. If confirmed, Kugler would become the first Latina to serve on the board and Jefferson would become the second Black vice chair, our VICTORIA GUIDA reports. Biden also announced his intention to renominate board member LISA COOK, who has been in the post since May 2022.

NOT AS HISTORIC, BUT STILL: The president also announced he plans to nominate former Rep. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-N.Y.) to serve as the U.S. ambassador for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris and JACK MARKELL to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

PERSONNEL MOVES: CAROLINE SABA, deputy chief of staff for the White House Counsel’s Office and a longtime West Wing fixture, is leaving the administration to attend law school in the fall.

Agenda Setting

SAME BUT DIFFERENT: Although Biden’s decision to send troops to the southwestern border following the expiration of Title 42 is being compared to former President DONALD TRUMP’s decision to do so, “there are key differences … from what the troops are allowed to do to the situation on the ground to the way Congress is approaching the question.” Our LARA SELIGMAN, JOE GOULD and CONNOR O’BRIEN explain.

IT’S A START: The U.S. and China are back on talking terms after communication between the two nations broke off following the Chinese spy balloon discovery earlier this year, WSJ’s BRIAN SPEGELE reports. “U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan convened more than eight hours of talks with China’s top foreign-affairs official, Wang Yi, during two days in Vienna this week,” Spegele writes. “In Beijing, meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in recent days.”

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: The Commerce Department on Friday unveiled “the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs,” with funding coming from the CHIPS and Science Act that the president signed into law last year, AP’s JOSH BOAK reports.

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What We're Reading

The Expiration of Title 42 Is a Reality Check (Justin Gest for POLITICO Magazine)

Air Force One doubles as a campaign jet for Biden’s reelection run. Who pays what? (AP’s Chris Megerian and Zeke Miller)

The potential indictment of Hunter Biden, explained (Vox’s Andrew Prokop)

Football and baseball legend Bo Jackson says he’s had hiccups for nearly a year (NBC’s Drew Weisholtz)

The Oppo Book

Vice President KAMALA HARRIS “had a loitering problem" back in high school, she confessed on “The Ellen Degeneres Show” in 2018.

Asked about the most rebellious thing she’s ever done, Harris replied: “I would loiter the halls, and the principal would say, ‘Kamala, you’re out here again.’”

The two would talk and then her principal would tell her to go back to class. “And then I’d go back to class.”

“God, you were bad,” Degeneres responded.

“I was awful,” Harris said, laughing.

POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER

Twain helped ULYSSES S. GRANT with his memoirs, “providing literary advice as Grant wrote out each page,” according to the National Park Service website. “Twain also proof-read the pages as Grant worked tirelessly to finish the book before he passed away.”

A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

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