House help from the RNC

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May 01, 2024 View in browser   By Nick Reisman, Emily Ngo and Jeff Coltin With help from Shawn Ness Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley told House Republicans the party is making blue states like New York and California a priority. | Michael Wyke/AP National Republican leadership has been in a state of upheaval for a year. What hasn’t changed: the GOP commitment to maintaining its toehold in key New York House seats. Newly installed Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley on Tuesday told top House Republicans the party will focus on otherwise blue states like New York and California that are also home to battleground seats. New York alone has six House seats that are believed to be in play this year, and five are held by first-term Republican lawmakers in the New York City suburbs and the Syracuse area. Whatley’s affirmation of support for New York Republicans, first reported by Punchbowl News, comes as Rep. Elise Stefanik has been leading the GOP effort in the state to maintain power in the House. “The path to the House majority runs through New York, and we are committed to holding the line to deliver a Republican House to work with President Trump to save America,” Stefanik, the House GOP conference chair and a potential vice presidential running mate for Trump, told Playbook in a statement. Whatley had made a “commitment to fund and support New York Republicans,” she added. Stefanik, first elected in 2014, has quickly moved up the ranks of the House GOP and within the state delegation. She’s currently the longest-serving House Republican from New York and the GOP conference chair. A staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, Stefanik is considered to be a potential vice-presidential candidate. But New York has been a focal point for the North Country Republican. That has not been a straightforward task given the changes at the top of the party’s infrastructure. Kevin McCarthy, a rainmaking fundraiser for the party, was ousted from the House speakership last year. Ronna McDaniel resigned from the top RNC post and was replaced by Whatley, a North Carolina GOP party chair who was hand-picked by Trump. Still, Republicans haven’t changed their approach to New York. The new speaker, Mike Johnson, has traveled to the state to fundraise and, just last week, appeared at Columbia University with a coterie of Republican lawmakers to blast pro-Palestinian protesters. Stefanik previously signaled her party will spend $100 million in New York to retain key House seats. It’s a staggering amount of money for Republicans to spend, but it’s also a sign of how Democrats are competing aggressively in the state as well. The Democratic-allied House Majority PAC has already booked more than $21.3 million of advertising time in key races. Democrats expected to spend at least $45 million in New York this year. Some Democratic candidates, too, have outraised their Republican opponents. “Michael Whatley and Elise Stefanik are two MAGA extremists who are leading vulnerable New York Republicans to pledge allegiance to their dangerous, far-right party, making them increasingly vulnerable along the way,” DCCC spokesperson Ellie Dougherty told Playbook. “While Republicans are tying their flailing incumbents to four-time indicted former president Donald Trump, the DCCC is committed to ensuring our candidates, who are handily outraising their GOP opponents, have the resources they need to make sure Democrats retake the House in November.” — Nick Reisman HAPPY WEDNESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.   THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists. Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY.     WHERE’S KATHY? In New York City with no public schedule. WHERE’S ERIC? Appearing live on NBC’s “Today Show,” then on CBS’s “CBS Mornings,” briefing the media on Columbia University protests, going on 94.7 The Block’s “Jonesy in the Morning,” holding a public hearing for a bill signing, delivering remarks at a National Latino Leaders press conference, participating in PFNYC’s Business Leaders Town Hall, meeting ith South African business leaders and members of the BCIU, hosting a community conversation. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “These are not lifetime positions. You don’t stay there forever.” — Mayor Eric Adams defending changes made at the city’s hate crimes prevention unit and police oversight board. ABOVE THE FOLD Police clad in riot gear came to Columbia University's Hamilton Hall to clear it of protesters that had occupied it. | Irie Sentner/POLITICO MORE MASS ARRESTS AT COLUMBIA: Police cleared Columbia University of pro-Palestinian protesters Tuesday night as the school requested officers stay to maintain order on a campus engulfed in chaos over the Israel-Hamas war. POLITICO has the story. At least 200 police officers, some in riot gear, descended onto the Upper Manhattan campus following a takeover of the university’s Hamilton Hall the night before. They arrested dozens and cleared the building that protesters occupied overnight, following a breakdown in negotiations between the university and students. It was a stark recognition by the school’s embattled president, Minouche Shafik, that she was losing control. What began as protests of Israel's military operation in Gaza last fall recently evolved into a full-blown encampment that sparked campus demonstrations across the country and upended life at the Ivy League school. The drama began unfolding Tuesday morning, when Columbia officials conceded during a call with Adams administration leaders that the protests had gotten out of hand, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation who were granted anonymity to share details of a private discussion. School officials requested assistance from police, as they had on other occasions in recent weeks. Cops had been frustrated after they entered campus earlier this month and arrested more than 100 students in the encampment but the demonstrations persisted, one of the people said. Shafik has faced intense criticism by members of Congress for not doing more to protect Jewish students during the protests — and by her own faculty for authorizing earlier arrests. “The events on campus last night leave us no choice,” she wrote in a letter to the NYPD, adding that she would use “emergency authority to protect persons and property.” Letter in hand, officers who had been mustering outside the university grounds streamed onto campus, surrounding the pro-Palestinian encampment and entering Hamilton Hall through a second-story window and a side entrance before charging through the front doors. — Irie Sentner, Madina Touré, Joe Anuta and Sally Goldenberg CITY HALL: THE LATEST Sixty elected officials sent a letter to Mayor Eric Adams urging him to reverse a policy that required City Council members to fill out a form before a meeting with agency heads. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office FORM OVER FUNCTION: Ahead of a City Council hearing today, a group of more than 60 elected officials called on the mayor to reverse a policy requiring them to fill out a form before meeting with city agency heads. And judging by the signatories on a letter, sent to Adams Tuesday, the mayor’s new policy has angered figures across the New York political spectrum: Progressives like Public Advocate Jumaane Williams signed onto the missive alongside Republican Council Member Inna Vernikov and her colleague Bob Holden, a conservative Democrat. State lawmakers oppose the initiative — including Assemblymember Robert Carroll, an ally of the mayor — along with Reps. Jerry Nadler and Nydia Velázquez in Congress. “We are perplexed as to what purpose this form serves beyond stymying our work,” the electeds wrote, noting that even commissioners themselves are frustrated with the new directive. “We have established effective working relationships with many of the agency leaders you have appointed and their staff, and trust their ability to triage and flag pressing issues for City Hall, as needed.” The mayor has defended the new form as a way to more clearly manage and streamline relationships with elected officials — a policy he imported from Borough Hall. Tiffany Raspberry, head of City Hall’s intergovernmental affairs unit, will be testifying at today’s oversight hearing held by the Committee on Government Operations, led by Council Member Lincoln Restler. “The mayor is seemingly trying to review every one of these requests himself,” Restler said. “This seems like a maddening approach to try to manage the city.” — Joe Anuta More from the city: — Robberies in Central Park have sharply increased this year. (Gothamist) — The highest-ranking uniformed NYPD officer will face a disciplinary hearing on June 24. (The City)   DON’T MISS POLITICO’S ENERGY SUMMIT: The future of energy faces a crossroads in 2024 as policymakers and industry leaders shape new rules, investments and technologies. Join POLITICO’s Energy Summit on June 5 as we convene top voices to examine the shifting global policy environment in a year of major elections in the U.S. and around the world. POLITICO will examine how governments are writing and rewriting new rules for the energy future and America’s own role as a major exporter. REGISTER HERE.     NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY Sam Spokony has joined Gov. Kathy Hochul's team as her senior deputy communications director. | Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul PRESSING ISSUES: The governor is beefing up her communications shop. Gov. Kathy Hochul has hired Sam Spokony as her senior deputy communications director, the office told POLITICO. In his new role, Spokony will be working on a variety of issues to craft media strategy and ways to reach New Yorkers directly. He will report to communications director Anthony Hogrebe. “Sam is a proven strategist and a seasoned flack who’s going to help us continue to show New Yorkers how this administration is making our state safer, stronger and more affordable,” Hogrebe said in a statement. Spokony’s new role comes after a successful budget session for the governor, where she negotiated a complex housing package, laws to crack down on unlicensed cannabis shops and netted the New York City mayor an extension of his control over the public school system. Spokony previously served as chief communications officer for the Real Estate Board of New York. Before that, he worked at Marathon Strategies, where he overlapped with Hogrebe’s stint at the firm. — Joe Anuta More from Albany: — The NY Heat Act may get put on ice as the session winds down. (POLITICO Pro) — A little-noticed change in the budget will clarify the law against passing a stopped school bus. (Newsday) — Trial judges in New York could be getting more scrutiny from a criminal justice group. (NY Times) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION Tim Kennedy, now-former state Senator, is heading to the U.S. House of Representatives after he won his special election. | Photo courtesy of NYS Senate Media Services A NEW HOUSE MEMBER: From Albany to Washington — Tim Kennedy is headed to the U.S. House. Kennedy, the five-time state senator, on Tuesday night easily won the open Western New York House seat vacated earlier this year by fellow Democrat Brian Higgins. It gives Democrats another member in the closely divided chamber and makes Kennedy a near lock to win a full term in November. The Buffalo seat has a heavy Democratic majority. “Born and raised in Buffalo, Tim is a dedicated public servant who will be a champion for the people of Western New York in the People’s House,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement. “He brings a wealth of legislative experience from his time in the New York State Senate and has a record of delivering results as chair of the influential Transportation Committee.” — Joseph Spector NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — Many of New York’s localities saw an increase in funding in this year’s budget. (State of Politics) — Six pregnant MTA bus drivers are suing the authority for failing to make accommodations like adequate paid time off. (Daily News) — State officials are saying there is an unidentified object beneath a park in Long Island. (Newsday) SOCIAL DATA Edited by Daniel Lippman MEDIAWATCH — The CBS Evening News is adding Carolyn Cremen as a senior broadcast producer in New York. She previously was at CNN. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Bart Marchant, a client executive at OneDigital, and Alyssa Marchant, oncology launch asset manager at Boehringer Ingelheim, on April 15 welcomed James Phillip Charles Marchant, who came in at 7 lbs, 19 inches. Pic HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Molly Levinson of the Levinson Group … Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty … Ben Jacobs … ProPublica’s Caroline Chen … Abby Huntsman … Seth London of London Strategies … New York Law School’s Jeff Wice … Alexandra B. Stuebe … Jon Gerberg. YOUR NEW YORK NUMBER OF THE DAY 125 years The years since The Bronx Zoo opened. A lot has changed.   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters Follow us

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