| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Gloria Gonzalez, Ella Creamer, Jesse Naranjo, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) speaks with reporters Feb. 29 outside the U.S. Capitol. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by Francis Chung/POLITICO | What up, Recast fam! Opening arguments in the federal gun case against Hunter Biden begin today. Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, files paperwork to run as an independent. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address Congress later this month amid his nation’s ongoing war with Hamas. First, we focus on new Republican efforts to target Black voters. With five months to go before Election Day, the battle to win over Black voters is ramping up. It’s been a week since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made a rare joint campaign appearance at a majority-Black school in Philadelphia, which the campaign says attracted some 1,000 attendees. At this boisterous rally, both Biden and Harris boasted of their administration’s accomplishments which they say will benefit Black Americans. Today, two Black GOP House members are also making a trip to the City of Brotherly Love, where they will hold a decidedly more intimate event, but one with the same stated purpose: winning over Black voters. At a cigar bar nestled along the banks of the Delaware River, Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) will hold the first of what they hope to be many gatherings to convince Black voters. The idea: to have icebreaker conversations about why voting Republican benefits Black folks. Their debut event, dubbed “Congress, Cognac and Cigars,” is billed as “a straight conversation about the Black male, leadership and how they will impact the 2024 election,” according to a flier advertising the event. It will be moderated by former television NFL sideline reporter Michele Tafoya. It comes at a critical time for both political parties. While Black voters remain the most loyal bloc of the Democratic coalition Biden and Harris stitched together four years ago, that support appears to be waning. In Pennsylvania, one of the few swing states that decide the outcome of the election, Biden trails Trump slightly in a state he won by a single point in 2020. And a recent New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer poll of five battleground states, including Pennsylvania, shows Biden’s deteriorating support with young voters and Black and Latino voters of all ages.
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But the historic conviction of former President Donald Trump by a Manhattan jury last week looms large and it remains unclear how, if in any way, it will impact voter perceptions, in particular to Black voters.
I talked to Donalds before Trump’s felony conviction. He wasn’t available for a follow-up chat about the trial, but emailed this statement: “What happened in Manhattan was a travesty of justice. This was not a fair legal process that protected the constitutional rights of President Trump. It doesn’t matter what your background is, this is not the way our system of justice was intended to operate, and the American people see right through this politically motivated prosecution.” ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: The Biden campaign is painting Trump as someone who has never delivered for Black communities. What are your thoughts on that? DONALDS: Look, they don't have a good presidency. It's been bad for America and bad for Black people, so they want to go talk about Donald Trump. The truth is when Donald Trump was president, wages were incredibly high, but inflation was significantly less, so you could get ahead. Prices are going up on everybody. So Black people have fallen behind. White people have fallen behind. Hispanic people have fallen behind.
|  Trump and Donalds embrace after the former president spoke at a Feb. 23 Black Conservative Federation event in Columbia, South Carolina. | Andrew Harnik/AP | THE RECAST: When some Black folks talk about the Trump economy, often they bring up the stimulus checks — commonly referred to as “stimmies,” which many people give Trump credit for. While Biden didn't use that term, he certainly went out of his way to explain how his government helped put money back in folks’ pockets. You don’t agree Biden’s approach has had any positive impact? DONALDS: It's not just about stimulus checks. What I’m talking about is the actual economy, not just a check. When you have a robust economy, let people keep their money, you actually cut regulations and cut rules, which incentivizes people to get out there and take risks and build companies. What Joe Biden has done, he's got his foot on the neck of the economy. They can hold rallies in gymnasiums. By the way, I think I had a bigger crowd for a town hall meeting than they had in Philadelphia. THE RECAST: The campaign said they had 1,000 folks show up at Girard College. DONALDS: It’s a great crowd, but I mean you had the president and vice president going to Philly and they can’t fill a gymnasium? Yeah, they suck. But that’s not my problem.
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Donalds and Rep. Wesley Hunt (right) exit the Capitol after votes June 6, 2020. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | THE RECAST: Let’s talk about the event in Philadelphia tonight that you and Rep. Wesley Hunt are hosting. The aim is to engage Black voters, specifically Black men in a critical swing state this cycle. How did this idea about cognac and cigars as an outreach come about? DONALDS: The goal is to get into communities that Republicans have not traditionally gone to and to expand the political map to help people really start processing their politics, without just going through the media. Everybody in my family were Democrats. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. It wasn't really because we were debating public policy at the kitchen table, that’s just what everybody did — everybody was a registered Democrat. So what we're trying to do is break into that and have people really start to think through their politics. So, you know, if you have a cigar, a scotch, while you do that, that's fine. But that way you have a much more in-depth conversation and really start to build out relationships in communities, which is what the Republican Party needs to do going forward. THE RECAST: The flier specifically said it was a conversation about Black men. Obviously, it’s Black men that surveys show are more open to considering voting Republican than Black women are. Was this top of mind in the planning stages?
|  Donalds introduces Hunt at the Black Conservative Federation's event in February. | Andrew Harnik/AP | DONALDS: I don't think it was that deep. But we're Black men, so let's talk about it. First of all, getting away from politics, Black men standing strong, whether it be in the home or in the community or within government — that's just an important thing overall. I mean, [do] I want Black people to vote Republican? Of course I do. But I don't want people to do that because, “Here's Wesley, here's Byron, we're Black, so stand with us.” No, it's bigger than that. It's more about, “Here's what we're thinking, and here's why.” I think Black people are actually quite conservative, but I think it's also matching their own personal views with their politics. That's a powerful thing.
| | | EXONERATED FIVE REACT TO TRUMP CONVICTION
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Member of the "Exonerated Five" and New York City Council Member Yusef Salaam said he was proud of the jurors on Trump's trial. | Cecilia Sanchez/AFP via Getty Images | Next month, Trump will learn whether he will serve prison time at his sentencing. Thirty-five years ago, he called for the deaths of five Black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted of brutally attacking and raping a white woman in Central Park. Trump took out a full page newspaper ad in 1989 that read in part: “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY.” Some of the members of the Central Park Five, now known as the Exonerated Five, took to the airwaves to share their thoughts about Trump’s guilty verdict. Yusef Salaam, who earlier this year was sworn in as a New York city council member, told MSNBC this weekend he was “proud” of the jurors. “I wanted him to be afforded the opportunity that wasn’t afforded [to] me or my brothers,”Salaam told interviewer Al Sharpton. “I was looking at this with tremendous hope, with the opportunity to say to myself … ‘Is this an opportunity of having a semblance of becoming the United States of America?’” Later, he quipped that Trump “is not like us … and that is not just a rap song,” referring to the recent Kendrick Lamar track,“Not Like Us.” “For me, it was about karma,” fellow Exonerated Five member Raymond Santana told CNN’s Victor Blackwell over the weekend. “This is what happens when rich billionaires who stand on white privilege now have to answer,” Santana said, “and now you get to see that he’s not above the law.”
| | | PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR IS DEFEATED
|  Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón appears likely to be heading to the governor's seat. | Andrew Harnik/AP | In an primary election that encapsulates Puerto Rico’s bend to the right, conservative Jenniffer González-Colón, the territory’s non-voting member of Congress, is on the verge of becoming the archipelago’s third woman to serve as governor. POLITICO’s Gloria Gonzalez breaks down what it all means. González-Colón, the island territory’s resident commissioner of Puerto Rico, appears headed to the governor’s chair in La Fortaleza after defeating current Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Sunday for the New Progressive Party’s nomination with 56 percent of the vote. Although the two candidates are both members of the territory’s powerful, pro-statehood Partido Nuevo Progresista party — and even ran on the same ticket four years ago — the similarities mostly stopped there. González-Colón is a Republican who was once praised by Trump while Pierluisi caucused with Democrats during his eight years as Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner. “What is really clear is that both are ardent supporters of statehood for Puerto Rico so that agenda will definitely continue,” said George Laws García, executive director of the Puerto Rico Statehood Council. In the other major party primary, Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, a member of the territory’s House of Representatives, easily beat Puerto Rico Sen. Juan Zaragoza Gómez for the Popular Democratic Party nomination with 61.5 percent of the vote. González-Colón is now expected to be the leading contender for the governor’s seat, particularly given her name recognition — if the party can coalesce around her despite her challenging Pierluisi. For his part, Pierluisi said he accepted the will of Puerto Ricans and tweeted his blessing for his party. But there could be a twist in the governor’s race. Minority parties in Puerto Rico have been on the rise. The Citizens’ Victory Movement or Movimento Victoria Ciudadana party, which supports a constitutional assembly to determine Puerto Rico’s status, formed an alliance with Puerto Rico’s Independence Party, agreeing to support each other’s candidates for the top political offices in the hopes of unseating the major party candidates. Julio López Varona, co-chief of campaigns for progressive advocacy group the Center for Popular Democracy, says it is “smart” for the two parties to form the alliance; it could allow them to get 20 percent or more of the vote in the governor’s race. But González-Colón’s party, he says, “has a lot of potential to win.”
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
|  Staff Sgt. Waverly B. Woodson, a member of the only Black combat unit to storm Normandy's beaches on D-Day, is posthumously being awarded the military's second-highest award. | Kevin Wolf/AP | Pentagon Honors Hero, 80 Years Later — Meet Staff Sgt. Waverly B. Woodson Jr., a soldier who on D-Day in 1944 is thought to have provided care to 5-7 percent of all U.S. casualties on France’s Omaha Beach. The Black serviceman was never formally recognized for his heroism — but that changes this week. Meet the Judges — Hunter Biden is facing a pair federal cases, one related to a gun charge and another on tax evasion. As POLITICO’s Betsy Woodruff Swan reports, the two federal judges presiding over the criminal trials — Maryellen Noreika of Wilmington, Delaware, and Mark Scarsi of Los Angeles — are both Trump appointees. So, You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance? — Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D- N.J.), who is in the midst of a federal corruption trial that’s far from finished, has filed a long-shot bid to keep his seat by running as an independent. POLITICO’s Matt Friedman has more. History Made in Mexico — Claudia Sheinbaum is a climate scientist and previously served as Mexico City’s mayor. Voters in Mexico just elected her president, making her the first woman and first Jewish person to lead the nation, which is predominantly Catholic, writes POLITICO Europe’s Šejla Ahmatović. POLITICO's Blanca Begert adds that the new prez could be a boon to California.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS In “Fire Exit,” Penobscot author Morgan Talty explores tangled questions of inheritance and identity as his protagonist, Charles, grapples with the secret of his daughter’s heritage. Impending marriage sends Celestina (Kiersey Clemons) into an existential crisis in “The Young Wife,” a surreal, stylish drama also starring Leon Bridges.
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| Dancehall o’clock: Sean Paul brings us his classics in an energetic installment of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. Laurence Fishburne and Cleopatra Coleman star in “Clipped,” which chronicles the downfall of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after his racist remarks were recorded and heard around the world. Inclement weather doesn’t stop the show for Grupo Firme’s impassioned “El Beneficio De La Duda.”
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