WEAVER JUMPS TO NEXSTAR: Scott Weaver, co-founder of HSA Strategies and the longtime head of Wiley Rein’s lobbying practice is joining Nexstar Media Group to help open the media company’s first office in Washington. Weaver will be senior vice president of government relations for Nexstar, whose properties include cable channel NewsNation, political outlet The Hill and the CW Network. He’ll report to CEO Perry Sook to stand up the D.C. office. — “Nexstar’s business has grown substantially over the last several years,” Sook said in a statement. “We have a unique business model with legislative and regulatory goals that are unlike other media companies,” he added, arguing Weaver’s resume “make[s] him the ideal person to represent Nexstar in the nation’s capital.” MENENDEZ REPLACEMENT OVERSEES N.J. HOSPITAL GIANT’S LOBBYING: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is planning to name an ally in the government affairs world in a caretaker capacity to fill the vacancy that’ll be left when Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) officially resigns early next week, according to our Matt Friedman and Daniel Han. — George Helmy is a former aide to the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his successor Cory Booker, and served as Murphy’s chief of staff before leaving last fall to become the chief external affairs and policy officer at RWJBarnabas, one of New Jersey’s health care providers. — While Helmy himself isn’t registered to lobby, he oversees the hospital system’s “interactions with all federal, state and local governments, governmental agencies and associates, chiefly managing regulatory issues and developing and executing cross-divisional governmental relations strategies,” and is a “key senior strategic advisor on policy matters,” according to a news release announcing his hiring. — RWJBarnabas currently only retains one lobbying firm in D.C., Winning Strategies Washington, to whom it paid $200,000 in 2023. The system is also a member of two major hospital lobbies in town — the American Hospital Association and America’s Essential Hospitals — which spent $23.2 million and $1.8 million on lobbying last year, respectively. — RWJBarnabas did have a recent brush with one of Helmy’s soon-to-be colleagues just after Helmy joined the hospital system last year. Senate HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held a field hearing on nursing shortages at Rutgers University in October, at which he needled RWJBarnabas over executive pay and an ongoing nurses strike at one of its hospitals. WHAT WALL STREET IS DOING TOMORROW: “Vice President Kamala Harris was able to bring Wall Street donors off the sidelines on the strength of her vibes. Now she has to keep them interested,” our Sam Sutton and Adam Cancryn write. — “Enthusiasm surged in the weeks since Harris took over from President Joe Biden, who was hemorrhaging support with high-dollar donors. It took less than a month for Harris to smash former President Donald Trump’s cash advantage. And she did it without offering many details on her economic policy vision. Business leaders, from Lazard President Ray McGuire to Blackstone Group President Jonathan Gray, lined up behind her as she erased Trump’s lead in the polls.” — “Trump has powerful allies on Wall Street. ... But with Harris poised to give her first major policy address in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday, donors and Democratic financiers will be clamoring for any indication that the California Democrat would adjust Biden-era economic policies — areas that have been dominated by allies of Wall Street foe Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).” REPUBLICANS CRY FOUL OVER CRYPTO SPENDING: “A leading pro-cryptocurrency political group has dumped millions of dollars into high-profile Michigan and Arizona Senate races to back Democrats against Donald Trump-endorsed candidates, angering top Republicans who viewed the industry as an ally, not an opponent,” NBC News’ Katherine Doyle reports. — “Fairshake PAC and its affiliated super PACs are reserving millions in advertising spending to influence three U.S. Senate races this cycle, and have announced commitments of about $3 million each to Democrats Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running in Arizona, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a candidate in Michigan, it said on Wednesday.” — “Republican operatives making the case for crypto say that it is a growth industry that the party has embraced for good reasons, and that these efforts will continue to pay off over time. … Now, simmering tensions are moving into the open as alarmed Republicans eye Fairshake, its affiliated super PACs and top backers with mounting skepticism. They warn that the groups risk losing sway with Republicans after working to cultivate hard-won relationships and are questioning the durability of Gallego and Slotkin’s support.” WAY HARSH: The Christian Science Monitor’s Cameron Joseph digs in on the particularly sharp anti-business rhetoric deployed by GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance (R-Ohio), who “has described big business as an enemy of conservative values, accusing many corporations of directly undermining America.” — “It’s a view that has gained traction on the MAGA right in recent years, with conservatives attacking companies like Disney and Budweiser for ‘woke’ messaging and efforts at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) — evidence of the Republican Party’s transformation in the Trump era.” — “But Mr. Vance doesn’t just think companies are cynically pandering to the marketplace. He’s taken his criticisms a step further, painting corporations’ motivations in a sinister, conspiratorial light.” — “‘If you peel back the onion, what you find is that the businesses that are most connected and most devoted to destroying our values are also benefiting financially from it,’ he argued in the speech at a conference in suburban Washington, D.C., hosted by the Claremont Institute, a right-wing California think tank that has emerged as an ally of the MAGA movement.” — “Since he became a senator last year, Mr. Vance has broken with his party to push a number of populist economic proposals. But it’s his pugnacious rhetoric that has drawn significant public attention since former President Donald Trump selected him as his running mate.”
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