Welcome to the online version of From the Political Bureauan evening newsletter featuring the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News Politics team from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, correspondent Vaughn Hillyard and campaigner include Arizona’s Alex Tabet report on Kari Lake’s efforts to win over her Republican skeptics. Plus, senior national political reporter Jonathan Allen explains why Donald Trump may view this month as a missed opportunity.
Kari Lake is struggling to shake her MAGA instincts during her Senate campaign
By means of Vaughn Hillyard and Alex Tabet
PHOENIX – This winter, Kari Lake faced a terrifying reality: The voters who rejected her run for governor in 2022 could now jeopardize her entire political future.
If Lake — “Trump in heels,” as she called herself — did not quickly change the minds of those she had shunned or ridiculed, she could lose again in her 2024 Senate bid.
“I have never considered myself divisive. But it’s not enough for me to believe that. I have to prove it,” Lake wrote in a social media post in December, acknowledging the need to move away from her tendency to make inflammatory comments and broaden her appeal.
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But with just over seven months until the election, several key Arizona Republicans tell NBC News they believe Lake’s campaign faces an increasingly tough battle.
“What I’m hearing is that everyone has just come to terms with the fact that we’re stuck with a Ruben Gallego — that’s what I’m hearing from all the big players, the people with a lot of money,” said Shiree Verdone, a longtime GOP fundraiser in Arizona. , said, referring to Lake’s Democratic Senate opponent. “I didn’t hear anyone say, ‘Kari Lake is going to win.'”
Lake continues to deny that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, tweet this month about president Joe Biden: “81 million votes, my a–.” She continues to call her 2022 election loss “a sham,” promotes right-wing provocateurs like Laura Loomer and hosts fundraising events with controversial political figures like Roger Stone at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Since launching her Senate bid, Lake has organized rallies to repair relationships with other Republicans she cast aside during her run for governor, such as Kathy Petsas, a former local party chair in Lake’s legislative district. Lake’s campaign tweeted her in 2022: “Kathy, you are exactly the type of demographic we have no need to appeal to.”
“I don’t know of a single person that she has gotten on her side from the people she offended,” Petsas said, implying that Lake’s overtures were unsuccessful. “There is no one in my circle that she has won, and she has even alienated some previous supporters that I know.”
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A moment of danger for Trump as Biden unites the party and saves money
Analysis by Jonathan Allen
If Biden wins re-election in November, Trump may look back on this moment as a missed opportunity.
For the first time in living memory, Biden is seeing encouraging signs in national and state polls. It would be difficult to define small bumps in a handful of studies as a wave or the momentum – “Big Mo” – that politicians chase the way Ponce de Leon chased the fountain of youth.
But Biden is moving slightly higher as March draws to a close and Trump, having secured his own nomination, no longer has competitive primaries as proof of strength.
Biden’s fundraiser Thursday at Radio City Music Hall, featuring former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, paints a portrait of party unity and energy for the sitting president. Perhaps more importantly, it is expected to raise $25 million for his re-election efforts – a staggering amount for one day.
Trump has spent much of his political money defending himself in court, a dynamic he attributes, without evidence, to what he believes is a Biden-coordinated effort to defeat him through prosecution. Apart from the fundamental paradox – the Republican candidate wants voters to believe that Biden is a doddering old man and also the mastermind behind four criminal trials – Trump is in danger of not being able to do what Biden is doing today: rally his party and deliver a beep charge cash.
Whatever anyone believes about Trump’s actual wealth, or his liquidity, he has the kind of money that could allow him to inject tens or hundreds of millions of dollars into his own campaign. If he were to win, he would undoubtedly be able to replenish the treasury and pay for himself, as he did when he became president in 2016.
Trump probably doesn’t need to spend as much as Biden to win, but he doesn’t have the money right now to run a full national campaign. If he doesn’t put serious money into his campaign — or figure out how to raise it from others — he risks falling dangerously behind a Biden campaign that is expected to pour more than $1 billion into his effort.
Trump recently said he might put his own money into his campaign. The question for him now is how much he values the presidency and whether it is worth his own stake. If he waits much longer to call, it may be too late.
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have any feedback – like it or not – please email us at politicsnieuwsbrief@nbcuni.com
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This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
