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Presented by PhRMA: POLITICO's must-read briefing on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. | | | | |  | | By Eli Okun | | | GEORGIA SHAKEUP — Amid a brutal week for HERSCHEL WALKER’s GOP Senate bid, his campaign fired political director TAYLOR CROWE on Wednesday, CNN’s Gabby Orr and Michael Warren report . “Two people familiar with the matter said Crowe was fired after suspected leaking to members of the media. It is unclear if there were any other factors at play.”
|  Stocks plunged on the latest jobs report, as markets worried that the falling unemployment rate will keep Fed Chair Jerome Powell on track to raise rates at the same aggressive pace. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo | INSIDE THE JOBS REPORT — The U.S. added 263,000 jobs in September, per the new jobs report out this morning. That number marked a slowdown from August’s gain of 315,000 — but still a robust figure by ordinary standards, slightly higher than economists expected. The unemployment rate again fell to 3.5% from 3.7% in August, tying its lowest level in 50 years. Today’s headline numbers reflect an economy that’s still running pretty strong, defying fears of recession for now. But the less feverish pace of hiring could indicate that efforts to rein in runaway inflation are having some effect. For months, the Fed and Chair JEROME POWELL have been raising interest rates forcefully, trying to bring down stubbornly high prices without tipping the economy into recession: the fabled “soft landing.” Today’s numbers offer some indicators that Powell & Co. could be on track — though other figures suggest they have plenty of ground yet to traverse. “If you wanted to write the September script for what a perfect soft landing looked like, you might have drawn up these latest set of jobs numbers,” tweeted economist Justin Wolfers. But stocks plunged on the news, as markets worried that the falling unemployment rate will keep the Fed on track to raise rates at the same aggressive pace. Joe Weisenthal: “After a decade of finding it harder to generate inflation than it expected, the Fed is now finding it harder to generate unemployment than it expected.” The labor participation rate in September stayed fairly steady at 62.3%, still lower than pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, wages ticked up 0.3%, the same increase as in August. More details from the NYT There’s only one more jobs report before the midterms. And only one more rate increase: The Fed will meet again Nov. 2. Today’s strong-but-slowing news will guide that decision. CLEANUP ON AISLE BIDEN — After President JOE BIDEN’s nuclear “Armageddon” comments rocked the world Thursday, a White House official tells Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant today that they weren’t driven by any new assessment of the situation in Ukraine/Russia. “The President’s comments reinforce how seriously we take these threats about nuclear weapons — as we have done when the Russians have made these threats throughout the conflict.” U.S. officials said today they haven’t seen indicators that Russia has imminent plans to use a nuke, Lara Seligman reports. French President EMMANUEL MACRON had a gentle rejoinder: “We must speak with prudence when commenting on such matters,” he said today. Happy Friday afternoon. Programming note: Playbook PM will be off Monday. We’ll still be in your inbox in the morning, on a holiday schedule.
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| BIG PICTURE DEMOCRACY WATCH — RNC Chair RONNA McDANIEL is publicly criticizing poll workers being disproportionately Democratic in Arizona and elsewhere, though election officials say the “gap is typical and legal” — and immaterial to their work, WaPo’s Patrick Marley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez report from Phoenix. The national and state GOP are suing to try to force more public disclosure about poll workers’ partisan affiliations. “That has angered county officials, many of them fellow Republicans, who see this as a new attempt to spread misinformation, erode faith in the voting process, lay the foundation to contest results should GOP candidates lose and unfairly focus attention on election workers.” THE MONEY MACHINE — Citadel CEO KEN GRIFFIN has shelled out $100 million to political candidates since spring 2021, CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. His massive $50 million bet on RICHARD IRVIN’s Illinois gubernatorial candidacy sputtered out in the primary, but Griffin has spent another $50 million on Republicans in federal races, making him the country’s third-largest megadonor of the cycle. It’s a payoff for Senate Minority Leader MITCH McCONNELL, who courted Griffin to help fill the gap left by DAVID KOCH’s and SHELDON ADELSON’s deaths. Dems have conducted oppo research on Griffin; meanwhile, he’s gotten close to Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS, and even some Treasury secretary talk has swirled. GEORGIA ON MY MIND — The White House’s KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, former Atlanta mayor, sounded an alarm on Sirius XM with Joe Madison this morning: “I am very concerned at the lack of enthusiasm … I have to be very careful in what I say about political affairs, but I can tell you I don’t feel and see the enthusiasm that I think voters across Georgia should have right now.” CRIME PAYS — “GOP steps up crime message in midterm’s final stretch,” by AP’s Michelle Price in New York and Jesse Bedayn in Denver — Meanwhile, the White House is stepping up its effort to turn the tables on crime. A new messaging drive pins the blame on Republicans for opposing more gun restrictions and chattering about defunding the FBI, per a statement more notable for its placement (an exclusive from Fox News’ Brooke Singman) than its content. BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE KNOWING JENNIFER-RUTH GREEN — From Griffith, Ind., Adam Wren has a POLITICO Magazine profile of a potential rising star in the GOP: a conservative Air Force vet who will become the only Black female Republican in Congress if she can unseat Democratic Rep. FRANK MRVAN in this blue-collar Northwest Indiana district that hasn’t elected a Republican since 1928. Green’s political origin story is being disgusted by Speaker NANCY PELOSI ripping pages of DONALD TRUMP’s 2020 State of the Union speech. And though she hugged Trump closely in the primary, now she “sees herself as a political missionary, a cultural translator who can bridge the divide between Republicans and minority communities on issues like the social safety net.” BATTLE FOR THE STATES CASH DASH — Are Democrats setting cash on fire again or coming to the rescue of STACEY ABRAMS? The Georgia gubernatorial nominee may be down in the polls, but she raised a whopping $36 million last quarter, beating incumbent BRIAN KEMP’s haul. She enters the final stretch with $11 million on hand, less than him. More from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution WHOOPS — Arizona GOP secretary of state nominee MARK FINCHEM has repeatedly blasted Google and the “deep state algorithm” for burying his campaign website in its search results. But Grid’s Justin Rood and Leah Askarinam find that the actual explanation lies in the site’s code: His campaign must have either accidentally or intentionally set it not to be indexed in search engines, experts say. HOT POLLS — Iowa: The Senate race continues to look likely off the table for Democrats: GOP Sen. CHUCK GRASSLEY leads MIKE FRANKEN 49% to 38%, per Emerson. Meanwhile, Republican Gov. KIM REYNOLDS is cruising to reelection, beating DEIDRE DeJEAR 53% to 36%. — Colorado: Data for Progress has Democratic Sen. MICHAEL BENNET leading JOE O’DEA 50% to 41%, and Democratic Gov. JARED POLIS beating HEIDI GANAHL 56% to 39%. — California: In what should be a pretty safe House seat for Dems, Trafalgar has Rep. JIM COSTA roughly tied with MICHAEL MAHER at 44% each.
| | | | JOIN NEXT WEDNESDAY FOR A TALK ON U.S.-CHINA AND XI JINPING’S NEW ERA: President Xi Jinping will consolidate control of the ruling Chinese Communist Party later this month by engineering a third term as China’s paramount leader, solidifying his rule until at least 2027. Join POLITICO Live for a virtual conversation hosted by Phelim Kine, author of POLITICO’s China Watcher newsletter, to unpack what it means for U.S.-China relations. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | CONGRESS DO AS I SAY — Congressional Republicans who voted against the bipartisan infrastructure law later quietly submitted dozens of requests to Transportation Secretary PETE BUTTIGIEG to get its monies for their states/districts, CNN’s Isaac Dovere and Sarah Fortinsky report from a public records request. NRCC Chair TOM EMMER (Minn.), Sens. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (Ala.) and RAND PAUL (Ky.), and Reps. DAVID VALADAO (Calif.), PAUL GOSAR (Ariz.) and MARÍA ELVIRA SALAZAR (Fla.), among many others, executed quite the turnaround. Asked by CNN, members “ignored questions or insisted that they were being consistent.” THE WHITE HOUSE POTUS ABROAD — Biden will attend the U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Egypt this year, WaPo’s Tyler Pager scooped. He’ll then travel to Cambodia and Indonesia for other summits. “Some U.S. officials did not expect Biden to travel to the climate conference because it starts just before November’s midterm elections … But Biden has made combatting climate change a priority.” ACROSS THE POND — Biden today signed an executive order beefing up data privacy protections to address European concerns. “Friday’s order narrows the scope of intelligence gathering — regardless of a target’s nationality — to ‘validated intelligence priorities,’ fortifies the mandate of the Civil Liberties Protection Officer in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and directs the attorney general to establish an independent court to review related activities,” AP’s Frank Bajak writes. TRUMP CARDS A DIFFERENT DOCUMENT DEEP DIVE — “On Trump’s last day in office, why were sensitive documents allegedly in such disarray?” by ABC’s Mike Levine and Katherine Faulders: “The documents came from the FBI’s controversial probe in 2016 looking at alleged links between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump tried to make the documents public the night before he left office, issuing a ‘declassification’ memo and secretly meeting with conservative writer JOHN SOLOMON , who was allowed to review the documents, Solomon told ABC News this past week. But for reasons that are still not clear – and to the great frustration of Trump and his political allies – none of the documents were ever officially released [by DOJ].”
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   It’s time to fix the 340B program. Learn more. | | | AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMMIGRATION FILES — NYT’s Julie Turkewitz braved a multi-day hike through Panama’s deadly, 66-mile Darién Gap to capture the ballooning number of Venezuelans making a perilous journey to reach the U.S. “Most have been inspired to make the harrowing and sometimes deadly journey as word has spread that the United States has no way to turn many of them back,” inspired by TikTok and other social media videos — though DHS Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS himself goes on the record here to try to dissuade them. Now, “a combination of desperation, the enduring pull of the American dream and deceptive social media posts are creating a humanitarian crisis unlike any previously seen in the Darién,” Turkewitz writes. The photos from Federico Rios alone are well worth your time, including the exact moment that a pregnant woman tumbles down a hillside, likely losing her baby. SANCTIONS WATCH — The U.S. rolled out new sanctions on North Korea over its recent missile tests. More from Kelly Garrity HEADS UP — Just weeks after the Inter-American Development Bank erupted over a similar situation, the Organization of American States secretary general is now under investigation for an alleged romance with a staffer, AP’s Joshua Goodman and Gisela Salomon report. LUIS ALMAGRO declined to comment, and the D.C.-based organization said he wasn’t her supervisor. But “their long-running romance has been an open secret, one that made some of its 600 employees feel uncomfortable and intimidated interacting with the boss’ alleged paramour.” Graf of the day: “In the biography titled ‘Luis Almagro Doesn’t Ask For Forgiveness,’ the OAS chief demurred when asked about the younger staffer, instead citing a verse from legendary Nicaraguan poet RUBEN DARIO: ‘With graying hair I approach the rose bushes in the garden.’” MORE POLITICS ON THE FRINGE — “Michael Flynn’s ReAwaken roadshow recruits ‘Army of God,’” by AP’s Michelle Smith in Batavia, N.Y., and Richard Lardner: “[T]he ReAwaken America Tour has carried its message of a country under siege to tens of thousands of people in 15 cities and towns. The tour serves as a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian nationalist movement … Immigrants are rushing over the border ‘to take your place,’ one [speaker] said. Homosexuals and pedophiles are classified in the same category: sinful people who don’t honor God. Life-saving vaccines are creating ‘a damn genocide.’ ‘The enemy wants to muzzle you,’ another speaker warned. ‘He wants to shut your mouth.’” 2024 WATCH — DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON for the first time is officially ruling out running for president, he tells CBS’ Tracy Smith in a forthcoming interview.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | POLICY CORNER AILING AMERICA — The Social Security Administration is having a tough time returning to providing basic services for people who depend on it after a pandemic disruption, WaPo’s Lisa Rein reports. It’s now helping millions fewer people than it did pre-Covid. And “the sluggish response now of the agency meant to assist the country’s most at-risk citizens has led to delays in processing claims for those who manage to file them, and exhausting waits outside government offices around the country for those trying to.” For many of the most vulnerable disabled or elderly Americans, this last lifeline can be difficult to access, thanks to limited capacity. PLAYBOOKERS TRAILER TIME — HBO has released a trailer for its latest documentary chronicling Joe Biden’s first year in office, “Year One: A Political Odyssey.” The doc from director John Maggio and executive producer David Sanger comes out Oct. 19. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a happy hour hosted by campaign/public affairs firm Bryson Gillette at Fight Club on Thursday night: Bill Burton, Rebecca Pearcey, Kevin Liao, Vriti Jain, Ofirah Yheskel, Garrett Arwa, Roger Lau, Kristin Slevin, Hans Nichols and Chris Cadelago. — SPOTTED at a party hosted by Risa Heller and Kerri Lyon for Maggie Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man” ( $32), on Thursday night in Brooklyn Heights: Michael Barbaro, Carolyn Ryan, Annie Karni, Katie Rogers, Tammy Haddad, Nick Confessore, Stu Loeser, Matt Flegenheimer, Josh Dawsey, David Halbfinger, Ruby Cramer, Jon Reinish, Michael Grynbaum, Josh Raffel, Ryan Williams, Jeremy Peters, Jodi Kantor, Jonathan Lemire and Carrie Melago, Brian Stelter, Elisabeth Bumiller, Shawn McCreesh, Timothy O’Brien and Ben Smith. TRANSITIONS — Lulu Cheng Meservey is now EVP for corporate affairs and chief comms officer at Activision Blizzard. She most recently was VP of comms at Substack. … Osub Ahmed is now a policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She previously was associate director for women’s health and rights at the Center for American Progress. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Justin Vollmer, managing director at McLarty Consulting, and Katie Vollmer, legal assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Eastern District of North Carolina, welcomed Winston Holt Vollmer on Tuesday. Both are Clinton 2016 and Biden 2020 alums.Pic — Jacqui Bassermann, director of government relations at the American Red Cross, and Steve Bassermann, SVP at Powell Tate, welcomed Elizabeth Magdalene on Sept. 20. She joins big brothers George and Ben. Pic … Another pic
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