What's News

PENNSYLVANIA: In PA-01, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R) defeated conservative activist Mark Houck (R), 61%-39%, with 98% of the vote counted. 2022 nominee Ashley Ehasz (D) was uncontested, setting up a rematch for the fall. (AP)

In PA-07, state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R) defeated 2022 candidate Kevin Dellicker (R) and attorney Maria Montero (R). Mackenzie led with 43%, Dellicker had 34%, and Montero was third with 23%. Mackenzie will face Rep. Susan Wild (D) in one the most competitive seats in the country. (AP)

In PA-10, former TV anchor Janelle Stelson (D) defeated Marine veteran Mike O’Brien (D) 44%-23%, with 98% of the vote counted. 2022 nominee Shamaine Daniels (D) finished a distant third. Stelson will face Rep. Scott Perry (R). (AP)

In PA-12, Rep. Summer Lee (D) took care of her center-left challenger, 2022 candidate Bhavini Patel (D). Lee led 61%-39%, with 98% of the vote counted. (AP) Lee’s victory was the first test for pro-Israel Democratic challengers to progressives, though the major pro-Israel outside groups did not get involved in this race.

In the Senate race, 2022 candidate Dave McCormick (R) cruised to victory in the Republican primary and will face Sen. Bob Casey (D) in November. Both won their respective parties’ primaries uncontested. (Hotline reporting) McCormick’s campaign and the DSCC each released digital ads that served as the opening salvos of the general election. McCormick’s ad criticizes Casey for voting in lockstep with Biden, while the DSCC’s ad knocks McCormick’s wealth and raises questions about his residency. (release/release)

NY-01: Expelled Rep. George Santos (I) suspended his maverick campaign against Rep. Nick LaLota (R). Santos, said he remains “critical of [LaLota’s] abysmal record,” but he didn’t “want to split the ticket and be responsible for handing the House” to the Democratic Party. Santos raised $0 in the first quarter and was running as an independent to gain ballot access. (release) LaLota weighed in, suggesting Santos took a plea deal in his criminal cases. (Twitter)

LAW AND ORDER DJT: Former President Trump’s hush-money trial in New York “is off to an ominous start,” as the judge questioned his defense lawyer’s credibility and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker detailed a “catch and kill” scheme to buy damaging stories about Trump but never publish them. Pecker recalled telling Trump in 2015 that he would be the then-presidential candidate’s “eyes and ears.” (New York Times) Pecker detailed how his publication quashed a Manhattan doorman’s claim from 2015 that Trump “had fathered a child out of wedlock with a woman who previously worked for him. While the claim appeared to be false, the allegation could have damaged” Trump “during the campaign if it ever became public,” Pecker testified in court yesterday. The tabloid paid $30,000 for the story. (New York Times)

Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush-money trial, “held a fiery hearing on Tuesday about whether to find” Trump “in criminal contempt for repeatedly violating the provisions of a gag order.” Merchan “engaged in a heated back-and-forth with one of” Trump’s “lawyers, scolding him for his failure to offer any facts in his defense of the former president.” (New York Times) “The U.S. Secret Service held meetings and started planning for what to do if” Trump “were to be held in contempt in his criminal hush money trial and” Merchan “opted to send him to short-term confinement.” (ABC News)

REPUBLICANS: Trump reportedly raised $5.6 million in the first week of his criminal trial in New York. The former president, in his fundraising emails, has relentlessly told donors that the legal system is treating him unfairly. (The Bulwark)

DEMOCRATS: President Biden has outraised Trump among small-dollar donors so far this campaign, pulling in $89 million, while the presumptive Republican nominee has collected $84 million. Biden’s donors “have helped neutralize Trump’s dominance over grassroots fundraising in recent elections.” The Biden campaign’s fundraising emails have focused on their argument that Trump is a threat to democracy. (Wall Street Journal)

“At his first Tampa Bay area stop of 2024,” Biden “hammered Republicans on an issue that his campaign hopes will be at the top of voters’ minds come November: abortion.” Biden said: “In America today‚ 2024, women have fewer rights than their mothers or their grandmothers had, because of Donald Trump. I don’t think we’re going to let him get away with it, do you?” (Tampa Bay Times) North America’s Building Trades Unions will endorse Biden at the Washington Hilton today, and will launch “an eight-figure organizing program to try to deliver their 250,000 members in the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden.” (CNN)

AZ SEN: 2022 GOV nominee Kari Lake (R), in a reversal of her previous statements, told the Idaho Dispatch that it was unfortunate that Arizona’s 1864 ban on abortion wasn’t being enforced, calling it “political theater.” Two days after the ruling that allowed for the near-total ban to go into effect, Lake released a statement saying that the ban was “out of line” and called on state lawmakers to overturn the law. Prior to the ruling, Lake praised the law, saying that she was glad the state already had a “great law that’s already on the books” during her run for governor. (CNN)

CA-16: Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian (D) leads Assemblyman Evan Low (D) by one vote as recount efforts continue in the primary to replace retiring Rep. Anna Eshoo (D). Santa Clara County election officials said they may complete their recount by Friday. San Mateo County “will do the same when they complete their recount.” Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo (D) already safely advanced to the general election. (KTVU)

RACE FOR THE HOUSE: The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed eight vulnerable Democratic members who represent districts with a Black voting-age population of at least 8%. The group endorsed Reps. Nikki Budzinki (IL-13), Eric Sorensen (IL-17), Frank Mrvan (IN-01), Hillary Scholten (MI-03), Susie Lee (NV-03), Pat Ryan (NY-18), Greg Landsman (OH-01), and Marcy Kaptur (OH-09). (Punchbowl News)

ABORTION: “The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that could determine whether doctors can provide abortions to pregnant women with medical emergencies in states that enact abortion bans. The Justice Department has sued Idaho over its abortion law, which allows a woman to get an abortion only when her life—not her health—is at risk. The state law has raised questions about when a doctor is able to provide the stabilizing treatment that federal law requires.” (AP)

IN GOV: Five gubernatorial candidates, former Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers (R), Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch (R), former president of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Eric Doden (R), former state Attorney General Curtis Hill (R), and businesswoman Jamie Reitenour (R) “sought to undermine each other’s records during a final debate Tuesday night ahead of Indiana’s May 7 GOP primary.” However, they “took few shots at the absent” Sen. Mike Braun (R), “who is considered the frontrunner of the crowded field.” Braun, who has been endorsed by Trump, “skipped the event and instead attended a vote in Washington on a $95 billion foreign aid package for U.S. allies including Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. On the debate stage, his electoral rivals largely tried to pitch their experience in government as an advantage, not a flaw, and played up popular positions among Republican voters including support for the state’s abortion ban and opposition to federal immigration policies.” (AP)

WI SEN: Despite criticizing the "revolving door” of political staffers to K Street, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) “has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from lobbyists at influential firms who earned their stripes as aides in her Capitol Hill office over the last two decades.” (Washington Examiner)

Our Call

Party strategists anticipated the GOP primary in PA-07 and Democratic primary in PA-10—the only crowded races of intrigue Tuesday night—to come down to the wire. But that never happened. Primary day in Pennsylvania came and went with a whimper, a far cry from 2022's automatic recount in the GOP Senate primary. Both general election races could be close in November, but Democrats may have gotten a break in PA-07 with Republican state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, who was seen by some GOP strategists as a weaker candidate and raised only $68,000 in Q1. Mackenzie will have to step his fundraising game up considerably if he wants a chance against Rep. Susan Wild, who's sitting on a $2.7 million war chest. — James A. Downs

 Fresh Brewed Buzz

“In an overwhelming vote of 79-18, the Senate approved” a “$95 billion foreign-aid package following months of delay and disagreement on Capitol Hill.” The bill “will provide aid to Ukraine as it continues defending itself from Russia, aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas, humanitarian aid to Palestine, support for the Indo-Pacific region, and more.” Biden is expected to sign the legislation later this morning. (National Journal)

“Russian Court Rejects WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich’s Appeal Against Detention” (Wall Street Journal)

“Tennessee House Republicans on Tuesday passed legislation to allow some trained teachers and school staff to carry handguns despite pleas from Democrats, students and gun-reform advocates to defeat the bill.” (Tennessean)

“After Tense Night, Columbia Says Student Protesters Agree to More Talks” (New York Times)

“Viral fragments of bird flu have been identified in samples of milk taken from grocery store shelves in the United States, a finding that does not necessarily suggest a threat to human health but indicates the avian flu virus is more widespread among dairy herds than previously thought.” (Washington Post)

“Millions more salaried workers will be eligible for overtime pay under final Biden administration rule” (CNN)

“The Department of Justice said on Tuesday it will pay $138.7 million to settle misconduct claims made against the FBI by more than 100 sexual assault survivors abused by USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.” (Axios)

“The corner store chain Foxtrot is ceasing retail operations in the Washington, DC, area.” (Washingtonian)

“How the Baltimore bridge collapse upended a D.C. coffee chain’s business” (Washington Post)

Swizzle Challenge

President Zachary Taylor refused to be inaugurated on a Sunday because of his religious beliefs and left the office vacant for a day as a result.

Carten Cordell won yesterday’s challenge. Here’s his challenge: What former journalist and White House aide once said, "The executive branch has grown too strong, the judicial branch too arrogant and the legislative branch too stupid"?

The 3rd correct email gets to submit the next question.

 Early Bird Special

 Shot...

“He said, ‘Oh, my God, Chris. I could never do that. I can never go to jail. They tell you when to go to bed at night and when to wake up in the morning and what to wear and what to do, who you can talk to and what you can eat. I could never do that.’” — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on former President Trump’s fears of going to jail (Washington Post)

 Chaser

“The worst part about prison …  was the dementors!” — Prison Mike (The Office)