Happening this Thursday: Republicans Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan emerge as candidates to replace Kevin McCarthy as speaker… House GOP chaos endangers Ukraine funding… Ron DeSantis’ campaign has just $5 million cash in hand for the GOP primary, NBC’s Jonathan Allen, Henry J. Gomez, Matt Dixon and Natasha Korecki report… And Dianne Feinstein’s funeral takes place in San Francisco.
But FIRST… President Joe Biden has had an immigration problem for much of his first three years in the White House.
And that problem appears to be getting worse.
On Monday, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, fired off a letter to the White House complaining about the “untenable” migrant crisis in his state. Progressive Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also has complained.
In an apparent response, the Biden administration has announced it’s waiving 26 federal laws to allow border-wall construction in South Texas — “a striking acknowledgment that changes are needed to stem the migrant influx at the southern border,” as NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports.
This all comes as our most recent NBC News poll shows Democrats with their largest-ever deficit on immigration handling.
According to the poll, Republicans now enjoy an 18-point advantage on the question of which political party better handles immigration, with 45% of registered voters picking the GOP and with 27% picking the Democrats.
What’s striking about these numbers is that Democrats led Republicans on this immigration-handling question during the entire Trump presidency, for part of Barack Obama’s presidency and during the George W. Bush years.
So something HAS changed on this issue in Biden’s presidency — with the GOP advantage starting off at 9 points in October 2021, growing to 17 points in 2022 and now standing at 18 points.
Headline of the day
The number of the day is … 2
That’s the number of GOP House lawmakers who are running for speaker, so far. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise both announced Wednesday that they would run for the post after Speaker Kevin McCarthy was removed from his post Tuesday.
Scalise, who represents a district in Louisiana, was backed by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., shortly after McCarthy said he wouldn’t seek the position again, NBC News’ Scott Wong, Ali Vitali and Rebecca Kaplan report. He’s also been supported by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who sought McCarthy’s ouster in the first place.
Jordan is a GOP firebrand and one of the founding members of the House Freedom Caucus, Wong and NBC News’ Kyle Stewart report. In his announcement that he would run to be Speaker, Jordan called for unity among House Republicans. Shortly after he announced his bid, he earned the support of Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Jim Banks, R-Ind.
Other numbers to know
$9 billion: The value of student debt relief for certain groups that the Biden administration announced on Wednesday.
75,000: The number of union workers at Kaiser Permanente health facilities who went on strike Wednesday.
$370,000: How much the Georgia Republican Party spent on legal fees in July and August as the group defends several false GOP electors who were indicted alongside former President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
$100,000: How much a commodities broker lost when crypto-currency exchange FTX went under, the trader explained on Wednesday as he became the first witness to testify against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried at his criminal fraud trial.
29: The number of drones that Russia launched into Ukraine early Thursday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travels to a European summit in Spain.
0.93: How many degrees Celsius warmer September’s average temperature was compared to the 1991-2020 average for September, the warmest margin above average for one month in 83 years of records kept.
Eyes on 2024: The fundraising jockeying begins
The upcoming Oct. 15 filing deadline for the third fundraising quarter has former President Donald Trump’s campaign already jockeying with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over their respective hauls.
But remember to take fundraising numbers announced ahead of the deadline with a grain of salt until we see the actual reports confirming these numbers.
Trump’s campaign announced Wednesday that the former president raised a whopping $45 million in the third fundraising quarter, which spanned from July through September. But it did not specify how much of this money actually flowed into Trump’s campaign. (Trump mainly fundraises through a joint fundraising committee, which then divides funds between his campaign and a PAC that has been covering his legal bills.)
Still, the Trump campaign used its fundraising announcement to knock DeSantis, whose campaign announced Thursday that it raised $15 million in the third quarter through his campaign, a joint fundraising committee and a leadership PAC.
DeSantis ended the quarter with just $5 million that could be spent on the primary, which “reignites doubts about his solvency, budgeting and ability to gain ground on front-running former President Donald Trump,” write NBC News’ Jonathan Allen, Henry J. Gomez, Matt Dixon and Natasha Korecki. They also report that the lack of funds has the DeSantis campaign moving staff from Florida to Iowa instead of hiring more local staffers.
“The cash crunch has accelerated in the past month. It’s a huge problem,” one DeSantis donor told NBC News. “If it continues to trend downwards and Trump continues to poll ahead, at some point they’re going to have to figure out if it makes sense to pull out and save face for 2028.”
In other campaign news …
Speaker drama collides with campaign trail: Some House Republicans have floated Trump as a possible speaker, and the former president did not rule it out on Wednesday. Trump also said that he did not encourage Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And Politico reports that McCarthy, a Trump ally, did not ask Trump to help him save his speakership.
Early state signs: A pair of polls released Wednesday in New Hampshire and South Carolina show Trump continuing to dominate the GOP primary, but former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley rising to second place.
Taking sides: Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., picked up a notable endorsement in his race against Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, with the abortion-rights group Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, throwing its support behind the congressman, NBC News’ Kate Santaliz reports.
Longshot race: Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson, one of the “Tennessee three” admonished for protesting on the state House floor, raised $1.3 million last quarter for her Senate race, but that still lagged behind GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn, per the Associated Press.
Jersey shakeup: Politico details how New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s recent indictment is shaking up politics in the state, as jockeying begins for his Senate seat and a future governor’s race.
He’s back: Republican J.R. Majewski is back in the race against Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who defeated Majewski last year in a Trump district. Majewski had launched another run, but dropped out of the race earlier this year due to his mother’s health. But now he’s back in, per the AP.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
Biden said Wednesday he plans to deliver a “major” speech on Ukraine. His announcement comes as the White House is trying to figure out how to navigate Ukraine aid as House GOP chaos is threatening future aid, per NBC News’ Dan De Luce, Peter Alexander, Kelly O’Donnell, Julie Tsirkin, Frank Thorp V and Carol E. Lee
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a disability rights case, per NBC News’ Lawrence Hurley.
Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones, one of the lawmakers expelled from the chamber earlier this year for protesting on the House floor, filed a federal lawsuit over his expulsion and the chamber’s rules.
