In today’s edition … Democrats rebut trans attacks with ads … We ask you about the death penalty … but first …
Why campaign website scrubbing matters
Political candidates often scrub certain topics from their websites after they win a primary election. Usually, they dial back more contentious positions they took during the primary and instead focus on issues with broader appeal. It’s a tradition as old as political websites themselves.
But this year, a lot of attention has been paid to how Republicans have quietly been removing mentions of President Donald Trump and his movement from their campaign websites, given the president’s slumping approval rating.
And you should care about this trend, because it says a lot about the political moment we are living in and how candidates see this election, with the midterms just more than four weeks away.
Take Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee for governor in Maine. The former federal official under George W. Bush embraced Trump during the state’s crowded Republican primary, telling reporters he would be similar to Trump and calling the president “an incredible human being.”
Before the primary, his website also listed several “coalitions” that his supporters could join to support them, including MAGA for Bobby Charles and Conservatives for Bobby Charles. Those coalitions have since been removed from Charles’s website.
Charles also had a petition listed on his website asking supporters whether Maine should “open its own Alligator Alcatraz,” referring to the detention center in Florida’s Everglades where migrants have been subject to controversial treatment. Charles’s website referred to the project as “The Lobster Trap,” a nod to the state’s lobster industry.
That petition no longer exists.
Dale Crafts, Jr., Charles’ campaign manager, said the Republican’s website “reflects his current thinking and policy views and will be his plan for the state when he is elected Governor on Nov. 3.”
My colleagues Anna Liss-Roy and Matthew Choi wrote about the topic earlier this month, highlighting how Republican candidates for Congress altered everything from how Trump inspired them to run for office to claims that they were part of the MAGA movement to how they would “support President Trump’s agenda” in office.
The issue has also affected races for governor. In Kansas, “branding disappeared from [Republican Ty] Masterson’s campaign after post-primary refresh.” In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds stripped “Trump references from his campaign website.” And in Oregon, Republican Christine Drazan went from “Tough. Tested. Conservative” to a “Champion for All” in a website refresh.
Democrats have done some scrubbing, too. Sam Forstag, the Democrat running for Congress in Western Montana, was criticized earlier this month for hiding the endorsements of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), two top progressives whose support in Montana could help in a primary election but complicate a general election run.
Officials from campaigns who scrubbed their websites have defended the practice. Anna and Matthew reported that Joe Mitchell, a Republican competing in a tight House race in Iowa, removed a line calling himself a “trusted voice in the MAGA movement” and pledging to “always fight for the hard-working Iowans who have made their support for President Trump loud and clear.” Drew Johns, Mitchell’s campaign manager, said, “Websites are updated all the time.”
“I don’t think anyone questions where Joe Mitchell stands on President Trump and the ‘America First’ agenda,” Johns said.
And Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the House Republicans’ campaign committee, dismissed the attention on the Republicans’ websites as “nothing more than a manufactured storyline all to provide cover for Democrats who kissed the ring of their radical socialist leaders to survive their primaries and are now desperately hoping a phony moderate makeover will fool voters before November.”
It’s fair to debate whether this trend affects voters or whom they choose to back in November. Campaign websites are just one avenue where candidates communicate with voters.
But Republicans removing references to Trump and his movement tells us something: Just weeks before Election Day, Republicans in competitive races are acknowledging that links to an unpopular Trump at least complicate their paths to victory as the president struggles to convince Americans that the war with Iran was worth starting and that he has a handle on the rising prices they feel every day.
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From across the newsroom
- Hegseth to cut more generals, admirals in bid to remake military’s top ranks, from Tara Copp.
- House members’ expenses surge in program that doesn’t require receipts, from Alexei Koseff and Lydia Sidhom.
- The Kennedy Center was solvent when Trump took over. Then its finances collapsed, from Federica Cocco and Naema Ahmed.
- How Ted Cruz, once a Republican gadfly, became a bipartisan dealmaker, from Theodoric Meyer.
- $10 for a gallon of gas has red Alaska thinking about a Democratic senator, from Matthew Choi.
- Trump launches government chatbot, urging a wary public not to fear AI, from Ian Duncan and Cat Zakrzewski.
- Jack Smith clashes with senators over Trump probes, says he will not be silenced, from Jeremy Roebuck.
What I’m watching
Republican candidates, facing a tough environment, are turning back to a familiar attack: Democrats are for they/them.
My colleague Ben Binday published a smart story this morning about how red state Democrats are veering right on transgender issues in the face of Republican attacks, prompting backlash from some inside the party.
Ben writes that multiple Democratic candidates in conservative-leaning districts have proactively tried to blunt Republican attacks on transgender rights by publicly opposing transgender girls playing in girls’ sports and adopting more conservative rhetoric on the issue.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D), running for reelection in a conservative district in Northwest Ohio, says directly to camera in an ad, “I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools.” In Iowa, Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott vows in an ad to “oppose letting men in women’s locker rooms.” And in Alaska’s Senate race, Democrat Mary Peltola said in a commercial she doesn’t want “men in girls’ bathrooms.”
Republicans have celebrated the shift, pointing to it as proof that their attacks are working. And some local Democratic and LGBTQ+ groups have criticized the Democrats for running the ads and adopting Republican rhetoric.
But the issue will continue as Republicans, inspired by Trump ads in 2024 that declared “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,” turn to these attacks in the final weeks of the midterms.
You can read Ben’s full report here.
In your local paper
Minnesota Star Tribune: Controversy surrounds the logo of a city council candidate in tiny Arden Hills, Minnesota. Can a candidate’s campaign logo mimic a city’s logo? Some say no: “This is, to me, a gross abuse of our city policy,” council member Tena Monson told the paper.
Juneau Empire (Alaska): It’s fat bear week, the time when voters pick the biggest bear at Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve. In Alaska, it’s a bit more personal.
Missouri Independent: Missouri Republicans spent a lot of time beseeching the Supreme Court to allow them to redraw congressional maps. After the court’s third rejection, state Republicans are now scrambling to launch campaigns on two ballot measures, both over who has the power to redraw the state’s districts.
For your planning
The Washington Post will convene the AI Edge Summit on Thursday, featuring conversations with White House National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, Sen. Todd Young (R-Indiana), Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Virginia), Reflection CEO Misha Laskin and Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian, among others.
Learn more about the event here.
From you
I asked yesterday about the idea of a midlife sabbatical. Don’t worry, there are no plans for me to ditch the newsletter for a bike ride around the world any time soon.
But one reader, Douglas W. Corkhill, sent a thoughtful reflection on the idea, noting that he took a midlife sabbatical at 43, “hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine” and returned to find a new job. He joked that it was his midlife crisis, and he already had a convertible.
“It was scary making the decision to jump, but for me it was necessary; I was unhappy with life, spent six months doing what I loved (being outdoors every day), returned and started a new and better life,” Corkhill wrote. “Afterward I likened my decision to take the time off to the scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies, where he has to step across the chasm, closes his eyes, steps forward ~ and there’s a bridge. I didn’t know what was going to happen when I took my first step, but it worked out. I had faith in myself and it paid off.”
He added: “In a way, taking the time for myself saved my life. I was insanely unhappy both at work and at home before I left; I was dying inside. I returned invigorated and loved the life I lived after the break. For me, it was the best decision I ever made.”
Send a reply
Tennessee is scheduled to execute a woman today for the first time in over 200 years. Views of the death penalty have long divided people. According to Gallup, support for the death penalty for murder hit an all-time high in 1994, with 80 percent of Americans backing the practice. Support for capital punishment is now at 52 percent, according to the same poll. What do you think? Should the more brutal crimes be punished with death? Or do you oppose the government sentencing someone to death? Let my fellow Early Brief readers and me know at [email protected].
Thanks for reading. You can follow me on X at @merica.
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