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Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the on the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
Today’s edition features an exclusive interview from NBC News senior national political reporter Natasha Korecki with Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown and his wife, plus a breakdown of the deep divisions roiling the GOP from NBC News’ chief political analyst Chuck Todd.
Abortion politics are personal for this GOP Senate candidate
By Natasha Korecki
As Republicans nationally search for their message on abortion, the wife of one of the party’s top U.S. Senate candidates has stepped forward with an intensely personal story: Amy Brown, who is married to Nevada Republican Sam Brown, described in an exclusive interview with NBC News how she had an abortion in 2008, before she met her husband.
“I’m sharing my story today so that I can provide awareness for what it’s like to live in my shoes, for women who have chosen to have abortions. And also just to provide awareness to women … that they can take a break, they can take a minute, they can process and hopefully know that they have options,” Amy Brown said, as she spoke publicly for the first time about her abortion.
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It’s a complicated message: The Browns say there are many reasons they’re sharing her story, including Sam Brown fearing he would be made into a caricature of a Republican who didn’t care about women and their choices. The couple wanted to convey to Nevadans that they understand the position women can face before or after an abortion, even though they support some restrictions on the procedure. “We’ve got to lead with compassion. And this is not just a policy issue,” said Sam Brown, who is vying to take on Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen this fall. “We’re talking about people’s lives. I would love to see the conversation take that into account a lot more.”
Opposing a federal abortion ban: In the backdrop of the interview, a broader climate is playing out in Sam Brown’s party. Republicans in many cases are trying to balance their party’s values with their state’s realities, and this is a dynamic that’s likely to play out again and again in the run-up to the November election. Sam Brown said in the interview that he would “close the door” on supporting a federal abortion ban, adding it should be a state issue.
Politics at home: In Nevada, a key state in the race for president and the Senate majority, there is broad support for abortion rights. Abortion is legal for up to 24 weeks and beyond when there are exceptions, a law Sam Brown repeatedly said he had no intention of attempting to undo. When Brown lived in Texas and ran for a state legislative seat in 2014, he supported the state’s 20-week abortion ban, which at the time allowed some exceptions but not for rape and incest. Asked about that today, he said he personally supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life and health of a mother.
Are Republicans too divided to win?
Analysis by Chuck Todd
In politics, as well as sports, the team that’s more divided often loses. And while there are some notable rifts within the Democratic Party, especially on Gaza, the Republican Party as an institution is riven with an overwhelming number of deep divisions.
Donald Trump-inspired drama is roiling the GOP from Capitol Hill to many battleground states. Here’s just a sampling:
House Republicans: They are on their second speaker in less than a year, and if you told me a third speaker would serve before November, I wouldn’t be shocked. The key problem: The House majority believes they wouldn’t be there without Trump voters, but of the 220 Republicans in the chamber, 17 reside in Biden districts and can’t win without swing voters.
Senate Republicans: For much of Trump’s White House tenure, the Senate GOP was the closest thing the party had to an internal “resistance” to the Trump movement. But the Republican revolt on the recent border-national security bill appeared to cement a doomed future for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and his wing of the party in the chamber.
Michigan: The state GOP has two different people claiming the chairmanship, a confusing situation that’s so bad there’s talk of two competing state conventions next month.
Arizona: The party’s leading Senate candidate — Kari Lake — weaponized a secret recording of a conversation with the now-former state GOP chair. Forget the substance and realize what that says about the depth of the paranoia inside the GOP.
And there are plenty of other examples, like in Texas, where state Attorney General Ken Paxton hid behind Trump-style legal conspiracy theories to survive his impeachment — and where Trump took the bait and made Paxton’s cause his own.
If the GOP comes up short in 2024, it’s not going to be hard to pinpoint what went wrong: The party is likely too divided to win, until Republicans can agree on an ideology that unifies and on a character that unifies.
🗞️ Today’s top stories
- 🗣️ Haley weighs in: Nikki Haley responded to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are considered children, telling NBC News: “Embryos, to me, are babies.” Read more → 🌴 Palmetto play: A pro-Haley super PAC is making a play for Democrats in South Carolina, urging them to turn out in Saturday’s primary for the state’s former governor. Read more →
- 💲 The enemy of my enemy: With Trump as a common enemy, Haley is finding support from some donors who gave to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, according to a Politico analysis of new campaign finance reports. Read more →
- 👀 Bordering on action: NBC News exclusively reports that Biden’s administration is weighing actions to make it more difficult for migrants to qualify for asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and deport those who do not qualify. Read more →
- 👋 Oh, brother: James Biden, the president’s brother, was at the Capitol for an interview with the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees as part of their impeachment inquiry. Read more →
- 🌊 Retirement wave: A stream of House Republican chairman are headed for the exits, fed up with the dysfunction plaguing Congress. Read more → 📩
- 📩 You’ve got mail: Borrowers who will benefit from the Biden administration’s latest action to cancel $1.2 billion in student loan debt will receive an email with a message from Biden where he says, “I hope this relief gives you a little more breathing room.” Read more →
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com.
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