Ron Klain's next campaign

The power players, latest policy developments, and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing.

Aug 21, 2023 View in browser   By Adam Wren, Eli Stokols, Lauren Egan and Lawrence Ukenye Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren When RON KLAIN steps back into the political fray next month, it won't be to headline a reelection fundraiser for his old boss JOE BIDEN, a marquee Senate recruit, or even a top House candidate. Instead, it will be for a virtually unknown office seeker way, way down ballot: MILES NELSON, a sitting city councilor running for mayor of Carmel, Ind., population: 100,777. Klain has kept a low-profile in Beltway politics since leaving the White House in February. Over the past six months, Biden’s former chief of staff has spent time reconnecting with family and reacclimating to his role as a partner at his old law firm O'Melveny, and has retained a WME agent to field offers for books and television gigs. The Indianapolis native has, however, been weighing in on Indiana politics. While Klain resisted Indiana Democrats' calls to run for the outgoing Sen. MIKE BRAUN’s seat earlier this year —  telling West Wing Playbook at the time, "Absolutely not. I've never run for anything in my life" — his dedication to the Carmel mayoral race speaks to his Hoosier loyalties. Klain is picking up the baton from his late mother, SARANN HORWITZ KLAIN, a city resident who served as the former vice chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party. It also highlights Democrats' larger incursion into traditional red-hued suburbs as the electoral map changes. While Hamilton County has traditionally been GOP territory — former Vice President MIKE PENCE moved here after leaving D.C., and former Vice President DAN QUAYLE once called it home, too — the 2023 Carmel mayoral race represents Democrats' best chance to flip a seat in November's municipal elections in this deep-red state. Nelson’s 2019 city council victory made him Carmel’s first-ever Democratic elected official in the city’s history. Since then, Democrats have been making inroads in the toney Indianapolis suburb. An Indianapolis Star analysis found that Biden won here 51 percent to 47 percent in 2020. And Democratic secretary of state candidate DESTINY WELLS also beat her Republican opponent DIEGO MORALES in Carmel last fall. In the mayor’s race, Nelson has already raised more money than any Democrat in the city's history, and as of April had more cash on hand than either of his Republican opponents. Still, Nelson faces history and headwinds: The city has never had a Democratic mayor, and his Republican opponent SUE FINKAM was the most moderate candidate running in the GOP primary. A June internal poll by Finkam’s campaign showed her with a 13-point lead, 48% to 35%, with 16% undecided. Klain will try to alter that dynamic when he is expected to host a fundraiser for Nelson next month, according to two people with knowledge of the planning. Klain is widely known in Central Indiana, and made sure to do an interview with a local Fox affiliate last November during his trip back home in November. "Sue Finkam has a strong track record of increased transparency, fiscal discipline, and bringing our community together," said KORY WOOD, a senior adviser to Finkam. "Ron Klain’s history in Washington, DC of fighting for the far-left agenda led by AOC and Bernie Sanders makes his support of Miles Nelson unsurprising." Klain declined to confirm the fundraiser, but in an interview with West Wing Playbook he said the race was personal for him: "The Nelson family and the Klains have been close for decades; Miles' dad and mine were very dear friends." Nelson, Klain added, is "sharp and business-savvy, moderate and practical, inclusive and future-oriented — the kind of leader we need in Indianapolis.” "The future of Carmel is going to drive the future of Central Indiana — will pragmatic leaders like [Republican incumbent] JIM BRAINARD be succeeded by a moderate Democrat or more ideological far-right Republican?" Klain said. MESSAGE US — Are you BRIANNA STONICK, senior White House communications assistant? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!    GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE.     POTUS PUZZLER Thanks to the White House Historical Association for this question! Which president ordered the construction of an outdoor pool on the White House grounds? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE: Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ future and her party’s 2024 presidential ticket could depend on whether or not she can make a second impression after a rocky first term as Biden’s No. 2, our EUGENE DANIELS reports. Her allies are increasingly optimistic that she’s solidified her political standing by taking on issues including abortion and gun control, which could strengthen her ability to connect with women and people of color. “I’m not going to be distracted from my priority around maternal health,” Harris told Eugene. “I’m not going to be distracted [from] my long-standing commitment to support small businesses knowing that so many, especially minorities and women, don’t have access to capital.” A POTENTIALLY CONTROVERSIAL MEET-UP: Biden is considering meeting Saudi Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN at next month’s G-20 summit in New Delhi, Axios’ BARAK RAVID reports. A meeting between the two leaders could advance talks about cementing a historic normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, while also providing security guarantees for Riyadh. The administration hopes to wrap up its diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia before Biden’s campaign ramps up next year, but faces possible pushback from Democrats who’ve criticized the kingdom’s human rights abuses and its involvement in the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist JAMAL KHASHOGGI. WALKING A TIGHTROPE: JILL BIDEN has balanced her frustration with the nation’s growing number of book bans while also being careful to avoid diving into a contentious issue facing school districts across the country, the Washington Post’s KARA VOGHT and JESÚS RODRÍGUEZ report. “The debate over what books belong in schools and libraries, and how subjects like race, gender and sexuality are discussed by educators, is part of a theater of political combat that gets messier the closer one gets to the front,” the pair write. The White House declined to say whether the first lady will play a central role in the administration’s push to criticize “MAGA Republicans,” but her background as an educator gives her an opening to comment on growing restrictions on books, particularly those that discuss race and gender. EMERGENCIES LEFT AND RIGHT: The president and first lady are in Maui today surveying the damage of catastrophic wildfires that burned through the western part of the Hawaiian island last week. While the administration has provided federal support for the state’s relief and recovery efforts, Biden has faced scrutiny from some survivors who can’t get their relief applications processed after their government IDs were burned, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s DAN NAKASO reports. Biden also spoke with California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM on Sunday about the federal government’s response to Tropical Storm Hilary, which made landfall over the weekend and produced record-level flooding in southern parts of the state. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This story by AP’s KAVISH HARJAI about the administration’s announcement on Monday that it plans to award $667 million in grants to support rural broadband infrastructure. Twenty-two states won contracts in the newest round of funding, with half of the money awarded to underserved areas — regions with less than 100 megabits per second of download speed and 20 Mbps upload. “The recipients’ mandate is to build networks that raise those levels to at least 100 Mbps upload and 100 Mbps download speeds for every household, business and farm in their service areas,” Harjai writes. White House Chief of Staff JEFF ZIENTS tweeted the piece. WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This piece by the Star Tribune’s HUNTER WOODALL about Rep. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-Minn.) saying Biden should step aside to make way for another Democratic presidential nominee. "The President should pass the torch because that's the only way that that stage will open up," Phillips told the Star Tribune. Phillips faced pushback from Democrats when he weighed plans to challenge Biden in the Democratic primary. He said in the Star Tribune interview that running for president in 2024 "is not something as of today that I see happening for a number of reasons." THE BUREAUCRATS FIRST IN WEST WING PLAYBOOK — ALICIA MOLT-WEST is leaving the White House, where she served as special assistant to the president in the Office of Legislative Affairs, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She will join Emerson Collective as director of policy and government affairs. PERSONNEL MOVES: JOSHUA BARON has been detailed to the White House to be a director for technology and national security at the NSC. He most recently was program manager at DARPA. — RYAN MAJERUS has been detailed to the White House to be senior policy adviser for supply chains at the NEC. He most recently was deputy assistant secretary for policy and negotiations at the International Trade Administration at the Commerce Department. — SONJA THRASHER started this month as a press assistant at the White House. She was previously the special assistant for advance at the Department of Energy. — BOB HOBERT is now an associate director of advance at the White House. He was previously the deputy director of advance at the Department of Transportation. — DAVID BALER is now an associate director of advance at the White House. He was previously the senior advance representative at the Department of the Interior. Filling the Ranks TOUGH JOB AHEAD: Biden has picked BRENDAN DANAHER to serve as his top labor adviser, filling the role of deputy director of the National Economic Council, our NICK NIEDZWIADEK and OLIVIA OLANDER report. He recently worked as a labor policy adviser at the Department of Transportation. Danaher, also a former transit workers union leader, joins the White House amid a series of consequential labor negotiations, including United Auto Workers’ effort to secure an agreement with Detroit’s three largest car manufacturers. He will work alongside White House senior adviser GENE SPERLING, whom the administration has designated as a point person for the UAW negotiations. Danaher’s arrival comes shortly after the departure of CELESTE DRAKE, who left the position to serve as deputy director-general of the United Nations’ International Labor Organization. Agenda Setting HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE: Activists are calling on Biden to use his Hawaii visit to support a lawsuit that would force fossil fuel industries to pay for natural disasters due to how they worsen climate change. While a specific cause for the wildfires has yet to be identified, Maui is among two dozen states and municipalities that are seeking to hold oil companies financially liable for disasters, which could result in hundreds of billions in forced payments. Our LESLEY CLARK has the details for Climatewire. What We're Reading For Hawaii’s Governor, a Balancing Act With No Margin for Error (NYT's Shawn Hubler) How Ukraine is exploiting Biden’s cluster bomb gamble (WaPo’s John Hudson and Anastacia Galouchka) As the 2024 election revs up, Asian Americans rise as a powerful voting bloc (NBC News’ Sahil Kapur) POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER President GERALD FORD loved swimming and requested a pool be constructed on the grounds of the White House. On July 1, 1975, President Ford took his first swim in the newly constructed pool, according to the White House Historical Association. A CALL OUT! Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents, with a citation or sourcing, and we may feature it! Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.   Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here.       Follow us on Twitter Eli Stokols @EliStokols Lauren Egan @Lauren_V_Egan Lawrence Ukenye @Lawrence_Ukenye   Follow us

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