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01/18/2019 10:00 AM EDT

By ZACH MONTELLARO (zmontellaro@politico.com; @ZachMontellaro), LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ


PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Score will not publish on Monday, Jan. 21. Our next Morning Score newsletter will publish on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

Editor's Note: This edition of Morning Score is published weekdays at 10 a.m. POLITICO Pro Campaigns subscribers hold exclusive early access to the newsletter each morning at 6 a.m. To learn more about POLITICO Pro's comprehensive policy intelligence coverage, policy tools and services, click here.
QUICK FIX
- The head of House Republicans' campaign arm is mending fences with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), after the two had publicly argued over the party's role in recruiting more women.

- A Democratic nonprofit group launched ads targeting six Republican senators, an early sign of the 2020 battlefield.

- Aides to President Donald Trump have been monitoring Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan as a potential primary challenger.

Happy Friday! A thanks to Laura for her forthcoming dispatch from Stefanik's PAC launch. Email me at zmontellaro@politico.com or DM me at @ZachMontellaro.

Email the great Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com, jarkin@politico.com, and lbarron-lopez@politico.com. Follow them on Twitter: @PoliticoScott, @DanielStrauss4, @JamesArkin and @lbarronlopez.

Days until the 2019 election: 292

Days until the 2020 election: 656
THE TOPLINES
FRIENDS AGAIN? - NRCC chair Tom Emmer said the party committee would support a PAC from Stefanik that will back Republican women in the primaries "to the extent it can," Laura reported.

Emmer joined Stefanik at an event launching her Elevate PAC - or E-PAC - along with the top three House Republicans: Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise and and Conference Chair Liz Cheney. At the event, Emmer said that state Rep. Ashley Hinson is interested in running in IA-01 against Democratic Rep. Abby Finkenauer.

It is an attempt to make nice after Emmer and Stefanik publicly argued when Stefanik said she wanted to back women in the primaries shortly after the midterms. Emmer said Thursday that he's "excited" about Stefanik's venture, while she said he is "very supportive." The conference has just 13 women in the 116th Congress, and just one Republican freshman - West Virginia Rep. Carol Miller - is a woman.

"It wasn't a recruitment failure last cycle, we successfully recruited over 100 Republican women to file and run for office," Stefanik said. "They felt it was a challenge to raise that early funding." Stefanik's push has won early financial support. She announced that E-PAC has raised $250,000 in the past two weeks.

But if you ask Scalise who is to blame for the conference's low representation among women and minorities, he isn't introspective. "I've noticed that when female members run on the Republican side, Nancy Pelosi will spend a lot more money - in many cases twice as much more - to defeat Republican female candidates and incumbents," he said, also saying Democrats spent a lot of money to defeat former Florida Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Allen West. "When female candidates run as Republicans, Nancy Pelosi does not want our party to look diverse."
IN THE TRENCHES
PRESIDENTIAL BIG BOARD - Rep. Tulsi Gabbard apologized for her past anti-LGBT views in a video statement and Twitter thread. "Many years ago, I apologized for my words and, more importantly, for the negative impact that they had. I sincerely repeat my apology today," she wrote.

- New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand started her career as an immigration hardliner before shifting her views, CNN's Andrew Kaczynski reported. Gillibrand's spokesperson said she has "made clear she regrets" her old positions.

- 2020 hopefuls are avoiding the national Women's March as some of the organizations' leaders face charges of anti-semitism, BuzzFeed News' Ruby Cramer reported.

SPECIAL ELECTION WATCH - GOP Rep. Tom Marino is resigning from Congress to take a job in the private sector. He'll resign on Jan. 23, which will eventually trigger a special election in PA-12. But expect the special election to be a snoozer: Marino sailed to re-election in 2018 and the president carried the district by well over 30 points in 2016. Any fireworks that happen will likely come during the GOP primary.

THE EARLY TARGET LIST - Majority Forward, a Democratic nonprofit, is rolling out a set of ads that lays down the early marker for what Senate seats Democrats are targeting. The $600,000 ad campaign, which talks about the shutdown, targets Republican Sens. Martha McSally (Ariz.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), David Perdue (Ga.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Susan Collins (Maine) and Thom Tillis (N.C.), The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan reported.

A TRUMP CHALLENGER? - Aides to the president have been monitoring Hogan, who cruised to re-election in a blue state by in part rejecting Trump, as a potential primary challenger. "Several said they regarded the inauguration speech as an unmistakable act of aggression," POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt reported. "Hogan aides strenuously deny that he's actively exploring a White House bid and point out that he's stressed the themes of above-the-fray moderation and bipartisanship throughout his tenure." Hogan himself has not explicitly ruled out a run.

OPEN SEAT WATCH - Retiring GOP Rep. Walter Jones broke his hip after a fall at his house, The News & Observer's Brian Murphy reported. Jones has not been in D.C. since the start of the 116th Congress due to a seperate undisclosed illness. Republican Phil Law, who unsuccessfully challenged Jones in the GOP primary in 2016 and 2018, also said this week he'd run again in 2020.

SCAM PACS - A Texas man has been indicted by the Justice Department for allegedly running scam PACs. Kyle Prall sought to defraud donors by running a series of PACs that promised to help support several 2016 presidential candidates, but ended up transferring the money raised to bank accounts he controlled and also paid for personal expenses, the indictment alleged (hat tip to The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay). This follows a guilty plea in November from an Arizona man for running a scam PAC. Prall could not be reached for for comment by Score; a number listed as his on one of the committee's FEC forms was disconnected and an email address associated with a committee bounced back.

ROLLING IT BACK - A federal judge axed limits Wisconsin Republicans put on early voting in a lame-duck session. "In a five-page ruling, U.S. District Judge James Peterson concluded the new limits on early voting are invalid because they so closely mirror ones he struck down as unconstitutional in 2016," The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Patrick Marley reported. "His decision also threw out parts of the lame-duck laws affecting IDs and other credentials that can be used for voting."

NOT FOR ME - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is no fan of House Democrats' HR1, their campaign finance and ethics reform push. "Democrats want to rewrite the rules to favor themselves and their friends," he claimed in a op-ed in The Washington Post, making the bill's steep climb to becoming law steeper still.

PRIMARY WATCH - Democrat Eva Putzova launched a bid in AZ-01, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Tom O'Halleran. The former Flagstaff city councilmember plans on running on a progressive platform that includes universal health care and free college. "I'm not running against anyone, I'm running to put people first," she told Score in a brief interview when asked why she was launching a primary challenge. She noted in the interview that she was a founder of a local chapter of Our Revolution, but said she had not yet been in touch with any national progressive group (like the Justice Democrats).

POLLS POLLS POLLS - A new poll from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist found that a majority of voters said they'd "definitely" vote against the president in 2020. Fifty-seven percent said they'd definitely vote against him, 30 percent said they'd definitely vote for him and 13 percent were unsure (Jan. 10-13, 873 registered voters). Among Democratic voters, former Vice President Joe Biden has the highest favorability rating among potential 2020 hopefuls, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the only candidate to have a favorability of net zero (417 Democrats or Democratic leaning independents).

CODA - ADVICE OF THE DAY: "If you don't know what a meme is don't post a meme," one of the tips Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) gave to fellow Democrats about how to use social media, via ABC News.

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