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By Maggie Severns | 03/21/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With Kevin Robillard, Zach Montellaro and Daniel Strauss

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

ILLINOIS RESULTS - Bruce Rauner and Dan Lipinski barely held on. J.B. Pritzker romped. And we were waiting well into the night for results out of DuPage County.

- "Lipinski beats Newman in Illinois Democratic slugfest," by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider and Daniel Strauss: "Rep. Dan Lipinski, an avid foe of abortion rights and one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, fended off a fierce challenge from the left on Tuesday night in Illinois, all but assuring an eighth term in Congress."

- Illinois voters also set the stage for the most expensive gubernatorial race in the nation's history. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner narrowly defeated state legislator Jeanne Ives, 52 to 48 percent. It was a surprisingly strong showing for Ives, who attacked Rauner as insufficiently conservative, and a worrisome sign for the incumbent governor. Billionaire J.B. Pritzker, who sunk $70 million into his bid, easily clinched the Democratic nomination against several liberal opponents.

- Full story here.

In other races:

IL-04: 2015 Chicago mayor candidate Chuy Garcia easily won the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Rep. Luis Gutiérrez.

IL-06: As of 5:30 a.m. Eastern, Kelly Mazeski held a 260-vote lead over Sean Casten in the Democratic primary to take on GOP Rep. Peter Roskam. But a significant number of precincts were still not reporting in DuPage County, which cited "certain technical difficulties ... in closing the precincts, unrelated to the Ballot Tabulation" for the delay.

IL-10: Consultant Doug Bennett narrowly captured the GOP nomination to face Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider. Bennett defeated attorney Jeremy Wynes by just 259 votes.

IL-12: St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly cruised to the Democratic nomination and will face GOP Rep. Mike Bost in November. Story

IL-13: Betsy Dirksen Londrigan will face GOP Rep. Rodney Davis in the fall. Story

IL-14: Lauren Underwood swamped the Democratic field and advanced to a general election with GOP Rep. Randy Hultgren. Story

See full results here.

- "Top takeaways from the Illinois primary," by POLITICO's Natasha Korecki: 1) The Pritzker steamroller; 2) Lipinski's ace in the hole; 3) Bruce Rauner's in big trouble in November; 4) The Chicago machine is humming; 5) Democratic energy is surging. Full story.

DEADLINE - "Filing closes for Pennsylvania congressional races," by POLITICO's Elena Schneider: "House candidates in Pennsylvania completed filing for their newly drawn districts on Tuesday, settling a map that was upended by the state Supreme Court earlier this year when it ruled the old map unconstitutional. National and local operatives believe that the new map, drawn by a court-ordered special master in January, will give Democrats an advantage in flipping a handful of seats in 2018, aiding their effort to retake the majority in Congress. Republicans appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the imposition of the new map, but the court denied that request earlier this week. ... A
whopping 14 Democrats are now running for Republican Rep. Pat Meehan's now-open seat (PA-05), which will likely turn into a safely Democratic seat under the new lines." Full story.

FIRST IN SCORE - DSCC raises $5.1 million in February: The DSCC raised $5.1 million in February and has $25.7 million on hand. It had $22 million on hand at the end of January, and has no remaining campaign debt. It does have over $4 million in debt from the mortgage on its Capitol Hill building.

- "DCCC raised $10.6M in February," by Elena Schneider: "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it raised $10.6 million last month - its highest total for an election-year February ever. The DCCC has $49 million in cash on hand. This cycle, the committee has raised $125 million." Full story.

- "NRCC raises $10.5M in February," Schneider reports: "The National Republican Congressional Committee raised $10.5 million last month, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission today, coming just short of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's February total." Full story.

- Also of note: The RNC spent a whopping $200,000 for venue rental and catering at the Trump National Doral Miami last month.

Days until the 2018 election: 231

Upcoming election dates - Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia primaries: May 8.

Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

UP ON AIR - "AFP starts airing ads against Heitkamp," by POLITICO's Kevin Robillard: "Americans for Prosperity is spending $450,000 on television and digital ads in North Dakota to criticize Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp for voting against the Republican tax reform plan. The ads are the first significant spending by the powerful Koch Brothers network of conservative donors against Heitkamp. Groups backed by the network have already spent millions attacking Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). The 30-second ad features a female narrator describing how Heitkamp 'took hundreds of thousands from well-connected special interests and then gave special
interests billions in taxpayer handouts.'" Full story.

- Senate Majority PAC airs 2nd ad hitting Hawley over Greitens: Senate Majority PAC is out with its second television ad attacking Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley over his investigation of scandal-tarred GOP Gov. Eric Greitens. "Attorney General Josh Hawley came to the governor's rescue, declaring him innocent," the narrator declares in the ad. "All Missourians should be worried. And we should be asking ourselves: Is Josh Hawley bought and paid for?" Watch the ad.

- "DeWine ad hits Taylor as 'unfit and unqualified'" by Campaign Pro's Daniel Strauss: "A new 30-second ad from Ohio state Attorney General Mike DeWine's gubernatorial campaign hits Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor as unfit for the governorship. The ad, first obtained by POLITICO, is the first negative ad the DeWine campaign has released. The campaign plans to spend about $670,000 on the ad. The campaign is also unveiling an accompanying website to the ad." Full story. Watch the DeWine ad here.

- "Pro-Taylor group hits DeWine in new ad" by Daniel: "A political committee supporting Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor in the state's gubernatorial race has released a new 30-second ad casting state Attorney General Mike DeWine's record as in conflict with President Donald Trump on 'immigration, guns and China.' 'If you like President Trump, then you won't like Mike DeWine,' says a narrator in the ad, sponsored by the group Onward Ohio." Full story. Watch the ad here.

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RESIGNATION WATCH - "Farenthold weighs resigning from Congress," by POLITICO's Jake Sherman, Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan: "Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold is considering stepping down from Congress before the end of his term, according to multiple Republican sources with direct knowledge of private party conversations. Farenthold already announced he would not seek re-election in his southeastern Texas district, after POLITICO reported he settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with $84,000 in taxpayer funds. But he now is on the brink of leaving Congress well before the end of his term, which would allow him to dodge an Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of inappropriate
office behavior." Full story.

POLL - Brown leads Renacci, Gibbons in Senate race, per Cleveland.com: Sen. Sherrod Brown holds a lead over two possible opponents in the Senate race, according to a poll conducted by Baldwin Wallace University's Community Research Institute. Brown leads Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci with 41 percent of the vote to 29 percent of the vote. In a race against banker Mike Gibbons, Brown leads with 41 percent of the vote to Gibbons' 31 percent of the vote. Baldwin Wallace polled 1,011 registered voters between February 28 and March 9. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Read more from Cleveland.com here.

INCOMING - "Mississippi governor expected to appoint Hyde-Smith to Senate seat," by Strauss and Burgess Everett: "Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is expected to appoint state Agriculture Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to the Senate seat being vacated next month by GOP Sen. Thad Cochran, according to multiple Republicans with knowledge of the governor's plans. Bryant has narrowed his shortlist in recent days. He said Monday that he wouldn't appoint Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves to the seat, leaving Hyde-Smith and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann as the two most commonly mentioned names." Full story.

- How do Republicans feel about the appointment? Expect the party establishments in both D.C. and Mississippi to line up behind Hyde-Smith after her appointment today. But that doesn't mean there isn't any grumbling. Hyde-Smith was a Democrat until 2010, and voted in the 2008 Democratic primary, which Bryant and his team believe won't be an issue in her race against state Sen. Chris McDaniel and Democrat Mike Espy. D.C. Republicans are more skeptical, but trust Bryant's judgment, noting he's personally interviewed and vetted each potential senator. And while McDaniel was a Trump skeptic during much of the 2016 GOP presidential primary, Hyde-Smith was an enthusiastic supporter and a member
of the campaign's agricultural advisory committee.

TRENDWATCH - "Democratic Campaigns Start Unionizing in #MeToo Era," by Roll Call's Eric Garcia: "So far, six congressional campaigns, all for Democratic candidates, have unionized. Besides [Randy] Bryce, the others are Jess King in Pennsylvania's 11th District, Brian Flynn in New York's 19th, Dan Haberman in Michigan's 11th, Andy Thorburn in California's 39th and Marie Newman in Illinois' 3rd." Full story.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Rising turns 5: GOP opposition research firm America Rising is now 5 years old. The group has tracked more than 15,000 events in its first five years, per a YouTube video marking the occasion.

ENDORSEMENT WATCH - "Gillibrand endorses Cuomo for governor" by Politico's Burgess Everett: "Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is endorsing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over challenger Cynthia Nixon, the New York Democrat said in an interview Tuesday. And she hinted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will join her in supporting the incumbent. ... "Gov. Cuomo and I are friends. But he also has done some amazing things for New York, such as passing paid leave in our state, passing marriage equality and working to end sexual violence on our college campuses," Gillibrand said. Asked what Schumer will do in the race, she replied: "You'll have to ask him. I'm sure he'll do the same." Full story.

- Democrats short of 70 percent on Chamber scorecard: Entering the 2018 Senate cycle, Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp all had records warranting close to the 70 percent score that earns a reelection endorsement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But all three ended up with identical 53 percent scores in 2017, according to the new Chamber scorecard released Tuesday. Heitkamp now has a 68 percent lifetime score, while Manchin is at 58 percent and Donnelly is at 65 percent. One Democrat running for Senate, Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, has a 75 percent score in 2017 and 76 percent lifetime score. But one of her potential GOP opponents, Rep. Martha McSally, had a 93
percent in 2017 and a 98 percent lifetime. Reminder: The U.S. Chamber spent zero dollars backing Democrats during the 2016 elections. See the full scorecard here.

WEB WARS - Sinema out with two positive digital ads: Sinema is out with two digital ads, her first advertising of her Arizona Senate run. The first ad, featuring Sinema's older brother, a police officer and former Marine, plays up her independence. The second ad portrays Sinema as a nonpartisan problem solver. Watch the ads here and here.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The looks that you get - not just people like Will Hurd, who's a Republican - but from good friends of mine who are Democrats that I served with in the House who give me that look of like, 'Hey, good luck.' And I can see from their look, they're like, 'You're going to f-ing lose this thing. There's no way you're going to pull this off,'" Rep. Beto O'Rourke told POLITICO in the latest Off Message podcast.

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