The Legends of Badgering Vance

JB PRITZKER notched a major political win in the IL-Sen race, as his support for Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton helped the heavily-outspent underdog secure the nomination. It was a genuine gamble by the noted blackjack aficionado, and one that paid off in the form of many stories about his surging 2028 stock. (I’d also argue the actual candidate deserves more of the credit than she is getting, but that’s for a different newsletter!)

GAVIN NEWSOM hosted his sister, Hilary, on his podcast in what I thought was the single most compelling event of his exhaustive book tour; nobody humanizes you quite like a sibling with a photographic memory and a good sense of humor. Honestly, it did make me like him more.

ELISSA SLOTKIN introduced a bill to codify the two red lines Anthropic drew in their standoff with the Pentagon into law, prohibiting the use of AI to launch lethal strikes without a human in the loop, and the military from using AI for domestic mass surveillance.

CHRIS MURPHY – who has been sounding the alarm about the harms of prediction markets – introduced new legislation with Rep. Greg Casar to ban wagering on government actions, terrorism, war, assassination, and events where an individual knows or controls the outcome.

RUBEN GALLEGO became the latest 2028er to swear off AIPAC cash – joining GAVIN NEWSOM, JB PRITZKER, and other longtime Israel supporters – as the organization continues its apparent mission to permanently alienate the entire Democratic Party. In the heavily Jewish IL-09 – where Pritzker ran in 1998! – polling from Rep.-to-be Daniel Biss showed AIPAC’s favorability at just 17% among Dem primary voters, per NYT.

PETE BUTTIGIEG campaigned for Dem nominee Chedrick Greene in Michigan’s swingy 35th Senate District ahead of a critical May 5 special election. Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER has – quite anti-democratically, tbh – kept the seat vacant for 15 months to protect Dems’ a one-seat majority. Rs already control the MI House, further raising the stakes. Politico’s Adam Wren has much more this morning on Pete’s robust 2026 travel schedule, including upcoming events in NC, MT, & OK.

JON OSSOFF has once again gone viral for doing something extremely novel… At a hearing with top Trump intel officials, rather than grandstanding, he actually used his allotted to ask a series of pointed questions & follow-ups! It turns out Tulsi Gabbard doesn’t really know whether she oversaw the seizure of Fulton County ballots, or what “imminent” means, or what her job is. The back-and-forths racked up many millions of views across platforms.

JOSH SHAPIRO held a bipartisan roundtable with local educators and parents whose children have been victims of sexually explicit deepfakes, as he leans into nascent efforts to lead on confronting AI threats + other online harms.

CORY BOOKER was profiled by Russell Berman for The Atlantic’s ongoing series on 2028 contenders. From my understanding, they are basically only profiling folks who are very likely to run; past subjects include BUTTIGIEG, SHAPIRO, NEWSOM, MURPHY, & RAHM EMANUEL.

Two other programming notes: there’s a special election Tuesday in Trump’s (and Mar-a-Lago’s) home district – he carried Florida’s HD-87 and has endorsed the Republican, so that’ll be fun if Dems flip that one! And No Kings Day 3.0 is on deck for next Saturday, March 28, where 2028ers will surely speak before large crowds around the country.