Prominent Republicans push GOP senators to support same-sex marriage bill

In today’s edition … The House is back, but police funding is not expected to be on the agenda … Trail Mix: Marianna Sotomayor talks to Hispanic voters deciding whether to vote for Republicans or Democrats and finds many are choosing neither … Amy Gardner and Patrick Marley report that Trump backers are flooding election offices with requests as the 2022 vote nears, creating chaos in some areas … but first …

Prominent Republicans push GOP senators to support same-sex marriage bill

This is a critical week for the same-sex marriage bill as Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) continue to work to win over enough GOP senators.

They’re getting help from some prominent Republicans, including GOP Senate candidates – an indication of the politics of the issue in some states.

More than 400 former and current GOP officials have signed a letter that will be released today backing the bill as part of a campaign led by Ken Mehlman, who managed former president George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign and later served as Republican National Committee chairman. Mehlman came out as gay more than a decade ago and spent years working to convince his fellow Republicans to support gay marriage.

Among the signatories: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker; Mehmet Oz, the Republican Senate nominee in Pennsylvania; Joe O’Dea, the Republican Senate nominee in Colorado; National Association of Manufacturers President and Chief Executive Jay Timmons; former president George W. Bush’s daughter Barbara Bush; and more than two dozen former GOP senators, representatives, governors and cabinet members.

“As Republicans, Libertarians and independent minded conservatives, we believe strong families and lasting relationships strengthen communities, and civil marriage is a fundamental freedom central to individual liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the letter reads. “We stand with the 71 percent of Americans today, including a majority of registered Republicans, who support the freedom to marry for all Americans.

The signers include some notable Trumpworld figures — the lobbyist David Urban; the pollster Tony Fabrizio — as well as Republicans who’ve been sharply critical of former president Donald Trump, such as former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.), who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2020.

The letter was coordinated by the new nonprofit Centerline Action, which has also mounted a lobbying campaign to convince Senate Republicans to back the bill after 47 Republicans voted for it in the House.

Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBTQ Republicans, has been pressing senators the group views as potential yeas, including Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — who said earlier this month that he wouldn’t support the bill in its current form — and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

Charles Moran, the president of Log Cabin Republicans, said he thought senators were facing pressure from a vocal minority of Republicans who feel emboldened after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. But he thinks Johnson will come around if the bill is amended to address religious liberty concerns.

“I think Senator Johnson can be persuaded on this as long as the religious freedom issue is addressed in some way, shape or form,” he said.

The House is back, but vote on contentious police funding package is unlikely

The House comes back into town Tuesday after six weeks away from Washington (except for a one-day return in August to pass Democrats’ climate, health care and deficit reduction bill). They’re scheduled to be in session for only 11 days spread over three weeks ahead of Election Day on Nov. 8.

Still, their workload is relatively light, and if they can get everything done, House aides suggested they could shorten their work session by a week. Members would rather be in their districts campaigning — which is why issues that might normally be contentious are likely to be set aside.

Among those issues is police funding. A package of bills on public safety that would increase funding for police departments is unlikely to be brought up this work session, multiple House aides say. Democratic negotiators continue to work on the issue, but an agreement hasn’t yet been reached.

A group of moderate Democrats, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) and Abigail Spanberger (Va.), pushed for the police funding bills to show voters that Democrats are addressing rising crime affecting some communities. Crime is one of the top three issue Republicans are using against Democrats.

The bills were pulled from the floor in July after it was clear they would fail. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus wanted to include language they said would make it easier to hold police accountable.

• Fewer Democrats are now clamoring to pass the bills as the party’s electoral prospects look brighter with inflation appearing to ease and the threat to abortion rights motivating voters, multiple House Democratic aides told The Early.

With no agreement on the accountability measures, which need buy-in from both police groups and civil rights groups, there is little appetite to draw attention to Democratic divisions, aides said.

The House, like the Senate, must pass a short-term government funding bill before Sept. 30. The measure is still expected to extend government funding to mid-December, but no date has been announced.

A group of House Democrats have been quite vocal in their opposition to attaching the energy project permitting deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) to the funding bill.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) led a letter signed by 71 of his House colleagues Friday that said the permitting changes would “short-circuit or undermine the law” and weaken communities’ input on proposed energy projects. They urged Democratic House leaders “to ensure that these provisions are kept out of a continuing resolution or any other must-pass legislation this year.”

The signatories didn’t say, however, they would oppose the government funding bill — which could lead to a shutdown — if the permitting bill is included.

Still, it will be a week of intense negotiations as Democratic leaders attempt to shore up votes for the CR with the permitting language included.

Jan. 6 committee: The panel strongly suggested there would be more hearings in September. Those hearings won’t come this week, our colleague Jacqueline Alemany tells us. But the committee hasn’t closed the door on a hearing later this month.

The new new new Contract with America: This month, House Republicans are expected to increase their promotion of the four pillars — economy, security, freedom and accountability — of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-Calif.) new “Commitment to America” agenda should the GOP take back the House.

The idea to mirror House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) “Contract with America,” a series of pledges that Republicans signed at the end of September before the 1994 midterm elections. Republicans won the House back that year for the first time since 1954.

Since then, House Republicans have tried to recapture the magic several times with some kind of new commitment to voters — 2010’s Pledge to America anyone? And McCarthy unveiled a plan under the same moniker ahead of the 2020 election — that often fall along the same broad policy lines and that have been met with mixed results (Democrats have put forward their own versions in the past.) We’ll see what this year’s effort yields.

As Republicans and Democrats battle for Hispanic voters, some in these communities say both parties stink

Marianna Sotomayor has this week’s Trail Mix, our new feature where Post reporters share insights and news nuggets from their notebooks as they crisscross the country ahead of the midterm elections.

Republicans and Democrats are battling it out over Hispanic voters — a contest that is growing more fierce as polls and recent elections show the GOP chipping away at Democrats’ traditional advantage in these communities.

Florida, a state that often has competitive campaigns, is one area where the GOP gains with Hispanic voters has helped it win statewide elections in recent years.

• But when I recently spoke with Hispanic voters in the Orlando area — as well as during a trip to Nevada in June — what stood out to me was…