Principals

1. Dockworkers’ strike end
2. The lame duck may be anything but
3. Senate Republicans’ September haul
4. Jobs numbers
5. Israel eyes Iran oil sites
6. Student debt fight goes on
7. New business group for Harris
8. Harris’ foreign policy views

PDB: US clamps down on Russian hackers

Trump appears with Kemp in Georgia; Harris campaigns in Michigan … EU agrees to Chinese EV tariffs … WSJ: Harris’ brother-in-law woos executives but worries the left

Dockworkers, shippers reach tentative deal to end strike

The dockworkers’ strike is over — for now (and until after the election). Ports on the East and Gulf coasts reopened after employers, represented by the United States Maritime Alliance offered a 62% wage increase over six years against the International Longshoremen’s Association demand of 77%. Both sides agreed to extend the expired contract until Jan. 15 while they return to the bargaining table to negotiate over the remaining issues. President Biden commended the deal, which the White House was deeply involved in: White House chief of staff Jeff Zients convened a virtual meeting with foreign shippers at 5:30am Thursday morning to up the pressure, and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su met with union leadership in New Jersey, according to sources familiar with the White House’s thinking.

Congress’s hangover comes due

Congress’s myriad punts past the election are setting the stage for a chaotic lame duck, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. There’s a Dec. 20 spending deadline, the annual defense bill, and several other expiring provisions. “It’s terrible. It’s just an indication of congressional dysfunction,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. It’s not just the expiring deadlines of this year: There’s also the debt ceiling next year, new Cabinet confirmations, and leadership races to contend with. And it’s become impossible to plan exactly how to complete all this business until it’s clear who controls Congress and the White House. Some Democrats are already worried about darker days ahead: “It feels very hard to predict anything about the world until you see the result of the election,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “There could be a rush to get some things done. We could also have an armed MAGA militia descending on the Capitol.”

National Republicans reel in $30M for Senate battle

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm raised a record-breaking $30.7 million last month, according to numbers first shared with Semafor’s Burgess Everett. The massive haul will help cash-strapped GOP candidates close the gap with Democratic rivals who have been outpacing them in fundraising. In total, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has raised $231.1 million, also a record for this point in the election cycle. The news came after Democrats posted big gains in the cash race, including Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who raised a record $30.6 million in the third quarter. In a sign of GOP cash problems, Politico reported this week that the NRSC was canceling planned independent ad buys in Nevada and Michigan in favor of hybrid ads that split costs between the committee and its candidates.

On this week’s episode of Mixed Signals, Ben and Nayeema tackle the age-old debate of man vs. machine and ask the bold question: Can AI cure writer’s block? Glaringly absent from this week’s Veep debates, AI and its use cases (or lack thereof) are at the center of everything, from the dockworkers’ strike to Hollywood’s grand plans. To figure out how long they, along with creatives and the media elite, have job security, they talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar, whose latest play, McNEAL, wrestles with AI and ethics.

Catch up with the latest episode of Mixed Signals.

What to expect in the August jobs numbers

Jobs figures for September due out this morning are expected to show a steady labor market. The data will help guide the Federal Reserve’s next decision on mortgage rates in November, after Chair Jerome Powell forecast more rate cuts “over time.” Economists expect the jobs report to show gains slightly ahead of the month of August, while unemployment stays flat at 4.2%. Private payrolls increase by more than anticipated last month, according to data released by ADP this week. There’s still economic uncertainty ahead. The October jobs report will likely be distorted by Hurricane Helene and an ongoing strike at Boeing. “September is probably our last clean reading on the labor market for a while,” one economist told CNN.

An Israel attack on Iran oil would produce shocks

President Biden’s comments about possible Israeli retaliation against Iranian oil facilities sent oil prices rising amid fears about global shocks of an attack. “We’re discussing that,” Biden said when asked if he would support Israel striking Iran’s oil facilities. “I think that would be a little — anyways.” The US is seeking to temper Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack, including by warning against a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Nor are Democrats hoping for steady energy prices ahead of the election likely to welcome an attack on Iranian oil sites. Still, given US oil and gas production, the country “is the most prepared out of any developed [economy] . . . to handle a significant disruption in the Middle East,” one analyst told the Financial Times. Meanwhile, Israel is pressing forward with its operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon, issuing new evacuation warnings and carrying out strikes in Beirut.

Battle for student debt plan continues in court

Some victories are short-lived. The Biden administration dealt with legal whiplash on Thursday as it won and within hours lost its ability to advance an initiative meant to shrink or eliminate student loan debt for roughly 25 million Americans. A federal judge in Missouri sided with GOP-led states seeking an injunction to block the program from proceeding after a judge in Georgia had earlier let a restraining order expire. For her part, Kamala Harris has long touted the administration’s effort to deliver student loan relief. But it’s not clear which specific policies she’d promote if elected. The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

— Joseph Zeballos-Roig

CEOs launch pro-Harris group

Kamala Harris’s most prominent private sector supporters are launching Business Leaders for Harris, a spinoff of the Republican Accountability PAC that got crucial funding from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. “Kamala Harris brings order and innovation; Donald Trump brings chaos and fear and hopelessness,” said former American Express CEO Ken Chenault, a potential Treasury Secretary in a Harris administration, in one of the group’s launch videos. “She’s going to do everything she can to support every entrepreneur,” said Mark Cuban, who’s expanded his work as a pro-Harris surrogate since the Democratic convention. Hoffman is among the launch supporters of this project, which urges other business leaders to record statements supporting the Democratic nominee. Public polling shows Harris trimming Donald Trump’s lead on managing the economy, and the campaign has stepped up public events with less traditional, more conservative supporters.

— David Weigel

Harris’ likely foreign policy views

Kamala Harris will likely shelve the Biden administration’s democracy-vs.-autocracy foreign policy framing if she wins the White House, multiple reports suggested. A Harris administration will instead favor what Nikkei described as “a more pragmatic approach” in which the US works more closely with allies regardless of their domestic political systems and trumpets its support for a rules-based order. President Biden’s approach has spurred frustration, particularly in Asia where Washington-friendly countries such as Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam have been excluded from the White House’s democracy summits. Harris, by contrast, has not used the word “autocrat” since moving to the top of the ticket.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Senate Democrats have found an unlikely partner in Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who has emerged as a dealmaker after entering the Senate as a Trump acolyte and conservative firebrand. “He can be pretty insightful on issues like corporate power and abuse, the dangers of AI and advanced technology,” said Sen, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “The areas of our agreement are sometimes surprising, but they’re basically non-ideological.”

Playbook: Kamala Harris is out with a new advertisement appealing to Latino voters in battleground states.

WaPo: Asked about Republicans encouraging Donald Trump to do more to appeal to women voters, Trump campaign’s political director James Blair insisted the former president’s operation is “working to appeal to all voters, regardless of which bathroom they use or their race or where they go to church.”

White House

• Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., participated in a briefing with President Biden about the impacts of Helene in Florida on Thursday afternoon.

Congress

• Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., wore blackface when he dressed as Michael Jackson for Halloween as a college student in 2006. Lawler said the costume was meant to be “truly the sincerest form of flattery, a genuine homage to my musical hero since I was a little kid trying to moonwalk through my mom’s kitchen.” — NYT
• The bipartisan House task force investigating the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump is requesting a slew of documents and communications from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Outside the Beltway

• Jesse Hamilton, another ally of indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams, had his phone seized. — Politico

Business

• Spirit Airlines has been in talks with bondholders about a possible bankruptcy filing after its failed merger with JetBlue Airways. — WSJ
• Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal urged Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter to prosecute Boeing executives for not taking adequate steps to ensure passengers safety on its planes.

Courts

Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado, was sentenced to nine years in prison following her August conviction of illegal tampering with voting machines and after she repeated Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election at her hearing.

On the Trail

• Barack Obama is embarking on a four-week campaign blitz for Kamala Harris. — Bloomberg
• Tim Walz called for an end to the war in Gaza in a speech to a virtual gathering sponsored by Muslim advocacy group Emgage Action.
• The International Association of Fire Fighters is sitting out an endorsement in this year’s presidential race.
• A group of conservative national security officials endorsed Donald Trump for president.

National Security

• The US Justice Department and Microsoft seized 107 internet domains used by hackers linked to Russian intelligence to target US government employees, defense contractors, and civil society organizations.

Foreign Policy

• Boris Johnson suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu may have bugged his bathroom when Johnson was serving as Britain’s foreign secretary in 2017.

Media

• Business CEOs are increasingly turning to podcasts. — FT
• Melania Trump’s publishers asked CNN for $250,000 in exchange for an interview with the former first lady. — CNN

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Tim Walz tried to clean up his gaffe during the vice presidential debate when he said he’s “become friends with school shooters,” clarifying that he meant he has met with people impacted by school shootings.

What the Right isn’t reading: Former Trump White House aide and impeachment witness Cassidy Hutchinson said she is voting for Kamala Harris.

Principals Team

Editors: Benjy Sarlin, Elana Schor, Morgan Chalfant

Reporters: Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Joseph Zeballos-Roig, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

John Duarte is a Republican congressman from California.