| | | | | | | Presented By Meta | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Oct 29, 2022 | | Happy Saturday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,491 words ... 5½ minutes. Edited by Donica Phifer. | | | | | | 1 big thing: "Somebody is going to die" |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | Members of Congress are sounding new alarms about their personal security — and broader concerns about what the drumbeat of threats against prominent political figures means for them and for America. - Why it matters: Yesterday's attack against Speaker Pelosi's husband, Paul, hit especially hard because of where it happened — inside the personal residence of the woman second in line to the presidency
Violence and threats of violence against lawmakers — as well as judges, election workers, federal law enforcement and other public officials — are on the rise, Axios' Andrew Solender and Alayna Treene write. - Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) told Axios the attack on Paul Pelosi confirms "what members know: We are completely vulnerable at a time when the risks are increasing ... We need more ways to protect members and their families."
"Somebody is going to die," said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) — whose district office was vandalized last fall, and who has had other menacing encounters. - Dingell told Axios it's not just about Congress: "I know school board members that are wearing bulletproof vests to meetings now."
- "I hope this gets the nation's attention, that we've got to dial down the temperature," she said of the attack on Pelosi. "We can't live in fear."
Flashback: Attacks have targeted Republicans as well as Democrats. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot in 2017 while practicing for the congressional baseball game. Reality check: Speaker Pelosi has a full Capitol Police security detail. But most lawmakers don't, and some called for concrete action after yesterday's attack. - Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told Axios in July that a $10,000 home-security allotment announced by the House Sergeant at Arms falls far short of the cost of recommended enhancements to her home after a security incident earlier that month.
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been calling for security detail to be based more on the volume of threats a member receives rather than seniority. "I've had threats on my life since the first day I was sworn in," she told Axios in September. "The security situation has been extremely inadequate."
Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. 📱 How Paul Pelosi called 911 | | San Francisco police officers and FBI agents talk outside the Pelosi home (right) yesterday. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Paul Pelosi called 911 after telling the intruder he had to use the bathroom, where his phone was charging, a source told AP. - A dispatcher, listening to the background conversation on Pelosi's call, sensed trouble and sent police.
Officers discovered the intruder and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer, and told them to drop it, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told reporters. - The suspect yanked the hammer from Pelosi and began beating him with it, before being tackled by officers and arrested, Scott said.
⚡ What we know about the suspect: 42-year-old David DePape was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary, and remains in the hospital, police said. - DePape appears to have made racist and often rambling posts online, including questioning the results of the 2020 election, defending former President Trump and echoing QAnon conspiracy theories, AP reports.
- DePape grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, before leaving about 20 years ago to follow an older girlfriend to San Francisco.
An update from the Speaker's office says: "Mr. Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. His doctors expect a full recovery." | | | | | | | | 3. Blake Masters' last-minute millions | | Blake Masters speaks at a rally with former President Trump in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 9. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images Millions of last-minute dollars are flooding into Arizona to prop up Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters, after a key group aligned with GOP Leader Mitch McConnell decided against helping him in the race, Axios' Lachlan Markay and Jonathan Swan report. - The Club for Growth, a leading conservative outside spender, is dropping $5.5 million into the Arizona Senate race in its closing days.
That substantial sum — dumped largely into TV ads this week and next — was prompted by recent private polling showing Masters closing on incumbent Mark Kelly (D) in a race that could help determine control of the upper chamber. - The Club's cash infusion, and significant spending by other deep-pocketed GOP allies including tech billionaire Peter Thiel, is helping to fill a void left by Republicans' top Senate super PAC, which has no plans to spend on Masters' behalf in the final days of the race.
The Club's ad, which began airing in English and Spanish on Tuesday, focuses on inflation. - Club for Growth president David McIntosh told Axios in an interview that Masters' negatives "had already been out there for months, but Kelly had been left untouched."
- "So we decided we could spend money telling people about Kelly, raising his negatives, connecting him with Biden, and that would help Blake and give him a chance to win."
🔭 Zoom out: The Club's substantial ad buy complements a flood of Republican outside money into the race in recent weeks. - Saving Arizona, a super PAC largely financed by Thiel, kicked off a $3.7 million ad campaign this week, following a $2.5 million donation from Thiel earlier this month.
- Thiel played an outsized role in funding Masters through his primary, spending $15 million to help him get across the line, along with former President Trump's endorsement.
- A political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation has spent more than $7 million on backing Masters and attacking Kelly since last month.
🥊 Reality check: Senate GOP leaders, including McConnell, considered Masters a lackluster candidate who would have a hard time winning a general election even in an environment tilted heavily towards Republicans. The bottom line: Republicans' late investment in Arizona opens up another path to win the majority. If Republicans hold races in states Trump won, they'd need to win only one of four tossup races. The other side ... Kelly spokesperson Sarah Guggenheimer said: "No lies from a Super PAC will distort what Arizonans know to be true: Senator Kelly, unlike Blake Masters, will always have their back." | | | | | | | | A message from Meta | | Students will be able to explore outer space in the metaverse | | |  | | | | With the metaverse, students in a classroom will be able to travel to the depths of our galaxy, helping them get up close to the planets and gain a deeper understanding of how our solar system works. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. See how Meta is helping build the metaverse. | | | | | | 4. 🗳️ 10 days till midterms | | Photo: Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Reuters Former President Obama campaigns in Atlanta yesterday with gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images Republican U.S. House nominee Yesli Vega talks with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) during a campaign rally yesterday in Stafford, Va. - Vega is challenging Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) in VA-07, one of the country's tightest House races.
| | | | | | | | 5. ⚾ Afro-Latinos' baseball dominance | | The Seattle Mariners' Carlos Santana and Julio Rodríguez greet the Houston Astros' Yordan Álvarez before an ALDS playoff game Oct. 13 in Houston. Photo: Bob Levey/Getty Images Major League Baseball is looking less like Jackie Robinson — and more like Roberto Clemente, Axios' Keldy Ortiz and Russell Contreras write. - The World Series, which began last night (Phillies 6, Astros 5) is expected to have zero non-Hispanic Black American players for the first time in 72 years.
- But games will feature Black Latino stars — a group redefining America's pastime even as the nation can't define them.
🧮 By the numbers: On Opening Day this season, only 7.2% of players were Black or African American, according to a report by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. - That's the lowest percentage since 1991, when Black players were around 18% in MLB.
- The report says Latinos make up around 28.5% of all MLB players.
🔎 Between the lines: Afro-Latino players are a major force in the MLB, even though this particular study didn't provide an estimate of how many Afro-Latino players there are. - Nearly every MLB team has Black Latino players on its roster and in its farm system.
- Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodríguez, 21, of the Dominican Republic, is this year's favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year.
People see the Blackness first of an individual and the Latino part comes second, Louis Moore, a professor of history at Grand Valley State University, tells Axios. - "It's always the Blackness when it's time to discriminate, when it's time to break down those barriers," he said.
- Demographic surveys don't always fully account for this population. After the 2020 census included an option to identify with multiple ethnicities, the number of U.S. Latinos identifying as multiracial soared.
Flashback: Future Hall of Famer and Puerto Rican-born Roberto Clemente broke into the majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955 and experienced intense discrimination. - Newspapers, even Black-owned ones, often poked fun at his accent and called him "Bobby Clemente." He'd repeatedly say: "My name is Roberto Clemente."
Keep reading. | | | | | | | | 6. 🐶 1 pup thing: Doggie restaurant | | Photo: Haven Daley/AP Above: A doggie diner feasts at the new Dogue (rhymes with "vogue") restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District. - A $75, three-course "Bone Appetit" meal features chicken-skin waffles, and filet mignon steak tartare with quail egg.
Photo: Haven Daley/AP Rahmi Massarweh, a dog owner and classically trained chef, tells AP he left his stressful job running a fine dining restaurant to focus on the canine cafe. Read the story. | | | | | | | | A message from Meta | | Future surgeons will get hands-on practice in the metaverse | | |  | | | | Surgeons will engage in countless hours of additional low-risk practice in the metaverse. The impact: Patients undergoing complex care will know their doctors are as prepared as possible. The metaverse may be virtual, but the impact will be real. See how Meta is helping build the metaverse. | | | | 📬 Thanks for sharing your weekend with us. Please invite your friends to sign up to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | |
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