What N.H. losing FITN means for Mass.

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AT FIRST SLIGHT — The 2024 Republican presidential primary is ramping up in New Hampshire just as Democrats are preparing to strip away the state’s plum perch in their lineup.

Former President Donald Trump kicked things off on the Republican side when he returned to the Granite State on Saturday for the first time since 2020 to pitch party activists and, as POLITICO scooped, announce former state GOP chair Stephen Stepanek as a senior adviser for his third White House bid.

He also slammed Democrats for “cruelly and disgracefully trashing” the state’s “beloved” first-in-the-nation primary, just days before Democratic National Committee members are expected to approve President Joe Biden’s plan to make South Carolina the first primary next year. Nevada and New Hampshire would share the second date.

Here’s where things get complicated. In order to share the No. 2 spot in the lineup, New Hampshire would have to change its law requiring that its primary be held at least seven days before any other state’s. The DNC granted New Hampshire Democrats an extension to get that done and to expand access to early voting, another requirement to stay in the early window. But even if Democrats wanted to acquiesce to the DNC’s requests, Republicans who control the governor’s office and the Legislature aren’t biting.

New Hampshire could go rogue and hold the first Democratic primary anyway — a move that could bring consequences for the state party and, perhaps more importantly, for candidates who buck the DNC’s chosen calendar. That doesn’t appear to be deterring Marianne Williamson, the author, activist and 2020 Democratic presidential contender who’s already planning her return to New Hampshire. But it’s an open question whether Democrats with a clearer shot at the nomination would take the risk.

And that brings us back to Massachusetts. New Hampshire’s demise on the Democratic side would cost candidates and operatives here a key springboard in their own backyard.

“Presidential campaigns have always recruited talent from Massachusetts,” Joe Caiazzo, who’s worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns and statewide campaigns in Massachusetts, told Playbook. “This tradition has developed a pipeline of Democratic operatives that have played significant roles in national and state politics for generations.”

And while Massachusetts candidates are by no means guaranteed an advantage in New Hampshire — we all remember how poorly they fared north of the border in 2020 — losing that local launchpad would still be a huge blow.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Abortion-rights advocates are launching a new hotline that will offer free and confidential legal advice and resources to Massachusetts health providers and patients seeking the procedure here.

The Abortion Legal Hotline is a joint effort between Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Reproductive Equity Now, the Women’s Bar Foundation, ACLU of Massachusetts and five major law firms. They’ll formally unveil the hotline at 9:30 a.m. at the attorney general’s office alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and former AG Martha Coakley.

The hotline also marks Campbell’s first big step toward fulfilling her campaign pledge to protect and expand access to reproductive care.

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, top lawmakers and budget writers meet at 2 p.m. at the Senate president’s office with a press conference to follow. It’s the governor’s second leadership meeting and the first that will include Republican minority leaders state Sen. Bruce Tarr and state Rep. Brad Jones. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu participates in the city’s homeless census beginning at 11:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Tips? Scoops? Settled on which team you’re rooting for in the Super Bowl? Meh. Email me: [email protected].

PARTY POLITICS

— REPUBLICAN ROW: MassGOP Chair Jim Lyons was dealt a significant blow in his battle to retain control of the state party late last week, but he’s still swinging.

A superior court judge has ordered Lindsay Valanzola to be put back on the MassGOP state committee after Lyons vacated her seat by claiming she no longer lived in her district. The judge also ordered Lyons to not interfere with Valanzola voting in Tuesday’s leadership election — in which she told Playbook she’ll cast her ballot for anyone but Lyons.

Lyons sort-of responded with an email to state committee members accusing his main competition for chair, Amy Carnevale, of being involved in a “smear” campaign to undermine his leadership.

Carnevale dismissed the “eleventh hour attempt to malign my character” in a statement. She called it “a blatant effort to distract from the fact that under Jim Lyons, the party has failed on every measurable metric. Anyone who knows me and my record of service to the party, knows that I have always served with integrity.”

— NOT ON MY BINGO CARD: Lyons has one new supporter in his corner — Harmeet Dhillon, the California Republican who just lost her bid to lead the Republican National Committee in resounding fashion to Chair Ronna McDaniel. Dhillon tweeted Sunday that MassGOP members should give Lyons another term, calling him “a friend who listens to the grassroots voters in your state, not just what party bosses & elites think.” Lyons tweeted his thanks.

— WATCH: Former GOP auditor hopeful Anthony Amore discuss his party’s future with WBZ’s Jon Keller.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Gov. Maura Healey calls workforce challenges ‘devastating’ in Mass. health care,” by Alison Kuznitz, MassLive: “In an increasingly familiar refrain, Gov. Maura Healey sounded the alarm about acute workforce shortages to hundreds of health care leaders and medical professionals Friday. … Healey stopped short of disclosing new potential state funding or legislative initiatives for the health care workforce at the meeting, though the new governor told reporters there’s ‘an array of things we need to do.’ She spoke broadly about expanding telehealth options and sending more mobile health units into communities.”

— “Healey says she’s open to changes on implementing ‘millionaires tax’,” by Benjamin Kail, Boston Business Journal: “Gov. Maura Healey says she’s open to proposals on how to implement the so-called ‘millionaires tax,’ in light of suggested changes to the recently-approved 4% surtax on all earnings topping $1 million. But the governor won’t budge on ensuring that the new revenue source goes toward education and transportation as approved by voters.”

— “‘5% or less’: Massachusetts rent control advocates rally at the State House,” by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: “A group of state legislators last week filed a legislative package that introduces a clearer framework for municipal rent control than other local option bills filed in recent years, with stronger tenant protections and stronger limits on rent increases, advocates say. Saturday’s rally focused on the new package, with many ‘5% or less’ chants. The 5% refers to how the bill would give municipalities the option to adopt a rent control policy that would tie rent increases to the inflation rate, with a maximum annual increase of 5%.”

— “Gas stove bans weighed amid health, climate concerns,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Massachusetts could become the latest front in the culture war clash over gas stoves, with legislative proposals being considered that would restrict or ban the fossil-fuel powered appliances in new homes. On Beacon Hill, a group of progressive Democratic lawmakers have filed proposals that would require the state to draft regulations restricting gas ranges and other appliances in new construction.”

— WATCH: UMass President Marty Meehan voice support on WCVB’s “On the Record” for Gov. Maura Healey’s plan to make community college free for those over age 25 without college degrees, as opposed to Senate President Karen Spilka’s proposal to eliminate tuition and fees for all. “It’s not so much that it’s an age limit,” Meehan said. “It’s that there’s a real need because folks are in the workforce who don’t have a degree” and could be earning more money if they had one.

FROM THE HUB

— “After Wu’s speech, Walsh defends his time in City Hall,” by Gintautas Dumcius, Dorchester Reporter: “Days after Mayor Michelle Wu used part of her ‘State of the City’ speech to critique the past decade of development in the city, her predecessor appeared to offer a defense of his administration’s time inside City Hall. Appearing before the business-backed New England Council on Friday, US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh devoted a significant portion of his remarks to laying out some of his administration’s successes.”

— “Advocates call for re-commitment to Boston police reform after fatal beating of Tyre Nichols,” by Walter Wuthmann, WBUR: “‘It shows how much work we have to do as a country, and as a society,’ said Mayor Michelle Wu. But Wu said she’s confident in the police reform process underway in the city.”

WARREN REPORT

— EYES EMOJI: Sen. Elizabeth Warren has repeatedly said President Joe Biden “should” run for a second term. But she stopped short of saying Vice President Kamala Harris should again be his running mate when asked on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” Friday.

“I really want to defer to what makes Biden comfortable on his team,” Warren said. “I’ve known Kamala for a long time. I like Kamala. I knew her back when she was an attorney general and I was still teaching and we worked on the housing crisis together, so we go way back. But they need — they have to be a team, and my sense is they are — I don’t mean that by suggesting I think there are any problems. I think they are.”

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “MBTA can’t afford bus network overhaul, oversight board says,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Brian Kane, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, said communities that rely on the region’s public transit system are concerned that the T won’t be able to afford to implement bus network redesign, or that doing so ‘may require defunding or cutting service elsewhere.’”

— “WRTA meets targets on ridership, costs in new state report,” by Cyrus Moulton, Telegram & Gazette: “The word around City Hall is that the Worcester Regional Transit Authority is a disaster. … But a recent state report evaluating the 15 regional transit authorities on nine performance metrics tells a different story.”

TODAY'S SPECIAL (ELECTION)

— “Attleboro mayoral candidate John Davis says he’ll forgo salary if elected,” by Jim Hand, The Sun Chronicle: “Mayoral candidate John Davis announced Sunday he would decline to take a city salary for the rest of 2023 if he wins the Feb. 28 special election in Attleboro. … The starting salary for mayor is about $110,000 and has regularly scheduled raises. [Former Mayor Paul] Heroux was making $134,000 when he left.”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Woburn teachers to strike Monday after contract talks fail to reach deal Sunday,” by John Hilliard, Boston Globe: “More than 500 Woburn educators are expected to walk the picket line Monday morning after a last-ditch effort by union and School Committee negotiators failed to broker a deal for a long-sought contract Sunday. The strike means no classes Monday for Woburn’s roughly 4,300 public school students.”

— “Two people in crisis shot dead by police, two years apart. Will Massachusetts rethink armed response to mental health emergencies?” by Sonel Cutler and Ivy Scott, Boston Globe: “In July, Amherst swore in the state’s first team of unarmed responders. Meanwhile, similar efforts by Cambridge and Lynn have inched along over the past year, amid fierce debate over who should oversee crisis workers and how closely they should work with police. While joint responses by police and crisis workers to certain emergencies are used across the state, including in Boston, Lowell, and Framingham, a fully unarmed alternative has been slower to gain traction.”

— “Heroux Pitches Second Option for New Bedford’s Ash Street Jail Closure,” by Marcus Ferro, WBSM.

— MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS: “Cannabis gross sales in Massachusetts top $4-billion,” by Amy Phillips, WWLP.

— IN MEMORIAM: “Former Cambridge mayor Alice Wolf, an advocate for refugees and LGBTQ equality, dies at 89,” by Bryan Marquard, Boston Globe.

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

— “New Hampshire GOP governor says he’s considering 2024 White House bid,” by Paul LeBlanc and Kit Maher, CNN: “GOP Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire said Sunday he is considering a White House bid in 2024, citing the Granite State’s ‘live free or die’ spirit as a model for the Republican Party.”

— CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Chris Ager is the new chair of the New Hampshire GOP. Ager, a Republican National Committee member, was elected at the state party’s annual meeting Saturday. He defeated Lou Gargiulo, one of former President Donald Trump‘s 2020 campaign co-chairs in the state, for the post.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Northeastern University professor Alan Mislove has accepted a temporary position as assistant director for data and democracy in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

— Brendan Christopher is now a legislative aide for state Rep. Dawne Shand. Christopher previously interned for state Rep. Michael Day and was deputy campaign manager for state Sen. Susan Moran.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Ed Murray.

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