I spoke to the Washington Post‘s Maxine Joselow for her Climate 202 post on the ballooning revenue estimates for the IRA clean energy tax title and GOP efforts use them as offsets for their policy priorities.

That doesn’t mean the GOP won’t keep targeting the credits. But tax experts predicted that even if Republicans win full control of Washington in the 2024 election, they won’t seek to scrap all the incentives, especially as the money keeps flowing into red states and districts.

“Just as a matter of good tax policy, you don’t want to go after things people have made long-term investments in,” said Liam Donovan, a principal at the law and lobbying firm Bracewell. “People are sinking billions and billions of dollars into clean-energy projects across the map based on long-term certainty.”

Read the full piece here.

I spoke to CNN’ Eric Bradner about Glenn Youngkin’s successful campaign in Virginia and what Republicans can take away from his victory.

“The biggest thing Youngkin was able to do was bridge the gap between the increasingly populist base and some of the more mild-mannered traditional Republicans voters who blanched at Trump’s style,” said veteran Republican strategist Liam Donovan.

Trump endorsed Youngkin and issued a series of statements praising him. He also held an invite-only tele-rally on the eve of the election that was organized without Youngkin’s involvement. But he did not visit the state, and after his ban from major social media platforms, did not have a significant role in the race.”Glenn benefited from Trump’s relatively low profile, both in the sense that his absence undermined McAuliffe’s preferred argument, and because his nominal support was still a key signifier for motivating MAGA-minded voters who might otherwise be wary of an establishment-friendly candidate,” Donovan said.

…

Youngkin also brought his own strengths to the table. The former Rice basketball player and chief executive of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group was an unproven commodity as a first-time candidate — and carried the risk of facing attacks similar to those Mitt Romney faced as a presidential candidate in 2012.

“Glenn proved to be a really solid, natural retail pol, which as a first time candidate was not always assured. You can’t teach that,” Donovan said.

Read the full piece here.

I spoke to Allan Smith of NBC News about the “Let’s Go Brandon” phenomenon and what to make of its sudden ubiquity.

“At its core it’s a genuinely funny viral moment of broadcast TV, filtered through a meme culture that shown an affinity for Trump and the MAGA sensibility, and embraced by a party whose highest goal at this point is to trigger the libs,” Liam Donovan, a lobbyist and former Republican operative, wrote in an email.

Read the full piece here.