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Good morning, I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to The Daily Punch, brought to you by Punchable News. It's Friday, August 16th, 2024. Let's get into the mix. Here are your Washington headlines of the day. Number one, House Republican leadership sounds the alarm on the 2024 election.

Number two, who will lead the House Freedom Caucus? And number three, the parties in Chicago are already starting. All right, let's get to it. We are leading the top of Punch Bull News

a.m. with some news here. NRC chair Richard Hudson sounded a modest alarm Thursday evening

on a House Republican conference call, saying that he needs GOP lawmakers to actually want to

grow the majority. The North Carolina Republican also warned that members need to step up their

fundraising and stay on message, or else they could

lose the country this election. Here's what Hudson said on the call. Quote, we still have a great

shot to grow our majority, but the Democrats are at the gates hauling in hundreds of millions of

dollars in the last few weeks. If we're going to accomplish our goal of growing our majority,

I need you to want it.

Some tough talk for Republicans in their first widely attended meetings

since Vice President Kamala Harris took the lead in polls

over former President Donald Trump in several critical states, complicating the path for the

GOP to keep the House majority. Now, Speaker Mike Johnson struck a slightly more optimistic tone on

the call telling members he has been encountering strong Republican candidates and good energy

on the ground as he travels across the country this August recess,

but Johnson did acknowledge the shift in the political landscape sounds ominous at first blush.

Johnson announced the call that he would transfer $4 million to the NRCC,

...