MAGA Star Kristi Noem Is Facing a Pesky Reelection Fight at Home

Inside HBO’s Merger • New Details From Pelosi Attack • SCOTUS Ready to Gut Affirmative Action [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( MAGA Star Kristi Noem Is Facing a Pesky Reelection Fight at Home Good morning from the Hive newsroom! Republican Kristi Noem made history in 2018 when she was elected as South Dakota’s first female governor. By 2020, she emerged as a folk hero within the extended MAGA universe by spurning mask mandates and becoming a visible surrogate for Donald Trump. But Noem’s national star turn belies her electoral strength in her home state, Tom Kludt [writes](, as she fights in a too-close-for-comfort reelection campaign. In an exclusive excerpt from their book It’s Not TV, Felix Gillette and John Koblin [take us]( inside the merger that could have ended HBO as we know it. Elsewhere, Eric Lutz [says]( the Supreme Court appears fully prepared to gut affirmative action, as it holds oral arguments for two cases involving race-based admissions. Caleb Ecarma [digs into]( the “antiwhite bigotry” ad campaign being run in Georgia by Stephen Miller’s group ahead of the midterms. Plus, Bess Levin [reports]( on new details about Paul Pelosi’s attacker, who told the San Francisco Police Department that he wanted to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps and have her “wheeled into Congress” to send a message. Thanks for reading! [Image may contain: Crowd, Audience, Human, Person, Speech, Kristi Noem, and Lighting]( [Kristi Noem, National MAGA Star, Is Facing a Pesky Reelection Fight at Home]( By [Tom Kludt]( [The South Dakota governor has recently campaigned for Kari Lake in Arizona and was satirized on Saturday Night Live—yet isn’t running away with her Trump-country race. She’s vastly outspending her Democratic rival and bringing Glenn Youngkin and Tulsi Gabbard to the campaign trail this week.]( [Read more button](   [Inside the Merger That Could Have Ended HBO as We Know It]( By [Felix Gillette and John Koblin]( [When telecom giant AT&T inherited the most prestigious brand in American TV in 2018, all eyes were on two men: HBO CEO Richard Plepler and his new boss, consummate company man John Stankey. As Felix Gillette and John Koblin report in this exclusive excerpt from their new history of the network, Plepler and Stankey’s brief, tenuous time together straddled a crucial moment in HBO history—and saw both depart within a matter of years.]( [Read more button](   [Supreme Court Appears Fully Ready to Gut Affirmative Action]( By [Eric Lutz]( [Justices are holding oral arguments for two cases involving race-based admissions, with the court’s leading conservatives—including Clarence Thomas—expected to roll back decades of precedent.]( [Read more button](   [Report: Stephen Miller’s Group Is Running a White-Grievance Ad Campaign in Georgia Ahead of the Midterms]( By [Caleb Ecarma]( [Trump’s chief anti-immigration adviser has spent the last year suing Democrats over their racial-justice agenda. Now, Miller’s group is amplifying messages of “antiwhite bigotry” in a swing state home to the highly contentious Senate race between Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock.]( [Read more button](   [New Details of Nancy Pelosi’s Attempted Kidnapping, Husband’s Hammer Attack Are Terrifying]( By [Bess Levin]( [According to a federal criminal complaint, the Pelosi attacker wanted to break the Speaker’s kneecaps and have her “wheeled into Congress” to send a message.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe](newsletter=vf) Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2022 Condé Nast