'Big lie' still a big deal inside GOP grassroots: The Note

The TAKE with Rick Klein

Republicans in Washington want to be talking about gas prices or inflation, or the border and immigration, or crime, Ukraine, or just about anything President Joe Biden is focused on day to day.

But their friends and erstwhile supporters in the party's grassroots have something else top of mind. So does the most popular and prominent figure in the GOP of 2022.

Twice this week alone, state and local Republican Party gatherings showcased the resonance of the "big lie" about the 2020 election in ways that could wind up dictating the types of candidates and messaging the GOP puts forward.

In Colorado over the weekend, a Republican state gathering advanced the Senate candidacy of a Jan. 6 rally attendee and a slate of other candidates who have pursued conspiracy theories surrounding 2020. In Michigan on Monday, several county GOP conventions turned messy after a Trump-endorsed candidate called for Republicans to "storm" them.

This all comes as allies of former President Donald Trump met just last month with Wisconsin lawmakers in a push to decertify the 2020 -- yes, 2020 -- election, as ABC News' Will Steakin, Katherine Faulders and Laura Romero reported.

Trump himself has made clear that a range of his endorsements in Michigan and elsewhere have been predicated on fealty to his false claims about the election. Then there's the message of an unusual anti-endorsement: On Tuesday he announced he wouldn't support Bill McSwain, a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania who served as one of his U.S. attorneys in the state, calling him a "coward" for not being more aggressive in pursuing baseless accusations of voter fraud.

A wide swath of Republicans maintains that voters care far more about Biden's leadership and things like crime and gas prices than about still more investigations of 2020. But a similar message isn't consistently being delivered from either the top down or the grassroots up.

The RUNDOWN with Averi Harper

More than two dozen victims are recovering after a subway shooting in Brooklyn, calling further attention to the increase in violent crime across the country.

The incident, which occurred during the morning commute, comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams pushes to address public safety concerns and urges workers to return to offices throughout the city.

Adams, who remains in isolation due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, told WABC that he would direct the NYPD to double the number of officers patrolling the subway system. He also spoke about the importance of public safety as the city tries to return to normalcy.

"When I talk to my mayors in other cities, the proliferation of guns, those are the many rivers that feed the sea of violence," said Adams. He later added, "We know we have to make sure New Yorkers are safe and feel safe in our system because it would clearly stymie our recovery that we are attempting to do for the city."

The shooting took place just a day after Biden's White House remarks calling for actions to combat gun violence and announcing a nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Biden addressed the shooting Tuesday during a trip to Iowa.

"We're grateful for all the first responders who jumped into action, including civilians -- civilians who didn't hesitate to help their fellow passengers and try to shield them," Biden said.

Past mass shootings which have forever changed the lives of survivors and victims' families have not spurred the passage of federal gun reform legislation. Despite the horrific images of passengers bloodied by gunfire aboard one of the nation's most important public transit systems, it remains unlikely gun reform legislation could pass in this bitterly divided 50-50 Senate with many Republicans staunchly opposed to further restrictions on guns.

The TIP with Brittany Shepherd

After a monthslong push and pull with his own legislature, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has finally gotten his way -- for now. Republican legislative leaders are now deferring to DeSantis and his advisers to put forth his preferred map that redraws his state's 28 congressional districts -- deference rarely seen in the redistricting process.

This is a flip in thinking for Florida's GOP-led statehouse, which originally opposed maps submitted by DeSantis' office back in January. At the time, DeSantis put forth an aggressive redistricting plan that halved the number of predominantly Black districts from four to two, which in turn eliminated Florida's 5th District which stretches from Tallahassee to Jacksonville and is currently helmed by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat. Since January, state Republicans put forward their own maps that heavily favored the GOP, but those proposals seemed insufficient for DeSantis, who vetoed a two-map plan passed by the legislature in March.

Now, the state legislature will hold a special session starting next week, and DeSantis' team is expected to propose a "race-neutral" map, DeSantis said Tuesday.

"We are not going to have a 200-mile gerrymander that divvies up people based on the color of their skin. That is wrong," DeSantis said.

While DeSantis' final proposed redistricting boundaries are unknown, they are likely to be aggressive and will no doubt face litigation brought by those who believe it suppresses minority votes. According to FiveThirtyEight, Florida is just one of three states that have yet to finalize their maps.

NUMBER OF THE DAY, powered by FiveThirtyEight

2012. That's the year when support for LGBTQ protections in local ballot measures decreased, according to Marie-Amélie George, a law professor at Wake Forest University who specializes in LGBTQ rights. And as FiveThirtyEight's Kaleigh Rogers writes, this happened, in part, because anti-LGBTQ activists began to highlight the gender-identity protections in these laws. It's something that's once again at the forefront of our politics nationally, as GOP-dominated legislatures move to pass legislation that restricts how gender can be talked about in the classroom and with some Republican politicians and pundits going as far as to claim that public schools have become "grooming centers," or havens for child sexual abusers. Read more from Kaleigh on why "grooming" has become a scare tactic of choice for the right.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Start Here begins Wednesday morning with the latest on the New York City subway shooting from ABC's Aaron Katersky. Then, economist Diane Swonk breaks down last month's inflation numbers. And, FiveThirtyEight's Amelia Thomson-Deveaux discusses what Americans can expect if abortion pills become the only safe option for those evading restrictions. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

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The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the day's top stories in politics. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.