Competing bids for Warner Bros. are leading to a lobbying frenzy.

Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mega mergers in Trump 2.0 are a gift to K Street.

In the latest biggie, lobbyists for Netflix and Paramount seeking to smooth the way for competing, multibillion-dollar bids for Warner Bros. are working behind the scenes to calm opposition from the Trump administration and bipartisan lawmakers.

The potential deals are sparking intense interest on K Street, Capitol Hill and the executive branch.

• “It’s massive, and it impacts politics because who owns the culture and Hollywood and news outlets determine the direction of the country in a lot of ways,” said lobbyist Sam Geduldig, managing partner of the CGCN Group, a lobbying and communications firm. “A lot of politicians on both sides of the aisle will have very strong feelings about this.”

That’s already happening.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the Justice Department would have to take a “hard look” at a potential Paramount-Warner tie-up, saying the combination would seem to pose “pretty heavy” potential antitrust issues.

The proposed $83 billion Netflix deal saw immediate pushback from President Donald Trump as well as lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who called the deal a “nightmare.”

The efforts “highlight” the need for lobbyists to directly engage with antitrust officials at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, said Chase Kroll, founding partner of TSG Advocates.

Kroll isn’t working on the Netflix-Paramount-Warner Bros. matter but said lobbyists on any big deals should build “support among influential House and Senate members on committees of jurisdiction to address potential legislative hurdles and undue congressional scrutiny.”

He predicts an uptick in that business:

• “Our firm is heavily engaged in such efforts, and we expect an increase in M&A activity next year, ahead of the midterms.”

Welcome to the latest edition of Power Play, Bloomberg Government’s newsletter on the lobbying, money, and people moving Capitol Hill’s agenda from the outside.

Reach out with tips, news, complaints, and most importantly all your exclusives: kackley@bloombergindustry.com.

The entry of Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) into the Texas Senate primary earlier this week will only juice spending in a already expensive Senate race.

Photographer: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn

Get ready for a Texas-sized fundraising spree.

Senate 2026 primary fights on both sides of the aisle will generate mega campaign spending.

• “It’ll just be enormously expensive,” said Eric Lundberg, a senior adviser for Democracy Engine, an online fundraising platform whose clients include lobbying groups.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) announced Monday she will try to run for Sen. John Cornyn‘s (R-Texas) seat next year.

Spending on the Republican side already exceeds $50 million, most in support of Cornyn, according to an AdImpact tabulation.

• “Given the importance of the Texas Senate seat and given how expensive it is to compete statewide in Texas, with so many expensive media markets, I certainly expect hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent, when all is said and done,” said Michael Toner, a GOP former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who chairs the election law and government ethics practice at Wiley.

“It has the potential to be the most expensive Senate race in the country,” he added. Read More

FIRST IN POWER PLAY: Meanwhile, how about this for timing? A new advocacy project dubbed the Political Integrity PAC, which bills itself as an “influencer-first” effort, is launching to keep tabs on lawmakers’ and candidates’ positions on stock trading, corporate PAC donations, and other political money issues heading into the midterms.

• The aim is to get money out of politics and to spotlight these matters in next year’s campaigns, said online influencer Nico Agosta of the stocking_the_capitol Instagram account, and Daniel Lobo-Lewis, in an interview about the effort.

The duo is compiling ratings of lawmakers at integrityindex.us. The group also will advocate for lawmakers to sign a pledge not to lobby after leaving office.

• “We want to force a sea-change in the way political money works and political integrity works,” Lobo-Lewis said.

Congressional oversight has become an increasingly hot topic for lobbyists. Just wait until next year — and beyond.

That’s a main takeaway from the forthcoming report, “When Congress Comes Calling,” an update from the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group, and the law firm Jenner & Block, shared first with Bloomberg Government. It will be released Thursday.

As Congress struggles to move legislation, especially with the midterm campaigns approaching next year, lawmakers increasingly will turn to high-profile investigations and hearings to drive their messaging and to draw attention to pet policy issues. Private-sector clients, beware, say those in the practice

• “There has been less opportunity for legislation in recent years, so one of the ways members of Congress and committee chairs can effect change is by holding a hearing on something,” including hauling in a CEO, said Emily Loeb, a co-chair of Jenner & Block’s congressional investigations practice, in an interview. Read More

A controversial, decades-long lobbying push for full federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is on the cusp of a win in this year’s defense policy measure.

Lawmakers, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), hitched the Lumbee provision onto the $901 billion annual legislation that deals with military pay raises and weapons systems, but also attracts unrelated matters looking for a glidepath out of Congress.

Lumbee tribal leaders and their lobbyists successfully courted support from key lawmakers and President Donald Trump for the measure that could allow the tribe to start a casino and tap funding for educational and other purposes. The tribe sent a letter to Trump noting his daughter Tiffany Trump’s ancestral ties to the tribe, as Bloomberg Government first reported.

Tiffany Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump, has genealogical ties to the Lumbee.

Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Images

• “We move forward with hope and determination, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our friends in Congress and the White House to secure final passage,” said Lumbee Chairman John Lowery in a statement Monday. Read More

The National Defense Authorization Act is one of Congress’ pieces of must-pass legislation, worth a total of $900.6 billion.

Join BGOV’s reporters and analysts on Dec. 11 at 1 p.m. for a deep dive webinar into the bill, what its policy choices mean going forward, and how it fits into the larger spending debates in Washington. Register Here

Mounting uncertainty over the $2 trillion US-Mexico-Canada trade deal’s future is sparking an uptick in Washington lobbying.

• Big Tech companies, automakers, pharmaceutical and other manufacturers, agriculture interests, and others are beginning a round of outreach to the administration and Capitol Hill on the economic importance of the deal. The administration has kicked off a review period ahead of July 1, when the countries are supposed to decide whether to carry on with the deal, renegotiate it, or even exit it.

“Businesses are eager to get in front of the Trump administration and tell them what is working and what isn’t, in their view,” on the trade deal, said Hunter Morgen, a former special assistant to President Donald Trump and a senior adviser for policy and strategy in the White House.

Former Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), who chaired the Ways and Means panel, is now a senior consultant at the firm Akin and a leader of the Coalition for North American Trade, which counts the Consumer Technology Association and the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology as founding members.

• Walmart, Dairy Farmers of Canada, and Volkswagen Group of America are also members, according to the coalition’s website.

The agreement, Brady said, “translates into real jobs back home in every congressional district in America, period, which is why I predict there’ll be a great deal of congressional engagement and interest in how this review plays out.” Read More

Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., outside the Capitol last week.

Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ventured up to Capitol Hill last week, and the wins keep coming for the tech giant.

His company scored a lobbying victory when Congress rejected a chip export measure, Bloomberg’s Roxana Tiron, Oma Seddiq, and Emily Birnbaum report. Huang also met with Trump.

The so-called GAIN AI Act would require chipmakers, including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., to give American customers first dibs on their powerful AI chips before selling in China and other arms-embargoed countries. Lawmakers sought to advance the proposal as part of the annual defense policy bill, but took it out amid controversy and lobbying. Read More

For More on Nvidia: Nvidia Wins Trump’s Approval to Sell Its H200 AI Chips in China

Plus: Bank CEOs Expected to Meet Senators on Crypto Market Structure

Holland & Knight hired a senior policy aide for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to advise clients on tech and data privacy legislation, Justin Henry reports.

Chris Jaarda joined the Florida-based firm’s Washington office as a partner in the public policy practice, Holland & Knight said last week. Read More

Iconic American companies are in retail groups that are lobbying against bipartisan legislation to revive domestic shipbuilding to improve national security, reports BGOV’s Zach Williams.

The National Retail Federation and American Apparel and Footwear Association have taken a leading role in opposing the bill. They worry the legislation would slap higher fees on foreign shippers that would increase their costs.

The National Retail Federation spent $2.27 million on lobbying on this and other issues. The American Apparel and Footwear Association spent $231,090 more to sway lawmakers and others on issues such as the bill, according to records. Read More