With Zach Montellaro

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races — and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news — sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

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ROYCE OUT — “House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Royce to retire,” by Campaign Pro’s Elena Schneider: “Rep. Ed Royce will not seek reelection this year, the California Republican announced Monday. Royce, the powerful chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, becomes the latest committee chairman to forgo a reelection bid in what is shaping up to be a challenging midterm election for the GOP. ... In total, seven GOP committee chairs are either retiring or — in the case of Tennessee's Diane Black, the former chairman of the Budget Committee — seeking another office. Royce, first elected in 1992, was facing a difficult — and expensive — campaign for a 14th term. He has already drawn a half-dozen Democratic challengers, who raised more than $4.1 million combined in the third quarter of 2017.” Full story.

— Potential Republican candidates include: Michelle Steel, chairwoman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors; Young Kim, a former assemblywoman; Scott Baugh, a former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party; Bob Huff, a former state Senate minority leader who represented part of Orange County; state Assemblyman Phillip Chen; and Ling-Ling Chang, a former state assemblywoman.

RECRUITING AGAIN — “'Hillbilly Elegy' author Vance urged to run for Senate,” by POLITICO’s Seung Min Kim and Kevin Robillard: “Top Senate Republicans have quietly reached out to J.D. Vance — the star author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ — about running for Senate in Ohio after the abrupt withdrawal of GOP candidate Josh Mandel last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has spoken with Vance about a potential bid, according to three sources familiar with the discussions. Mandel announced on Friday that he would exit from the Ohio Senate race — one of the more high-profile battles in the 2018 midterm elections — due to his wife's health issues. Establishment Republicans have not settled on Vance as their favored candidate to take on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).” Full story.

SIGN OF THE TIMES — Lamb won’t back Pelosi: Democrat Conor Lamb, who’s running to replace former GOP Rep. Tim Murphy in Pennsylvania’s special election, won’t support Nancy Pelosi if he’s elected. He told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it’s “not personal,” but it’s “more about the fact that I expect leaders to get results, and the result of our Congressional leadership has been to have people in the district dissatisfied with their performance.”

FIRST IN SCORE — Q4 TOTALS — Connecticut Senate: Sen. Chris Murphy raised $1.5 million last quarter, finishing the year with $7 million in cash on hand.

FIRST IN SCORE FROM THE HOUSE — AZ-02 (or Arizona Senate): Republican Rep. Martha McSally raised more than $1 million last quarter, bringing her cash on hand total to $1.8 million, per a statement from her campaign.

— AZ-02: Republican Lea Marquez Peterson, president of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, raised $215,000 since joining the race in December.

— AZ-09: Democrat Greg Stanton, mayor of Phoenix, raised more than $600,000 in the third quarter, according to his campaign.

— MN-03: Democrat Dean Phillips, a businessman, raised $400,000 last quarter, finishing the year with nearly $620,000 in cash on hand, per his campaign.

— NC-13: Democrat Kathy Manning, a businesswoman and University of North Carolina at Greensboro trustee, raised $530,000 since launching her campaign last month, according to her campaign.

— TX-32: Democrat Ed Meier, a former Obama official, brought in $210,000 last quarter with $500,000 in cash on hand, according to his campaign.

Days until the 2018 election: 300.

Upcoming election dates — Arizona 8th District special primary: Feb. 27. Texas primaries: March 6. Pennsylvania 18th District special election: March 13. Illinois primaries: March 20.

Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, krobillard@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com and mseverns@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @politicokevin, @danielstrauss4 and @maggieseverns.

FIRST IN SCORE — Not One Penny releases TV ads in Iowa: Not One Penny, a progressive organization, is out with a six-figure TV ad buy in two Iowa congressional districts, attacking Republican Reps. Rod Blum and David Young. The ads will air on broadcast and cable stations in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. The ad says Blum’s tax vote means “big corporations and multi-millionaires like Rod Blum get a huge tax break, but for people who have to work for a living, Rod Blum’s vote raises taxes on the majority of Americans.” Check out the Blum ad here. Check out the Young ad here.

STEYER NOT RUNNING — “Steyer to target Ryan, GOP incumbents in $30M midterms push,” by POLITICO’s Gabriel Debenedetti: “Tom Steyer, the Democratic hedge fund manager-turned-activist, won't run for either senator or governor of California in 2018, instead investing $30 million in an effort to flip the House, he told reporters on Monday. ... Steyer plans to use his NextGen America political group to juice millennial voting numbers in 10 states, he said. He singled out House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.), and Barbara Comstock (Va.) as targets.” Full story.

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND — “The impending GOP catastrophe in Trump's backyard,” by POLITICO New York’s Jimmy Vielkind: “Two candidates for governor against Andrew Cuomo have dropped out in the last week. No candidate against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has gotten beyond the whisper phase. There's still no challenger to the state attorney general or comptroller. In President Donald Trump's home state, the New York Republican Party is on the verge of disaster. It has so far come up dry in its efforts to put together a top-tier 2018 statewide ticket — a budding failure with implications that would ripple beyond state borders. If the current situation holds, some of Trump's most aggressive Democratic Party critics could get a free pass to reelection.” Full story.

— “GOP chair promises 'good candidate' to oppose Cuomo,” by POLITICO New York’s Bill Mahoney. Full story.

OVER IN OHIO — “If Trump says to jump, Renacci will run for Senate instead of governor,” via The Columbus Dispatch: “U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci is committed to continuing his quest for the Republican nomination for governor — unless President Donald Trump asks him to consider running for the U.S. Senate. … ’My goal is to be the governor of the state of Ohio,’ Renacci said Monday on the ‘Wills and Snyder Show’ on WTAM radio in Cleveland. ‘If the president of the United States reaches out and contacts me and asks to me to jump in that race, I would consider it only at that point.’” Full story.

MORE Q4 TOTALS — Wisconsin Senate: Republican Leah Vukmir’s campaign announced she raised “more than $400,000” in the last quarter of the year, per a release.

— More Wisconsin Senate: Republican Kevin Nicholson raised $800,000 in the fourth quarter of last year for his Wisconsin Senate bid, POLITICO reported.

— Missouri: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has more than $9 million in cash on hand after raising $2.9 million in the fourth quarter, POLITICO reported.

— Colorado governor: Republican Walker Stapleton raised $750,000 last quarter, Colorado Politics reported.

— Pennsylvania governor: Republican Paul Mango’s campaign said “that the former health care systems consultant had $5.5 million in campaign cash,” The Associated Press reported.

— FL-18: Democrat Lauren Baer raised $330,000 last quarter, per a statement from her campaign.

— NM-01: Democrat Damon Martinez raised $160,000 last quarter, ending the year with $320,000 in cash on hand, per a statement from his campaign.

— NY-01: Democrat Perry Gershon has more than $800,000 in cash on hand, according to a statement from his campaign.

— NV-03: Republican Michelle Mortensen raised $80,000 last quarter, per a statement from her campaign.

— PA-11: Republican Andrew Lewis raised $180,000 in the third quarter, per a statement from his campaign.

FAMILIAR FACES — Dennis Kucinich files paperwork to run for Ohio governor: “Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich is jumping into the Democratic primary for Ohio governor. Kucinich, the former liberal firebrand and two-time presidential candidate, filed paperwork today with the Ohio secretary of state's office to run for governor. The move means another big-name Democrat is joining the Ohio gubernatorial field. Former state Attorney General Richard Cordray, who until recently served as director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, jumped into the Democratic primary late last year.” Full story.

OBITUARY — “Iconic Voiceover Actor Alan Bleviss Dies at 76,” by The Hollywood Reporter: “Canadian-born Alan Bleviss, who swayed the American people as the signature voice of the Democratic Party and lent gravitas to hundreds of movie trailers and TV commercials, has died. He was 76. ... Bleviss eventually became the voice of the Democratic Party for presidential races by Bill Clinton, Joe Biden and Michael Dukakis and other political campaigns.” Full story.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “There isn’t anybody who’s a greater antithesis to Donald Trump than Oprah Winfrey.” — David Axelrod on Winfrey’s potential 2020 candidacy, POLITICO reported.