Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Retired astronaut Mark Kelly announced this morning that he’s running for the Senate, hoping to secure the Democratic nomination to take on appointed Sen. Martha McSally (R) in 2020. It will be his first attempt at elected office.
* On a related note, though I imagine Kelly will face primary rivals, former state Attorney General Grant Woods has said he won’t be one of them. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), however, has said he’s eyeing the contest.
* Iowa Democrats, taking an overdue step in the right direction, are moving forward with plans for “virtual caucuses,” allowing voters who can’t attend in-person presidential caucuses to participate in the process over the phone.
* Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to announce she will not accept corporate PAC money as part of her campaign.
* North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is expected today to announce the dates for a congressional special election to fill Rep. Walter Jones’s (R) vacancy. Jones died over the weekend. * Pete Buttigieg became the first mayor this election cycle to launch a Democratic presidential campaign, and Michael Bloomberg may soon do the same. Will current New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio join them? He’ll be in New Hampshire later this week. * And looking ahead to his re-election campaign next year, Trump told supporters in El Paso last night he’s “one for one” in elections, and he plans to make it “2 for 0.” That’s not how numbers work.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
