Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As Ari noted on last night’s show, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) yesterday approved a state proposal requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the 2020 primary ballot.
* Following last night’s Democratic presidential primary debate, the second of the back-to-back events will be held tonight in Detroit.
* Speaking of debates, soon after Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang’s campaign said he’d qualified for the next round of primary debates, the DNC made clear that he had not.
* In the latest national Emerson poll, released yesterday, former Vice President Joe Biden (D) leads his party’s 2020 field with 33%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 20%. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is third with 14%, followed by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) with 11%.
* Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) may not be faring well in national polls, but the latest University of Texas poll showed him ahead in his home state, where he leads Biden, 27% to 24%. Sanders was third with 15%, followed by Warren and Harris, with 11% to 9%, respectively. * The election scandal in North Carolina isn’t over: a grand jury yesterday approved new indictments against Leslie McCrae Dowless, who’s now been charged with “two counts of felony obstruction of justice, perjury, solicitation to commit perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice and possession of absentee ballots,” all as part of his alleged 2018 ballot-tampering scheme. * And while the DCCC may be struggling with staff turmoil, some of the latest fundraising news for House Dems looks better for the party. The Associated Press reported this week, “Each of the 62 freshmen House Democrats has raised more money than their top opponent. The same is true for all 31 Democrats from districts President Donald Trump had won in 2016 and for all 39 Democrats who snatched Republican-held seats last November.”
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
