Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Florida, former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell easily won her Democratic U.S. Senate primary this week, setting up a potentially interesting contest against far-right Sen. Rick Scott. The Republican incumbent also faced nominal primary opposition, which posed little challenge.
* Speaking of the Sunshine State, Politico reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempt to elect conservative school board members across Florida hit a snag this week, “as candidates backed by the Republican governor fell in several key races.”
* Montana’s secretary of state has now certified an abortion rights ballot measure, putting the issue on the state’s November ballot. In addition to the obvious medical and legal implications, the development might also have a broader electoral impact: Montana is home to a closely watched U.S. Senate race, and the more reproductive rights proponents vote in the fall, the better it will probably be for incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
* NBC News reported that the first night of the Democratic National Convention drew an estimated 20 million viewers, which exceeds the 18 million viewers who watched the first night of last month’s Republican National Convention.
* The Washington Post reported that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and the Democratic National Committee “raised three times as much as Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee in July, and ended the month with a cash advantage that positions the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee to air more ads and maintain a larger payroll than her Republican opponent in the final months of the race for the White House.” * Though we haven’t heard much lately about former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his considerable wealth, Bloomberg appears to have cut a $10 million check for the House Democrats’ largest super PAC. * And there’s reason anew to wonder about the future of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign: The conspiracy theorist’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, said their campaign faces a choice between continuing with its ill-fated effort — which would “risk” helping Harris — or dropping out to “join forces” with Trump. The candid comments, made on a podcast, left little doubt that the Kennedy candidacy is intended to undermine the Democratic ticket.
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."
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