Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In keeping with the recent trend, Georgia Republicans are reportedly moving forward with a proposal to ban early voting on Sundays. The move appears designed to prevent Black churches from organizing “Souls to the Polls” get-out-the-vote initiatives. In case this isn’t obvious, let’s not forget that Georgia did not experience any election-administration problems, and has no need to impose new voting restrictions.
* On a related note, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose state also didn’t have any election-administration problems, is also pushing for restrictive new voting laws, including limiting the use of ballot drop boxes.
* With 36 weeks remaining before Election Day in Virginia, the state Republican Party can’t quite settle on how to nominate its candidates for statewide contests, despite repeated efforts. A New York Times report explained, “State Republicans have internalized the lesson that there is no benefit to accepting results they don’t like, and the result is a paralyzed party unable to set the date, location and rules for how and when it will pick its 2021 nominees for statewide office, including the race for governor.”
* The House Administration Committee is moving forward with its review of the election results in Iowa’s 2nd congressional district. As things stand, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) defeated Rita Hart (D) by six votes, in one of the closest congressional races in America history.
* In the wake of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) downplaying the severity of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is calling for the Republican senator’s ouster. “Johnson must go,” the editors wrote. “It’s obvious now that he won’t do the honorable thing and resign after violating his oath to support and defend the Constitution…. If he runs again, Johnson must be opposed in both the primary and general elections by people who care enough about democracy to support and defend it.” * Lynda Blanchard, the U.S. ambassador to Slovenia in the Trump administration, has launched a Republican U.S. Senate campaign in Alabama. A wealthy businesswoman has already made a $5 million down payment in support of her candidacy. * And though there’s little reason to believe Donald Trump will create his own political party, a Suffolk/USA Today poll found that 46% of self-identified Republican voters would be willing to abandon the GOP and join the former president’s hypothetical entity.
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."
Latest Post
Recommended
