Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Alabama’s Republican U.S. Senate primary, Donald Trump has told local GOP voters to back Rep. Mo Brooks as retiring Sen. Richard Shelby’s successor. But as Politico reported, much of the party at the national level is ignoring the former president’s choice and instead backing Katie Britt, the former president of the Business Council of Alabama, whom Trump has disparaged.
* While much of the Pennsylvania GOP has expressed skepticism about Mehmet Oz’s Senate candidacy, “Dr. Oz” picked up his first congressional endorsement yesterday, with Rep. Guy Reschenthaler throwing his support behind the doctor and controversial television personality.
* That said, Oz doesn’t appear to be scaring off any potential rivals: Hedge fund CEO David McCormick is reportedly moving forward with plans to join the Republican primary.
* For many years, Tim Phillips led the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, until he resigned this week. The conservative Washington Examiner reported that the Republican operative learned he was “no longer welcome following an internal investigation into unspecified personal impropriety.”
* In Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial primary, former Rep. Jim Renacci has chosen conservative movie producer Joe Knopp as his running mate. As NBC News noted, Knopp, who has produced pro-Trump and anti-abortion movies, “is a political unknown in the state.” * In Alaska, incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy picked up a new Republican primary rival this week, with state Rep. Christopher Kurka launching a statewide campaign. Kurka will apparently be challenging the governor from the right, condemning efforts to control Covid-19 as “extreme evil.” * And Iowa’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary field got a little smaller recently, with former Crawford County Supervisor Dave Muhlbauer ending his candidacy, citing a family death. Former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer, retired Navy Adm. Mike Franken, Minden City Council member Glenn Hurst, and former state Rep. Bob Krause are still vying for the Democratic nomination.
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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