Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Tennessee’s competitive U.S. Senate race, former Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) announced this morning that if he were in the Senate, he’d vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
* Michael Waltz, a congressional hopeful in Florida’s 6th district, told Donald Trump’s political team that he’d welcome a presidential fundraiser, but Waltz didn’t want Trump to stand alongside him on the campaign trail. This is the same district that was represented by gubernatorial hopeful Ron DeSantis (R).
* Donald Trump’s re-election campaign sent an email appeal to supporters yesterday, which read, in all-caps, “No more games. No more excuses. The Senate must confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the U.S. Senate now.”
* Congressional hopeful Janet Garrett (D) has an uphill climb against Rep. Jim Jordan (R) in Ohio’s 6th congressional district, but she’s generating some attention for her candidacy with a new ad inspired by the “Handmaid’s Tale.”
* Arizona may be home to a competitive U.S. Senate race, but the gubernatorial race isn’t nearly as close: the latest Suffolk poll shows incumbent Gov. Doug Ducey (R) leading David Garcia (D), 50% to 38%. * In Kansas’ competitive 2nd congressional district, where incumbent Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R) is retiring, her would-GOP successor is running into trouble: Steve Watkins’ campaign website has made a variety of exaggerated claims. The local AP reported that the candidate’s site “featured a since-removed testimonial to his “heroic leadership” when a deadly earthquake shook Mount Everest during an expedition. He has acknowledged inaccurately claiming that he started a Middle East business, expanding it from three to 470 people. And there are doubts about Watkins’ self-description as a devoted, sixth-generation Kansan.” * And though former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has kept a relatively low electoral profile, she’s scheduled to campaign in Illinois with gubernatorial hopeful J.B. Pritzker (D) early next week. She’s also agreed to headline a fundraiser for Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) re-election campaign.
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
