Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Of the eight House Republicans who voted against the border-wall spending package yesterday, three of them lost in last month’s midterm elections, and one is retiring.
* Sen. Pat Roberts’ (R) re-election bid in Kansas in 2014 turned out to be far more difficult than he expected, and as the 82-year-old senator looks ahead, he hasn’t decided whether to run for a fifth term.
* After seeing reports of Alabama Democrats having used “Russian methods” in last year’s U.S. Senate special election, Sen. Doug Jones (D) has called for a federal investigation.
* Georgia state Sen. Michael Williams (R), who ran a highly provocative gubernatorial campaign in 2018, was indicted this week for allegedly “making a false report that computer servers were stolen from his campaign office shortly before his last-place finish in the May primary.”
* Kansas Democrats were delighted to see three Republican state lawmakers become Dems in recent weeks, and Kansas House Minority Leader Jim Ward (D) told TPM that there are “three or four” additional Republicans who may also flip. “We’re not done,” Ward said. “We’re gonna continue to recruit.” * The Democratic National Committee announced this week that it’s approved a debate schedule for the party’s 2020 presidential candidates, which will include 12 events. Depending on the size of the field, some debates will likely be split “into separate events on back-to-back nights” to avoid the Republicans’ “kid-table” debates from 2016. The first debate, believe it or not, is just six months away. * And on a related note, as likely Democratic candidates line up financial supporters for their national campaigns, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) will apparently benefit from a super PAC fueled by San Francisco-based Democratic donor Steve Phillips. It will reportedly be called “Dream United.”
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
