Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this morning announced plans for legislation that would “make it clear that presidents can be indicted for criminal activity, including obstruction of justice.” To that end, she’s vowing to appoint Justice Department officials who’ll reverse existing guidelines on the matter.
* Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), a former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is joining former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) team. The four-term congressman will serve as a national co-chair of the Biden campaign.
* Politico reports today that For Our Future, a super PAC focused on Democratic turnout, now has a budget of between $80 million and $90 million. It will use that money to build “a network of 4,000 paid staff and an army of volunteers in Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.”
* As of yesterday afternoon, roughly half of the Democratic presidential hopefuls have called for, at a minimum, the start of impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. It’s very likely that number will grow.
* The DNC and DSCC wasted no time before announcing their formal support for Jaime Harrison’s (D) Senate campaign against incumbent Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) in South Carolina. Harrison was unlikely to face a serious primary rival, but the party endorsements should further discourage anyone who might be eyeing the race. * Though the 2022 elections are still far away, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) made clear this week that he intends to run for a fourth term in the Empire State. His father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo (D), served three terms in the 1980s and 1990s. * And in Mississippi, a group of local voters filed a lawsuit against their state’s electoral system that’s worth keeping an eye on. Since the Jim Crow era, to get elected to statewide office in Mississippi, candidates don’t just have to win the most votes, they also have to win most of the state’s 122 legislative districts. The point was to weaken the state’s sizable African-American population, and a new federal lawsuit hopes to end the existing system.
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
