Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In a key New Jersey congressional district, it’s been a week since reports first surfaced about Republican candidate Seth Grossman calling diversity “a bunch of crap” and “un-American.” TPM reported yesterday that Grossman “has doubled down on his anti-diversity rhetoric.”
* In Wisconsin’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest poll from Marquette University Law School found incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) with leads of 11 and 9 points, respectively, against her likely Republican challengers.
* Two years ago in Arizona, Joe Arpaio lost his re-election bid for Maricopa County sheriff. Now, Arpaio wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions “to investigate whether the U.S. Justice Department under President Barack Obama improperly worked to sway voters against him.” Apparently, he’s not kidding.
* Ahead of Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary, Donald Trump has officially endorsed Rep. Ron DeSantis. The congressman was considered a long-shot candidate, right up until the president started singing his praises after seeing his appearances on Fox News.
* On a related note, Trump also endorsed this morning Rep. Martha Roby (R), who’s facing a runoff primary in Alabama, largely because her far-right critics believes she’s been insufficiently loyal to the White House. * It’s been clear for a while that former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D), who nearly won an upset in a U.S. Senate race two years ago, would run for another office, but it wasn’t clear which one. Now we know: Kander reportedly intends to run for mayor in Kansas City. * Would Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) run against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) in a primary in 2020? The governor said this week that he hasn’t ruled it out. * And in Texas’ 31st congressional district, Air Force veteran M. J. Hegar (D), taking on incumbent Rep. John Carter (R), is generating quite a bit of buzz for releasing a very impressive bio video, which generated 250,000 views on YouTube in just a couple of days.
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
