Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* One day after Joe Biden’s campaign said the Democrat hadn’t changed his position on the Hyde Amendment, the former vice president announced last night that he now opposes the law that prevents federal funding for abortion.
* Common Cause, pointing to newly uncovered files from deceased Republican operative Thomas Hofeller, raised provocative allegations yesterday: Republicans in North Carolina, the group claimed, “misled a federal court in 2017 to extend the life of their state legislative district map.”
* As expected, Rep. Greg Gianforte (R) filed the paperwork yesterday to run for governor in Montana next year, following his defeat for the same office in 2016. Gianforte is perhaps best known for assaulting a journalist during a congressional campaign and misleading the police about the incident.
* Though it looked as if Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) had made the cut for the upcoming Democratic presidential debates, the DNC isn’t counting one of the polls that apparently made him eligible to participate. Barring some 11th-hour good news for his campaign, the governor won’t qualify.
* In Texas, former state Sen. Wendy Davis (D), whose gubernatorial campaign fell short in 2014, is now moving forward with plans to run against Rep. Chip Roy (R) next year. Roy currently represents Texas’ 21st congressional district, which is an R+10 district, suggesting Davis will face an uphill climb. * Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has pushed for Democratic presidential hopefuls to participate in a debate focused exclusively on the climate crisis. The DNC doesn’t want to depart from the agreed upon debate schedule, though Inslee is apparently prepared to defy the party and organize an unsanctioned event on his own. * Last year, Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) faced progressive criticism when he remained neutral in Gina Ortiz Jones’s (D) race against Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas). This week, the congressman-turned-presidential-candidate said he’ll support Ortiz Jones in the 2020 rematch, his friendship with Hurd notwithstanding. * And fans of former Sen. Lincoln Chafee will be interested to know he’s changed parties again. As an elected official in Rhode Island, Chafee was a Republican, then an independent, and then a Democrat. Now, however, Chafee has moved to Wyoming, where’s he’s registered as a Libertarian.
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
