Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Nine months after last year’s presidential election, Donald Trump again insisted in a speech in West Virginia last night that the Justice Department should investigate Hillary Clinton’s email server protocols. Trump followers in the audience responded with “Lock her up!” chants.
* In the latest Quinnipiac poll, Democrats lead Republicans on the generic congressional ballot by 14 points, 52% to 38%.
* In Alabama, the Senate Republican leadership’s super PAC isn’t just scrambling to help appointed Sen. Luther Strange (R); it’s also begun running negative ads targeting former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, one of Strange’s rivals in the Aug. 15 special election primary.
* In Missouri, where Republican leaders have pressured state Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) next year, the party may get its wish. Hawley, just six months into his career, has now formed an exploratory committee for next year’s Senate race. * The Seattle Times reported this week that the city will elect “a woman as mayor in 2017 for the first time in 91 years, with voters putting four women ahead in a crowded primary election in Tuesday night’s returns.” * And in Indiana, there’s an interesting intra-party dispute brewing in the Republicans’ U.S. Senate primary, where Mike Pence allies are rallying behind Rep. Luke Messer (R), while prominent Donald Trump supporters prefer Rep. Todd Rokita (R).
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
