Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As things stand, it appears Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, have voted overwhelmingly against forming a union, despite months of efforts from labor and progressive groups.
* Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) yesterday issued a statement ostensibly from women working in his office, praising the beleaguered congressman and rejecting the allegations surrounding him. Oddly enough, the statement included the names of literally zero staffers.
* The Republican National Committee will hold its donor retreat over the weekend in south Florida, with Donald Trump headlining the gathering. While the event will not be hosted directly at a property owned by the former president, the Associated Press reported there “will be donor events at Trump’s nearby Mar-a-Lago estate to raise money for groups focused on Trump’s political future and policy priorities.”
* Florida Republicans have given their pending voter-suppression bill a little touch-up, scrapping a provision that would’ve barred people from giving water to voters waiting in line.
* In Arizona, where another voter-suppression bill is pending, Bloomberg reports that more than a dozen prominent CEOs and business leaders are “asking the Republican-led legislature to reject three bills that would add new requirements for early voting.”
* For those keeping an eye on Texas’ voter-suppression bill, NBC News reports that a pernicious bill cleared a Republican-led state House committee yesterday morning
* Indiana’s Republican state legislature is also moving forward with a bill adding new voter-ID requirements to those hoping to cast ballots through the mail. * The National Republican Congressional Committee reportedly had an excellent first quarter, bringing in $33.7 million between January and March, and breaking the NRCC’s off-year record. * Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) is apparently going to skip a re-election bid next year, focusing instead on a “GOP 2.0” group intended to help reform the Republican Party. * And disgraced former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn still hopes to remain politically relevant, and this week he endorsed Amanda Chase’s Republican gubernatorial campaign in Virginia. For the former foreign agent, Chase is an obvious choice: the right-wing state senator describes herself as “Trump in heels.”
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."
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