Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Now that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has announced his opposition to a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission, the editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel is arguing that it’s “time to give up on” the Republican senator. The editorial, published yesterday morning, added, “Sorry to say it, but Marco Rubio is beyond hope.”
* Less than a week after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Facebook announced a pause on all political contributions for three months. This week, the social-media giant decided to renew its donations, but it will exclude congressional Republicans who voted against certifying President Biden’s victory.
* Apparently unembarrassed by the ongoing fiasco, the Arizona Republican Party sent out fundraising appeals this week asking donors to “help the audit” of 2020 ballots from Maricopa County.
* In a bit of a surprise, Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) announced that he won’t run in his state’s open U.S. Senate race and will instead seek re-election to the U.S. House.
* In related news, former Ohio Secretary of State Josh Mandel’s (R) Senate campaign appears to be having some trouble: three of the Republican’s fundraisers recently resigned from Mandel’s operation. * On heels of a narrow re-election defeat last fall, former Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D) is gearing up for U.S. Senate campaign in Iowa next year, hoping to take on incumbent Sen. Chuck Grassley (R). She’ll join farmer Dave Muhlbauer, a former Crawford County supervisor, who launched his campaign earlier this week. * And Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) announced this week that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) should be removed from the House Republican conference. “You can’t stop somebody from calling themselves a Republican,” he told Politico. “What we can do as a party is take a stand and say you don’t belong in our conference. That’s what I think we should do. I think we should kick her out of the conference, prevent her from coming to conference meetings, benefiting from conference materials.” It’s unlikely House GOP leaders will consider such a move.
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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