Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The Democratic National Committee is clearly upping its game on billboards, deploying a mobile billboard outside Mar-a-Lago and the Four Seasons hotel on Saturday, needling attendees to the Republican National Committee’s donor retreat in south Florida.
* On a related note, a group called Mad Dog PAC has placed a billboard on a heavily traveled road in Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) district. It tells locals, “Matt Gaetz Wants to ‘Date’ Your Child.”
* Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske (R) is the only Republican to hold a statewide office in the Silver State. Over the weekend, the Nevada Republican Party nevertheless voted to censure Cegavske for not pursuing bogus voter-fraud allegations in the wake of the 2020 elections.
* On a related note, Cegavske issued an unapologetic statement soon after, explaining, “My job is to carry out the duties of my office as enacted by the Nevada Legislature, not carry water for the state GOP or put my thumb on the scale of democracy.”
* Speaking of Nevada, while there was some chatter about former Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) challenging Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) next year, the former governor has now explicitly said he will not be a candidate. * In a pleasant surprise, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled late Friday that “the state does not need to purge from the voter rolls about 70,000 people identified in 2019 as potentially having moved — a win for Democrats who vigorously opposed the move pushed by Republicans.” It was a 5-2 ruling. * Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) last week signed a measure into law that will automatically restore voting rights to people who have been released from prison after committing felonies. “While other states are restricting the right to vote, I’m glad that in Washington, we are expanding access to democracy,” the governor said. * And in an apparent bid to remain relevant ahead of 2024, former Vice President Mike Pence is launching a new advocacy organization, called Advancing American Freedom. The Indiana Republican has also reportedly signed a multi-million-dollar, two-book deal with Simon & Schuster.
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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