Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As Michigan Republicans move forward with plans to impose new voting restrictions in the state, the Associated Press reports that the leaders of three-dozen major Michigan-based companies, including General Motors, have announced their objections to the anti-voting efforts.
* On a related note, Ohio Republicans are also reportedly moving forward with plans to make it harder to vote in the Buckeye State, which would include dramatic rollbacks in ballot drop boxes.
* In Connecticut’s Democratic-led legislature, meanwhile, state lawmakers are preparing a variety of measures to “expand access and make voting easier.” Among the proposals are expanded early voting, greater access to absentee ballots, and restored voting rights for former felons.
* Many Democrats assumed that former Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.) would run again in California’s 39th district next year, following his narrow defeat last fall. That now appears unlikely: President Joe Biden yesterday tapped Cisneros for a prominent role at the Pentagon.
* In Kansas, state Senate Republicans have agreed to remove Gene Suellentrop (R) as the chamber’s majority leader, “the first major political penalty paid by the Wichita Republican after he was charged with leading police on a drunken wrong-way chase down Interstate 70.” * In Kentucky, former state Rep. Charles Booker (D), who ran a surprisingly strong U.S. Senate primary race last year, this week launched an exploratory committee in the hopes of taking on Sen. Rand Paul (R) in 2022. * And in Georgia, where there’s an effort in some GOP circles to find Black Republicans to run for statewide offices, Kelvin King (R), the owner of an Atlanta-area construction company, launched his candidacy yesterday against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D). Another Black Republican, former state legislator Vernon Jones, is reportedly eyeing a possible primary campaign against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp (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."
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