Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It took a couple of days but a Vermont Republican named Samuel Douglass announced Friday that he’s resigning over his role in a racist group chat that Politico exposed a couple of days earlier.
* With two weeks remaining before New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, Barack Obama is throwing his support behind Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, starring in a new ad that’s airing in the Garden State.
I'm honored to have President @barackobama.bsky.social on Team Mikie.This movement is about delivering something better for New Jersey — lower costs, more opportunity for our kids, and a government that's truly accountable to the people.
— Mikie Sherrill (@mikiesherrill.bsky.social) 2025-10-17T11:18:33.783Z
* The latest national poll from The Associated Press found Donald Trump’s approval rating down to just 37% — the lowest support of his second term, down eight points from AP’s poll of two months earlier. The survey was conducted after the president played a role in negotiating a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
* It seems unlikely that disgraced former Republican Rep. George Santos would ever launch a comeback bid, but now that Trump has commuted his criminal sentence, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the New Yorker would be welcomed back in the House GOP conference if voters elected him again.
* As North Carolina Republicans move forward with plans to gerrymander their state’s districts even more, Trump celebrated a newly proposed map, not because it would be fairer or more just, but because it would “elect an additional MAGA Republican in the 2026 Midterm Elections.” * On a related note, the White House hasn’t given up on trying to push Indiana Republicans to pursue a similar mid-decade redistricting scheme, though the gambit has faced some local resistance. * In a setback for Democratic recruiting efforts, former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards announced last week that he won’t run for the U.S. Senate in Louisiana next year. * And in a sign of the times, the National Republican Senate Committee launched a digital ad last week that uses AI-generated video to blame Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for the ongoing government shutdown.
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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