Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Nikki Haley won her first Republican presidential nominating contest over the weekend, easily defeating Donald Trump in the Washington, D.C., primary. The former president responded to the setback by saying he “purposely” didn’t try to compete in the contest.
* Also over the weekend, Trump won GOP caucuses in Idaho and Missouri. As for the party’s mess in Michigan — which is still being described as a “dysfunctional dumpster fire“ — the former president also won additional delegates at a party convention in the Wolverine State on Saturday.
* Though Haley last year pledged to the Republican National Committee that she would support her party’s eventual presidential nominee, the former U.N. ambassador appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” over the weekend and suggested she no longer feels bound by that vow.
* In case Democratic voters weren’t already feeling enough anxiety, the latest New York Times/Siena College poll found Trump leading incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden in a hypothetical match-up, 48% to 43%. A Times article on the race added, “Mr. Trump’s current lead over Mr. Biden is built with a significant number of voters who believe [the former president] is a criminal.”
* Speaking of polling, a new Wall Street Journal survey found the public feeling more upbeat about the U.S. economy, though this isn’t translating into gains for Biden. * In New Jersey, indicted Sen. Bob Menendez still hasn’t said whether he intends to run for re-election in the fall, but it probably won’t help the incumbent Democrat that a co-defendant in the case has agreed to plead guilty and will cooperate with prosecutors. * In Ohio, right-wing congressional hopeful J.R. Majewski’s on-again/off-again campaign is apparently over. The controversial Republican, who ran a failed bid two years ago, struggled to recover after saying Democrats arguing with him online was “like being in the Special Olympics,” adding, “No matter how good you perform, you’re still a f—ing retard.” * And the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday turned away a Democratic lawsuit challenging the state’s current congressional district map. This ensures that the existing map, which benefits Republicans, will remain in place for the 2024 election cycle.
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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