Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Rep. Gerry Connolly has announced that his esophageal cancer returned following treatment. As a result, the Virginia Democrat will retire and pare back his work as the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee.
* Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, last week asked John Reid, his party’s 2025 nominee for lieutenant governor, to step down over explicit photos that were amplified via social media. For his part, Reid denies he reposted the content and insists that he’s remaining in the race.
* In a message published to his social media platform, Donald Trump falsely claimed Democrats “are paying a fortune” to have people “infiltrate” Republican town hall events. The president added, “These Great Patriot Politicians should not treat them nicely. Have them immediately ejected from the room — They are disruptors and troublemakers.”
* In Illinois’ Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has already picked up endorsements from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
* Speaking of the governor, Pritzker appears increasingly interested in a national 2028 candidacy and held an event in New Hampshire over the weekend. Among other things, the Illinois Democrat said, “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.” Pritzker calls for mass protests and disruption – “Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,” he says, swaying their portraits will one day be put in museums “reserved for tyrants and traitors” * Incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff will be one of the top Republican targets in the 2026 midterm elections, which made it all the more notable that the Georgia Democrat said Trump’s conduct as president “has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment.” * And in case anyone was under the impression that Sen. Bernie Sanders was interested in creating a third party, the Vermont independent appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” and rejected the idea out of hand. “No, we’re not trying to start a third party,” the senator told host Kristen Welker. “What we’re trying to do is strengthen American democracy.”
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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