Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* An interesting New York Times analysis found nearly half of the Republican legislators in closely contested battleground states “have used the power of their office to discredit or try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.” The problem is not entirely retrospective: How will these same lawmakers deal with the 2024 results?
* It took a few days, but in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, state Rep. Summer Lee won an expensive and highly competitive primary. If she wins in the fall, Lee would be the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress.
* Speaking of Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, five days after easily winning a Democratic U.S. Senate primary, was released from the hospital following a recent stroke. “I am feeling great, but per my doctor’s orders, and Gisele’s orders, I am going to continue to rest and recover,” he said in a statement, referring to his wife.
* At the Wisconsin Republicans’ annual convention, party leaders chose not to officially endorse anyone in the upcoming gubernatorial primary. Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch needed 60 percent support from attendees, but she received 55 percent. The primary is scheduled for Aug. 9.
* At the same event, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was interrupted by boos after acknowledging the fact that he can’t decertify the 2020 election. * With Mike Pence campaigning in Georgia today in support of incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, Donald Trump’s team took an unusually pointed shot at the former vice president. “Mike Pence was set to lose a governor’s race in 2016 before he was plucked up and his political career was salvaged,” Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich told The New York Times. “Now, desperate to chase his lost relevance, Pence is parachuting into races, hoping someone is paying attention.” * In fundraising news, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced late last week that it took in $8.2 million in April, just a little more than the $8.1 million the National Republican Senatorial Committee raised over the same month. The two campaign committees are also nearly tied when it comes to cash on hand, with the DSCC’s $45.9 million edging past the NRSC’s $45.1 million. * And in Michigan, Jacky Eubanks, a Trump-backed Republican state Senate candidate, said last week that if given the opportunity, she would vote to ban all birth control.
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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