Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has launched a $25 million, 16-week television and digital campaign, overwhelmingly aimed at the swing-state voters. As a Washington Post report explained, this isn’t altogether normal by contemporary standards: “[T]he Biden campaign has decided to buck precedent by launching a major advertising buy sooner than Barack Obama or Donald Trump, the last two presidents to run for reelection.”
* As Republican presidential candidates race to convince GOP primary voters of their extremism on immigration issues, Vivek Ramaswamy is breaking new ground: The entrepreneur is prepared to deport American citizens if their parents are undocumented.
* In case you missed the announcement on Friday, Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, among the most successful House speakers in modern history, will seek re-election next year in her San Francisco-area congressional district.
* A fascinating observation from Semafor’s Dave Weigel: “For the first time since 2016, no Democratic incumbent in Congress has a credible primary challenger on the left.”
* In the state of Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee is stepping down after three terms, and the Democratic incumbent has chosen his preferred successor: State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, one of several Democrats running in next year’s gubernatorial race, picked up Inslee’s endorsement over the weekend.
* No Labels has already faced criticisms from Democrats, and it won’t help that a major Republican donor and former Donald Trump backer is now working with the No Labels operation ahead of the 2024 cycle.
* In related news, Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” yesterday and said he’d be open to outreach as No Labels looks for candidates to run on a presidential ticket. “If they came and spoke to me, I would certainly speak to them back,” the Louisiana Republican said. Larry Hogan, Maryland’s former Republican governor, made related comments on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” last weekend.
