Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state, announced this morning that every registered voter in the Wolverine State will be mailed an application to cast an absentee ballot, offering people an alternative to in-person voting. The Detroit Free Press reported that Michigan Republicans may challenge the policy with a lawsuit.
* With just three months remaining before the Democratic National Convention in supposed to kick off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) conceded yesterday that a “virtual” gathering is likely in light of the pandemic.
* On a related note, around the same time as the Democratic governor’s comments, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel insisted that her party “will not be holding a virtual convention.” The Republican gathering is scheduled to begin in late August in Charlotte, though local officials have not yet endorsed McDaniel’s schedule.
* Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has hired Julie Chavez Rodriguez as its new senior adviser to help with Latino outreach. Rodriguez, the granddaughter of civil rights leader César Chávez, previously worked as a political director for Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential operation.
* The latest poll in Arizona from OH Predictive Insights found Joe Biden leading Donald Trump in the state, 50% to 43%. The Grand Canyon State has long been a Republican stronghold — it’s backed the GOP ticket in 16 of the last 17 election cycles — but Dems see it as a 2020 battleground. * On a related note, the same poll found astronaut Mark Kelly (D) ahead of incumbent appointed Sen. Martha McSally (R), 51% to 38%. * In Virginia, a new poll from Roanoke College found Biden leading Trump, 51% to 39%. * And in Kentucky, U.S. Senate hopeful Amy McGrath’s new ad features a pair of Republican governors — Maryland’s Larry Hogan and Ohio’s Mike DeWine — as examples of GOP officials doing a better job with the coronavirus than her opponent, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Both governors have denounced the commercial.
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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