Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As Laphonza Butler prepares to be sworn in as the U.S. Senate’s newest member, will the California Democrat seek a term of her own next year? “I have no idea,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “I genuinely don’t know.”
* With just five weeks remaining in this year’s election cycle, Axios reports that the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee “is pumping another $1 million into Virginia’s high-stakes legislative elections this fall, doubling its commitment for the year.”
* Speaking of this year’s elections, Election Day in Kentucky is also five weeks away, and Republican Sen. Rand Paul is starring in a campaign ad, attacking Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for not being anti-trans.
* Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign has struggled to catch on in Iowa and New Hampshire, but Politico reports that one of the South Carolina Republican’s top campaign advisers “is privately lobbying donors to stick with him until the primary reaches his home state of South Carolina.” That’s not a ridiculous pitch, except for the fact that recent polling shows Scott trailing Donald Trump by a wide margin in his home state.
* On a related note, Politico also reported last week that “top Republican donors shopping for a candidate not named Donald Trump” are slowly closing their wallets and giving up. “Trump’s like 50 points ahead,” said one New York-based GOP fundraiser, granted anonymity to speak freely about the state of play. “Who wants to get involved and waste money?”
* With incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez facing an uncertain future, would Rep. Mikie Sherrill launch a statewide bid next year? Evidently not: The Democratic Navy veteran told Punchbowl News, “I’m not planning to run for the Senate seat.” Rumor has it that Sherrill is, however, interested in a 2025 gubernatorial campaign.
* Trump spoke to the California Republican Party late last week and said he would’ve won the Golden State “by a lot” were it not for the “rigged election system.” For the record, the GOP ticket was crushed in California in 2020, receiving just 34% of the vote.
