Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* After weeks of chatter, Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) announced last night that he’s launched an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination. The Michigan congressman was a longtime Republican who left the party last summer.
* On a related note, Amash’s quixotic national campaign will almost certainly help Republicans reclaim Michigan’s 3rd congressional district.
* As expected, voters in Maryland’s 7th congressional district easily elected former Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D) in yesterday’s special election, filling the vacancy left by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D).
* Ohio held its delayed primary elections yesterday, and Rep. Joyce Beatty easily fended off a Democratic primary challenge from Morgan Harper, a former senior adviser at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Joe Biden also defeated Bernie Sanders in Ohio by about 56 points, though the Vermont senator managed to add some delegates to his overall count.
* Priorities USA, one of the nation’s leading Democratic super PACs, launched a tough new ad this week, slamming Donald Trump for making “America first” in coronavirus infections and deaths. The ad is reportedly airing in three crucial battleground states: Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. * A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that voters prefer Joe Biden to Donald Trump on handling the coronavirus crisis (55% to 40%) and prefer the likely Democratic nominee over the Republican incumbent on the economy (51% to 44%). * As Democratic leaders continue to rally behind Biden’s 2020 candidacy, Hillary Clinton threw her support behind the former vice president yesterday. * And in a bit of a surprise, some of the top members of Bernie Sanders’ political team are forming a super PAC in the hopes of helping Biden defeat Trump in November.
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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