Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With just two weeks remaining before Virginia’s gubernatorial race, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity has decided to invest “at least $1 million” in an attempt to defeat Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee. The message will reportedly focus in part on Northam’s opposition to school vouchers.
* On a related note, the Voter Participation Center is poised to spend a similar amount to boost Democratic turnout in the commonwealth.
* As for this year’s other gubernatorial race, Hillary Clinton was in New Jersey yesterday, headlining a fundraiser in support of Phil Murphy, the Democratic nominee. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, will campaign with Murphy at an event tomorrow.
* To no one’s surprise, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) will run for re-election in Vermont next year as an independent. Though the senator caucuses with Democrats, and ran for the party’s presidential nomination, Sanders never actually joined the party, and that apparently won’t change over the next year.
* The Vermonter’s announcement came on the heels of Democratic National Committee members rejecting a measure that would’ve pushed Sanders to “register or affiliate with the Democratic Party” next year. * At an event in California over the weekend, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, went after George W. Bush following his recent speech that seemed to criticize the current president. “President Bush, to me, embarrassed himself,” Bannon said. “It’s clear he didn’t understand anything he was talking about…. He has no earthly idea whether he’s coming or going, just like it was when he was president of the United States.” * And at a union event in St. Louis yesterday, AFL-CIO members voted to have Richard Trumka to stay on as the president of the labor federation. Trumka has led the AFL-CIO since 2009.
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." Recommended
