Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) announced late Friday he intends to resign from Congress “shortly after the holidays.” NBC News’ report noted that the timing of the disgraced Republican’s departure means California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) “can leave the seat vacant until after the Nov. 2020 general election, call for a special election, or consolidate a special election with the March primary.”
* It took a while, but a super PAC aligned with Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, called Unite the Country, has made a $650,000 ad buy focusing on Iowa markets. The 30-second spot is online here.
* According to a FiveThirtyEight tally, Tom Steyer’s Democratic presidential campaign has spent $47 million on advertising, Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign has spent $39 million (in just a few weeks), and the rest of the party’s 2020 field combined has spent $15 million.
* Speaking of the former New York City mayor, Bloomberg claimed in a CBS News interview that it took several years for him to publicly apologize for the “stop and frisk” policy because he hadn’t been asked about it before launching a White House bid. That does not appear to be true.
* Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign parted ways late last week with its deputy director of constituency organizing following revelations about offensive tweets the staffer published between 2010 and 2012. This is the second such departure from the Vermont senator’s operation in recent months. * Kelly Loeffler won’t take office as an appointed U.S. senator until next month, but the Georgia Republican is already talking about investing $20 million of her own money into her 2020 bid. * And in Kentucky, newly elected Secretary of State Michael Adams (R) won’t take office until the new year, but he’s already gearing up to push a voter-ID measure, identifying it as one of his top policy priorities.
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
