Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) confirmed to MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt last night that he won’t seek re-election this year, now that his seat is more competitive. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court recently struck down a Republican-designed gerrymandered map as illegal.
* The Washington Post advanced the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica in interesting ways overnight, reporting that the data firm “assigned dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014, according to three former workers for the data firm, even as an attorney warned executives to abide by U.S. laws limiting foreign involvement in elections.”
* On paper, Democrats appear to have no chance in the upcoming congressional special election in Arizona’s 8th district, but the Republican National Committee just invested over $280,000 in the race. The special election to replace former Rep. Trent Franks (R) will be held on April 24. Donald Trump won this district by 21 points in 2016.
* In Ohio, a new SurveyUSA poll shows incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) with leads over each of his would-be Republican rivals, by margins ranging from 14 to 16 points.
* The news for Ohio Republicans was better on the gubernatorial front, with the same poll showing state Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) leading former CFPB Director Rob Cordray (D), 47% to 39%. * Though most of the recent congressional generic ballot polls have been encouraging for Democrats, the new Fox News poll shows the Dems’ advantage slipping to just five points, 46% to 41%. * Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) will apparently launch his U.S. Senate campaign next week. * And in Hawaii, incumbent Gov. David Ige (D) appears to be in trouble: a new Honolulu Star-Advertiser poll shows him trailing his Democratic primary rival, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, by 20 points.
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
