Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Though the contests aren’t quite as exciting as last week’s primary, voters in five states will vote in primaries tomorrow: Nevada, Virginia, Maine, South Carolina, and North Dakota.
* Among the things to watch tomorrow is the voting in Maine, not just because of the specific races and candidates, but also because Maine will be the only state in the nation this year to use ranked-choice voting — or as some call it, instant-runoff voting — in its congressional and gubernatorial primaries.
* In South Carolina, most election watchers are keeping an eye on the state’s gubernatorial primaries, but it may also be worth watching Rep. Mark Sanford’s Republican primary in the state’s 1st congressional district. Sanford has traditionally avoided spending money on television advertising, but he’s made an 11th-hour media blitz, suggesting he’s worried about tomorrow’s results.
* On a related note, Donald Trump formally endorsed current South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) on Friday afternoon. McMaster was an early backer of Trump’s 2016 campaign.
* Guided by the principle that the head of a party should be a member of the party, the Democratic National Committee’s rules and bylaws committee adopted a new rule on Friday “that would prevent outsiders like Bernie Sanders from seeking the party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential race.” * In Florida, former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) considered a gubernatorial campaign this year, but late last week, he decided against it and threw his support to former Rep. Gwen Graham (D). * And though I’m not quite sure what to make of the article, Politico reports that Barack Obama has in recent months “met with at least nine prospective 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Deval Patrick, pulling them in for one-on-one sessions at his Washington office.”
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
