Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Georgia’s gubernatorial race, Stacey Abrams (D) and Brian Kemp (R) had agreed to participate in a debate on Sunday. Then Donald Trump announced plans to campaign for Kemp on Sunday, prompting the Kemp campaign to cancel. Yesterday, Kemp accused Abrams of cancelling, but that appears to have been a rather obvious lie.
* A new Washington Post-Schar School poll of the 69 most competitive U.S. House seats found Democrats with a modest lead over Republicans, 50% to 46%. Two years ago, Republicans prevailed in these same districts by a margin of 15 points.
* Reflecting on his expectations for the midterm elections, Trump told reporters yesterday, “I know we’re doing well in the Senate, and it looks like we’re doing okay in the House. We’re going to have to see.”
* As if this week weren’t bad enough for Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the far-right congressman lost some additional corporate donors yesterday, and confronted a brutal editorial from the Des Moines Register. “In his almost 16 years in Congress, King has passed exactly one bill as primary sponsor, re-designating a post office,” it said, adding, “Instead, he spends his time meeting with fascist leaders in Europe and retweeting neo-Nazis.” King nevertheless said yesterday he expects to win re-election.
* I know some of the polling looks good for Florida Democrats, but the Miami Herald‘s Marc Caputo noted again this morning that Republicans appear to be ahead in early voting returns.
* In Indiana’s very competitive U.S. Senate race, a new NBC News/Marist poll found Sen. Joe Donnelly (D) leading Mike Braun (R) by a very narrow margin, 48% to 46%.
* In related news, Donnelly was in damage-control mode yesterday after using some inartful language when describing the diversity of his staff during a Tuesday night debate.
* In Wisconsin, the latest Marquette Law School Poll found the state’s gubernatorial race exactly tied, with incumbent Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Tony Evers (D) each receiving 47% support. * On a related note, the same poll found incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) well ahead of Leah Vukmir (R) in Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race, 54% to 43%. * Fox News released five new Senate polls yesterday, which found the races in Arizona and Missouri tied, Donnelly (D) up by seven in Indiana, Marsha Blackburn (R) up by nine in Tennessee, and Kevin Cramer (R) up by nine in North Dakota. * And in Montana, Libertarian candidate Rick Breckenridge ended his U.S. Senate campaign yesterday and threw his support behind Republican Matt Rosendale. This may well cause new trouble for Sen. Jon Tester (D).
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
