Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Maine’s 2nd congressional district, a federal judge this morning rejected Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s (R) request to force the Maine Secretary of State to stop the ranked-choice runoff process.
* As of this morning, the Democratic lead in the U.S. House popular vote is up to 7.2%, though it may yet inch higher. For comparison purposes, note that in 2010 — which was widely seen as a GOP “wave” cycle — Republicans won the U.S. House popular vote by 6.6%.
* As thing stand, there are eight undecided U.S. House races, two pending gubernatorial races, a U.S. Senate race in the midst of a recount, and one U.S. Senate special election which is 10 days away.
* Speaking of uncalled races, the secretary of state contest in Georgia is headed for a runoff, and as Brian Kemp has made abundantly clear, this is an office the public should take seriously.
* Bothered by DNC Chairman Tom Perez’s role in diminishing the power of superdelegates, the Congressional Black Caucus this week approved a “no confidence” resolution on his role. * California has 53 congressional districts, and it looks like Republicans will end up holding just 8 or 9 of those seats. A Washington Post report noted, “The last time Democrats held as high a percentage of California’s House seats, the Civil War was raging.” * On a related note, New Jersey has 12 congressional districts and Democrats will soon hold 11 of the seats. It’s the worst showing for Republicans in the Garden State since 1912. * And Senate Democrats announced this morning that Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) will chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2020 cycle. She’ll be the first Latina to ever hold the position.
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
