Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Former Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) hoped to get Donald Trump’s support for his comeback bid, but the president instead endorsed incumbent Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) last night. Of note: Trump praised Donovan for supporting the GOP tax plan, but Donovan voted against it.
* Though some recent polling pointed to a potentially competitive Senate race in Texas, the latest Quinnipiac poll showed incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R) leading Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D), 50% to 39%. (For what it’s worth, the poll showed Cruz leading O’Rourke among Hispanic voters, 46% to 44%, which struck me as a little hard to believe.)
* On a related note, the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity is launching some attack ads targeting O’Rourke for supporting an omnibus spending package signed into law by Donald Trump.
* Speaking of the Lone Star State, the aforementioned Quinnipiac poll found incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) with a big lead over former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez (D), 53% to 34%.
* In North Dakota’s Senate race, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R) is reportedly unhappy with the White House, convinced that he’s not getting enough support in his race against incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D). * Some Parkland families have taken their political activism to a new level, creating a super PAC intended to help counter the National Rifle Association’s political influence. * In Florida’s Senate campaign, the Tampa Bay Times recently reported that Gov. Rick Scott (R) spent more than $8 million in his first month as a candidate. The barrage is apparently continuing: the Republican just made a $2.2 million ad buy in support of an attack ad targeting incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D). * And former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reportedly said this week, “There is no Republican Party. There’s a Trump Party. The Republican Party is taking nap somewhere.”
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
