Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* A new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal found that a plurality of Americans who live in “Trump Counties” believe the country is worse off now that it was a year ago.
* Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), the Senate’s most vulnerable Republican incumbent in 2018, has launched his first television ad of the cycle, focusing on, among other things, filling judicial vacancies with Donald Trump’s far-right nominees.
* Reflecting on Ed Gillespie’s (R) right-wing messaging in Virginia’s gubernatorial race, his former extremist primary rival, Corey Stewart, said yesterday, “It feels like my campaign, doesn’t it?”
* Tom Steyer’s television ads in support of Donald Trump’s impeachment have been airing quite a bit on cable news networks, including MSNBC, but they’re poised to reach a narrower audience now: Fox News has decided to stop airing the commercial.
* In a bit of a surprise, Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer will no longer have the Republican field to themselves in Indiana’s U.S. Senate race: former state Rep. Mike Braun, who’s independently wealthy, kicked off his race this week. * In a new book, former President George H.W. Bush concedes he voted for Hillary Clinton last year. * And in Maine last year, voters adopted ranked-choice voting, but it hasn’t gone into effect, and as a result of some state lawmakers’ efforts, the election system may never be applied.
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
