Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* For those keeping track, the Iowa caucuses are exactly two months from today.
* With time running out to qualify for this month’s Democratic presidential primary debate, Tom Steyer’s campaign announced this morning that the California billionaire has met the participation threshold. If so, he’s the seventh candidate to make it onto the stage.
* A three-judge panel in North Carolina yesterday approved a new legislative district map, to be used in the 2020 elections, which will likely help Democrats gain two additional U.S. House seats. The ruling was nevertheless a setback for Democratic officials, who’ve argued that the new map is still too gerrymandered in Republicans’ favor.
* In a provocative move, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign announced yesterday that it will no longer give press credentials to reporters from Bloomberg News. The Republican operation falsely accused the outlet of political “biases” stemming from Michael Bloomberg’s ownership.
* Joe Biden’s 2020 fundraising has been an area of concern for the former vice president, but his campaign said yesterday that it had raised more in the last two months than in the previous three months combined. * In North Carolina, Sen. Thom Tillis (R) received some good news yesterday when Garland Tucker III, the retired chairman and CEO of Triangle Capital, ended his GOP primary bid against the Senate incumbent. * On a related note, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill suspended his U.S. Senate campaign over the weekend, and as the AP reported, Merrill cited former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ entrance into the crowded GOP primary race. * And to the disappointment of many Democratic officials, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D), who ended his presidential campaign yesterday, made clear that he has no intention of launching a U.S. Senate campaign next year.
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
