Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It took a little longer than expected for him to make up his mind, but Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has decided to stick with his original decision to retire. Senate GOP leaders had pressured Corker to change his mind.
* And speaking of news that won’t make Senate Republicans happy, Chris McDaniel, a right-wing state senator in Mississippi, has reportedly decided to take on Sen. Roger Wicker in a Republican primary. This will be McDaniel’s second attempt: he narrowly lost a GOP primary race against Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014.
* The latest national poll from CNN found Democrats with a 16-point lead over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 54% to 38%. Last month, the Dems’ lead was only five points.
* There are two vacancies in Wisconsin’s state legislature, but at least for now, Gov. Scott Walker (R) has not scheduled special elections to fill those seats. The governor’s reluctance has sparked a new lawsuit from former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
* There are a handful of races to keep an eye on today, including congressional primaries in Arizona’s 8th district, as well as state legislative special elections in Connecticut, Kentucky, and New Hampshire.
* While Sen. Bernie Sanders’ step-daughter, Carina Driscoll, runs for mayor in Burlington, Vt.. his son, Levi Sanders, is now running for Congress in New Hampshire. A potential problem: he lives in the state’s 2nd district, but he’s running in the 1st. * David Leonhardt made a compelling case yesterday that the Democrats’ midterm election strategy will depend in part on whether voters under 30 do what they didn’t do in the last midterm cycle: show up. * Jon Ossoff (D) was competitive in a congressional special election in Georgia’s 6th district last year, but he’s decided not to try again this fall. * And Alabama’s Roy Moore has decided to endorse in Missouri’s U.S. Senate Republican primary, throwing his support to Courtland Sykes, who’s perhaps best known for describing feminists as “she-devils” and saying he wouldn’t want daughters who were “career-obsessed banshees.”
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
