Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Under pressure over a controversy involving her top aide, Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) announced late yesterday that she won’t seek re-election in the fall. This creates a potential challenge for Democrats: Connecticut’s 5th district, which Esty represents, is the state’s most competitive.
* It seems hard to believe, but Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) raised over $6.7 million for his U.S. Senate campaign in Texas in the first quarter of the year. His opponent, incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R), has not yet announced his quarterly haul.
* In the wake of the controversy surrounding the Sinclair Broadcast Group and allegations of its conservative media agenda, Amy McGrath (D), a congressional candidate in Kentucky, is no longer advertising on the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate in Lexington.
* According to a fascinating USA Today report, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been featured “in roughly one-third (34%) of all GOP broadcast ads aired in House races this year.”
* After a CNN reporter asked Donald Trump a policy question at the White House Easter Egg Roll yesterday, the president’s campaign manager suggested the reporter should lose his credentials. * Rep. Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) was already facing a tough re-election bid, but that may be even more difficult in light of reports the congressman used his office to help his girlfriend’s son “get out of a heroin-related arrest in 2015.” * Citing a highly dubious Rasmussen poll, Trump now believes he has a 50% approval rating — and the president believes he’s more popular than “Cheatin’ Obama” at comparable points in their presidencies. Polling averages, meanwhile, continue to show Trump is the least popular president in modern American history. (And I have no idea why this president thinks Barack Obama “cheated.”)* * The latest Gallup poll, released yesterday, showed Trump with a 39% approval rating. This is consistent with a survey last week from PPP, which also showed the president with 39% support.
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
