Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Former Vice President Joe Biden, ahead in the polls in the race for the Democratic nomination, is pursuing a curious strategy: he had no public events scheduled over the Memorial Day weekend.
* Late Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court put on hold rulings from lower courts that invalidated Ohio’s and Michigan’s gerrymandered legislative districts. This term, the justices heard a challenge to gerrymandered maps in North Carolina and Michigan, and a ruling is expected in the coming weeks.
* Following a botched voter-purge initiative, Texas Secretary of State David Whitley (R) has resigned. The Republican’s tenure didn’t quite last half a year.
* Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R) is generally seen as the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbent, and Democrats in the Rocky Mountain State have clearly noticed: nearly a dozen Dems are vying for the chance to take on the conservative Republican in this blue-ish state in 2020.
* Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a presidential contender, shared an anecdote with voters about something she heard the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) say during Donald Trump’s inauguration. Soon after, Meghan McCain, one of the senator’s adult children, urged the senator to leave his memory “out of presidential politics.” I’m not entirely sure why. * We’re about a month out from the first debate for Democratic presidential candidates, and DNC Chair Tom Perez said late last week that he’ll personally oversee the lottery to determine who participates in each part of the two-night event. He’ll be joined by representatives of the many candidates. * And on a related note, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) had already qualified for the debate by way of his support in the polls, but the Democratic governor announced on Friday that his campaign has also crossed the fundraising threshold, receiving contributions from more than 65,000 donors across at least 20 states.
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
