Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The flurry of congressional retirements continued yesterday, with Republican Rep. Rob Bishop announcing he won’t seek re-election in Utah’s 1st congressional district. If it seems like there have been a lot of retirement announcements lately, it’s not your imagination.
* The latest national Quinnipiac poll, released yesterday, found former Vice President Joe Biden (D) regaining some of the support he lost after the first round of debates. He leads the Democratic presidential primary field with 34% support, followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren with 15%, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) with 12%, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 11%.
* As you’ve probably heard, the second round of Democratic presidential primary debates begins tonight in Detroit.
* Elizabeth Warren hasn’t received many congressional endorsements this year, but she picked up several this morning, including one from Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who supported Bernie Sanders three years ago,
* As part of a significant shake-up at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Allison Jaslow stepped down yesterday as the DCCC’s executive director. NBC News reported that five other top staffers are also leaving, stemming from a controversy over “the lack of diversity among the senior ranks of House Democrats’ campaign arm.” * In Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, which is just a few months away, state Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) picked up an endorsement from state Sen. Dan Seum, a longtime Republican state lawmaker and former member of the GOP leadership in his chamber. * And as hard as this may seem to believe, Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign said yesterday that he’s met the necessary threshold to participate in the next round of Democratic presidential primary debates — an accomplishment that many other contenders are unlikely to duplicate.
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
