Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The field of Democratic presidential candidates grew again this morning, with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg throwing his hat into the ring. If elected, Buttigieg, a 37-year-old Rhodes Scholar and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, would be the nation’s first openly gay president.
* The mess in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district remains unresolved, and a state judge ruled yesterday that the investigation into alleged election fraud will continue. Mark Harris (R) and his team asked Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway to certify his election victory, and that did not go well.
* In Virginia yesterday, the Washington Post reported that a federal court settled on “a Virginia House of Delegates redistricting map that appears to heavily favor Democrats, redrawing the lines of 26 districts and moving several powerful Republicans into unfavorable configurations.”
* A new national poll from CBS News shows Donald Trump’s approval rating sinking to just 36%. More than 7 in 10 Americans agree that the president’s proposed border wall is not worth shutting down the government over.
* Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) political action committee, America Works, recently hired Zach Fang, an Iowa-based organizer who, in 2016, worked for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign. * Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who’ll be on the show tonight, raised an extremely impressive $1.5 million in the first 24 hours after announcing her presidential candidacy. * And in 2020 polling news, Public Policy Polling’s latest survey found a variety of Democratic presidential candidates leading Donald Trump in hypothetical match-ups. The margins ranged from 12 points (Joe Biden’s lead) to 5 points (Cory Booker’s and Kirsten Gillibrand’s advantage).
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
