Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Though the race was very close, and hasn’t yet been called, it appears Brian Hagedorn, the Republican-backed candidate, narrowly won yesterday’s state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin. If the results hold, it will establish a solid conservative majority on the state’s bench.
* The news for Democrats was better in Pennsylvania, where Pam Iovino (D) won a state Senate special election in a Pittsburgh-area district that had been represented by a Republican. It’s the first red-to-blue flip of 2019. (There have been a few blue-to-red flips.)
* In related news, a Democrat won a state House special election in Maine yesterday, while a Republican won a state House special election in Mississippi.
* A growing number of women are coming forward to say former Vice President Joe Biden’s affectionate style made them uncomfortable.
* Voters in Chicago yesterday elected former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot (D) as the city’s new mayor. The Democrat will be the city’s first African-American woman mayor and the city’s first openly gay mayor. * Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has a new Washington Post op-ed, which makes the case for imprisoning corporate executives whose companies are caught engaging in fraud. * It may seem hard to believe, but Andrew Yang, a relatively obscure Democratic presidential candidate, raised $1.7 million for his campaign in the first quarter, and has qualified to participate in upcoming DNC-sponsored debates. * And on a related note, the Democratic National Committee yesterday announced the details of the second primary debates, which will be held in Detroit on back-to-back nights on July 30 and 31 and will be aired on CNN.
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
