Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Kentucky yesterday, incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin was supposed to cruise to an easy victory over his Republican primary rival, state Rep. Robert Goforth, but it was much closer than expected. The governor prevailed, 52% to 39%, though the margin suggests Bevin has a lot of work to do ahead of the general election in November.
* On a related note, Bevin will face off against state Attorney General Andy Beshear, who won a very competitive three-way Democratic gubernatorial primary yesterday with roughly 38% of the vote. State House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins finished second with 32%.
* Also yesterday, as expected, state Rep. Fred Keller (R) easily won a congressional special election in Pennsylvania’s 12th district. The Republican won by about 35 percentage points, which is almost exactly the same margin as Donald Trump’s 2016 victory in the same district.
* The latest national Quinnipiac poll found former Vice President Joe Biden (D) continuing to lead the Democratic presidential field with 35%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with 16%, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at 13%. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) were the only other candidates at or above 5% support.
* The same poll found Donald Trump with an approval rating of just 38%. What’s more, a 54% majority said they would “definitely not” vote to re-elect the president. (As a matter of recent history, that’s not a great number, though 54% of the electorate voted against Trump in 2016, and he won anyway.)
* On the heels of an interesting “open letter to men” on abortion rights, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is unveiling a new plan today to protect reproductive rights. The presidential candidate’s proposal includes, among other things, a commitment to create a “White House Office of Reproductive Freedom.” * Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), meanwhile, unveiled her new plan today on addressing racial disparities in maternal health care. * Similarly. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is unveiling today her “Family Bill of Rights,” which will include provisions related to improving women’s access to maternal care * And at a CNN town-hall event last night, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to endorse impeaching Trump. “If we do nothing because we are afraid of the polls or the politics or the repercussions in the next election,” the Texas Democrat said, “then we will have set a precedent for this country that, in fact, some people because of the position of power and public trust that they hold are above the law.”
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
