Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With two weeks remaining before Georgia’s congressional special election, Jon Ossoff (D) and Karen Handel (R) faced off in a televised debate last night. In response to a question about the minimum wage, the Republican candidate said at one point, “This is an example of the fundamental difference between a liberal and a conservative: I do not support a livable wage.” Local voters should expect to see that in an ad very soon.
* In Los Angeles, Rep.-elect Jimmy Gomez (D), as expected, easily won a congressional special election and will now take Xavier Becerra’s seat.
* After congressional special elections in Kansas, Montana, and California, there are now only two U.S. House vacancies remaining: Georgia’s 6th and South Carolina’s 5th. Both vacancies will be resolved on June 20.
* In New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, former Ambassador Phil Murphy easily outpaced his four rivals. Though he didn’t quite reach 50%, the new nominee defeated his next closest competitor by 26 points.
* In New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial primary, Kim Guadagno, Chris Christie’s current lieutenant governor, also won with relative ease. She and Murphy will face off in November for one of only two gubernatorial races this year. * A new report from Gallup found that the Democrats’ party-affiliation advantage over Republicans has “grown to seven percentage points, the largest it has been in over two years.” The gap now stands at 45% to 38%, but note that the Democratic number hasn’t grown, but the Republican number has shrunk. * And National Journal reports that Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), considered one of the more vulnerable GOP incumbents in 2018, may face a primary challenge from state Treasurer Jeff DeWit, who has close ties to the White House. The piece speculated that Donald Trump would likely back DeWit over the incumbent.
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
