Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In keeping with a recent string of state legislative special-election wins, Democrat Kevin Cavanaugh won a state Senate seat in New Hampshire yesterday, winning in a district Republicans expected to win. [Correction: A majority of district voters are Republicans, but Dems didn’t flip the seat as I’d originally thought. This text has been corrected.]
* In Virginia, one of only two states hosting gubernatorial races this year, the latest Monmouth University poll shows Ralph Northam (D) and Ed Gillespie (R) tied at 44% each. Most other recent polling found Northam ahead.
* On a related note, the Democratic National Committee told NBC News yesterday that it’s sending “$1.5 million and several top staffers” to the commonwealth to help give Northam, whose coffers are low after a long, tough primary, a boost in the race’s final three months.
* In Alabama’s U.S. Senate special election, Rep. Mo Brooks (R) has vowed to oppose Mitch McConnell as the Senate Majority Leader if he’s elected to the chamber. Brooks called McConnell “the head of the swamp of the U.S. Senate.” The special election primary is Aug. 15.
* Donald Trump headlined a rally in celebration of himself in Ohio last night, boasting that Democrats usually win Youngstown, but he won it. In reality, Trump lost Youngstown and the surrounding country. * The House Republican leadership’s super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, launched a new digital ad campaign this week intended to undermine support for the Democrats’ new “Better Deal” blueprint. The Republicans’ ad focuses on, among other things, “Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco values.” * Correction: I’d originally included an item by way of BuzzFeed’s David Mack about attendance at Trump’s Ohio event — he said screens had been set up for an overflow crowd that didn’t exist — but the reporter has apparently backed off this claim.
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
