Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll shows Democrats with an enormous advantage over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 55% to 41%, among likely voters.
* In Florida’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, a new NBC News/Marist poll found incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D) with a narrow lead over Gov. Rick Scott (R), 48% to 45%. The latest Quinnipiac poll, meanwhile, shows Nelson with an even larger advantage, 53% to 46%.
* On a related note, the NBC News/Marist poll of Florida’s gubernatorial race found Andrew Gillum (D) up by five among likely voters over Ron DeSantis (R), 48% to 43%.
* In Ohio’s gubernatorial race, a new NBC News/Marist poll found a tied contest, with Richard Cordray (D) and Mike DeWine (R) tied at 47% each.
* As for the Buckeye State’s U.S. Senate race, Republican hopes are fading fast: the NBC News/Marist poll found incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) with a double-digit advantage over Jim Renacci (R), 52% to 39%. * In one of the nation’s most hotly contested U.S. House races, a new poll from Monmouth University in Virginia’s 7th congressional district found Abigail Spanberger (D) with a modest lead over incumbent Rep. Dave Brat (R), 47% to 42%. This is the race in which a Republican super PAC improperly obtained information about Spanberger’s work as an intelligence official. * In Tennessee’s U.S. Senate race, former Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R) met for a debate last night, and the two managed to agree on one thing: Donald Trump’s trade tariffs aren’t a good idea for the state’s economy. * And in Minnesota, where Rep. Keith Ellison (D) is running for state attorney general despite an allegation of domestic abuse from a former girlfriend, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis this week joined a legal effort to unseal the congressman’s sealed divorce records from 2012.
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
