Friday's Campaign Round-Up, 5.19.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* With less than a week to go before Montana's congressional special election, Republican Greg Gianforte is facing questions about why he contributed to a white nationalist's legislative campaign last year. "I was unaware of some of his views," Gianforte said Wednesday.* On a related note, the House Democrats' House Majority PAC, is making a last-minute $25,000 ad buy in support of Rob Quist's campaign. In case it's not obvious, that's not much of an investment.* Quist, meanwhile, announced yesterday that he raised $5 million for his campaign, which is a pretty impressive haul for a Democrat in a red state's special election.* Speaking of congressional special elections, the DNC is hiring 10 new field staffers to help give Jon Ossoff's campaign a boost in Georgia. The special election is a month from tomorrow.* Donald Trump is helping inspire Democratic donors to open their wallets: the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has "already raised more money in online contributions this year ahead of the midterms than they did during all of 2015."* A Monmouth University poll released yesterday showed Trump's approval rating dropping to just 39%. The same poll found that a 48% plurality believe the president's approach towards Russia represents "a threat to national security."* And in Alabama, Rep. Martha Roby will face a Republican primary challenge from State Rep. Barry Moore, who said this week the incumbent lawmaker is insufficiently loyal to Donald Trump. (Roby has voted with the White House's position so far this year literally 100% of the time.)