By
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Two months after Tennessee Republicans expelled Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson from the state legislature, the Democrats won primary races for their old seats yesterday, and they appear well positioned to return to the state capitol.
* The Republican National Committee expects the party’s presidential candidates to sign a loyalty pledge, vowing to support the eventual Republican nominee. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson asked the party to revise the pledge, making an exception for convicted felons. The RNC refused to consider the request.
* President Joe Biden and Vice President Kalama Harris picked up endorsements this morning from several of the nation’s leading labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, and AFSCME.
* South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the #2 member of the Senate Republican leadership, said something interesting this week about Donald Trump, his scandals, and party outreach to prospective candidates: “As you try and recruit candidates, they’re going to be looking at that political environment and saying, ‘Am I going to be running, you know, against the tide or with the tide,’ and there’s a big difference based on who you nominate (at the top of the ticket).”
* House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was among the many Republicans who decided to launch fundraising campaigns in response to Trump federal criminal indictment.
* While insisting that the operation doesn’t intend to play the role of “spoiler,” a No Labels leader said yesterday that if Biden is “way” ahead of Trump by next spring, the group would end its 2024 effort. This left me even more confused about the organization’s ideological incoherence.
* And with Iowa and New Hampshire preparing to ignore the Democratic National Committee’s presidential nominating schedule, it appears increasingly likely that Biden will not be on the states’ primary/caucus ballot early next year.