By
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In South Carolina, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday, where he faced a surprising amount of booing from his own constituents, even as he tried to assure the far-right crowd that he intended to help re-elect the former president.
* On a related note, Trump offered the GOP senator some odd support soon after, telling the crowd, “When I need some of those liberal votes, he’s always there to help me get them.”
* On Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at a Moms for Liberty event, and the audience heard the Florida Republican use the word “woke” six times in 19 seconds. Earlier in the month, however, DeSantis said it seven times in just under 19 seconds, which seems like a tough record to break.
* ProPublica had an unsettling report over the weekend, noting that slates of conservative school board candidates have popped up across the country, and they intend to exert considerable political influence.
* Lobbyist Matt Borges, the former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, received a five-year prison sentence for his role in the largest corruption scandal in state history. Former state House Speaker Larry Householder, meanwhile, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
* Bloomberg Law reported last week that Tim Sheehy, a leading Republican Senate candidate in Montana “runs a company that gets most of its money from federal government contracts, presenting potential conflict-of-interest questions that U.S. Senate hopefuls usually don’t face,”
* And ahead of Sen. Ted Cruz’s re-election campaign, The Houston Chronicle reported that the Texas Republican is trying to present himself to voters as an “effective lawmaker” with credible bipartisan bona fides. No, seriously, that’s what he wants Texans to believe.