By
Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* President Joe Biden reportedly held his first in-person fundraiser of 2021 last night, headlining a Democratic National Committee event on a hotel rooftop near the White House. Attendees were required to be fully vaccinated.
* At an event over the weekend, Donald Trump said his former vice president probably won't recover politically for having followed the law on Jan. 6. "I think Mike [Pence] has been very badly hurt by what took place in respect to January 6," the former president said. "I think he's been mortally wounded, frankly."
* In Maryland's Democratic gubernatorial primary, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has formally thrown her support behind former Labor Secretary Tom Perez. And while Pelosi may be a Californian now, her local ties matter: She's a Maryland native whose father and brother served as mayor of Baltimore.
* In Texas' 27th district, Republican Rep. Michael Cloud has picked up a Trump endorsement, which is notable because the GOP incumbent is facing a primary challenge from Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback.
* Retired Army Col. Phil Waldron was a prominent advocate for an infamous anti-election PowerPoint presentation, but that didn't stop him from participating yesterday at a hearing of Louisiana's Voting System Commission.
* It seems hard to believe, but The New York Times reported that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott "frequently blocks out his daily schedule for eight hours of fund-raising calls." The Republican incumbent is up for re-election next year.
* And as more partisan attention turns to election administration, Axios reported, "Both parties are ramping up fundraising for secretary of state races, which in just a couple of years have gone from obscure down-ballot contests to high-profile races that could reshape American democracy."