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Thursday's Campaign Round-Up, 2.23.17

Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.* If you missed last night's show, the chair of the Montana Republican Party explicitly warned state policymakers against making voting too easy, insisting that higher turnout gives Democrats too big an advantage.* To get a sense of how the Republican campaign against the Affordable Care Act is going, Sen. Tom Cotton's (R-Ark.) town-hall event last night offered a big hint. One local woman asked everyone who's benefited from the law to stand up. The response from attendees was striking.* In November, Donald Trump won South Carolina by 14 points, picking up 54% of the vote. The latest statewide poll from Winthrop University, however, puts the president's approval rating at 44%. South Carolina will soon be home to a congressional special election in the 5th district.* Similarly, Trump won Tennessee in November by 24 points, picking up 60% of the vote. A new poll from Middle Tennessee State University, however, puts the president's approval rating in the Volunteer State at 51%.* In Texas, where Trump won by 9 points, the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll shows the president with an approval rating of just 46% in the Lone Star State.* In Georgia's upcoming congressional special election, local polling shows Jon Ossoff (D) as the top contender in the race to replace HHS Secretary Tom Price (R).* And Bloomberg Politics had an interesting piece the other day on the downside for Republicans to the GOP's gerrymandering campaign: the party has created a whole lot of seats for itself, but by dividing states to maximize the total number of Republican districts, they've also created a variety of seats that are likely to be competitive in 2018.