Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest efforts related to the midterm elections included a video statement released last week that emphasized his concerns about 300,000 “warriors” who were not registered to vote ahead of the 2024 elections.
In a not-so-subtle nod to partisanship, the former Fox News host said in the video, “That’s more than the ballots cast in cities like Detroit, Boston, Milwaukee or Seattle,” referring to Democratic-led cities.
For good measure, in the same statement, Hegseth directed U.S. commanders to help “get out the vote.”
* In a sign of where things stand in the midterms, Reuters reported that Republican groups and megadonors are “pouring money into more than three dozen U.S. House races previously considered ‘safe’ after internal polling showed they could be vulnerable in the November 3 election.”
* For the third time, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to protect Missouri Republicans’ gerrymandered congressional map, leaving intact its earlier map, which was approved in 2022 and allows for one additional likely Democratic victory.
* In Kansas’ increasingly interesting U.S. Senate race, the Democratic nominee, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, launched a new campaign ad last week that emphasizes the bill-collecting controversy surrounding Sen. Roger Marshall, the Republican incumbent.
* In Michigan’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, former Rep. Mike Rogers is on recording having praised the war with Iran, but as Election Day approaches, the Republican is now campaigning against the consequences of the war, including the higher consumer prices caused by the conflict.
* With five weeks to go before the midterms, Texas is dealing with a backlog of at least 200,000 voter registration applications and updates, which election officials will somehow try to quickly process. A Texas Tribune report noted that the problem, among other things, underscored “just how difficult it can be to register to vote in Texas.”
* Timothy Mellon gave nearly $200 million to support Republicans in the last election cycle, but the reclusive Wyoming billionaire has sharply reduced his GOP generosity this year. The New York Times reported that Mellon has curtailed his donations because he’s annoyed that the Republican-led Congress didn’t impose additional voting restrictions on the public.
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