Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* We’re one day out from one of the nation’s most closely watched U.S. House primaries, with incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie facing Trump-backed Ed Gallrein in a GOP primary in Kentucky. Ad spending in this race has made it the most expensive House primary in U.S. history.
* On a related note, on the final day of campaigning before Kentucky’s primaries, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is hitting the trail with Gallrein. There is no modern precedent for a sitting Pentagon chief making in-person campaign stops for a candidate for public office.
* As for Massie, after the incumbent congressman received support from Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, Donald Trump, who’s desperate to destroy Massie, threatened to support a primary campaign against the Colorado congresswoman.
* With Tennessee Republicans approving a new gerrymandered map specifically targeting Rep. Steve Cohen’s district, the Democratic incumbent announced he’ll retire, though he left open the possibility of reversing course if the state’s new map is struck down in court.
* The latest New York Times/Siena poll found Democrats with an 11-point advantage over Republicans on the congressional generic ballot. The same national survey pointed to an enthusiasm gap: The Times found that Democratic voters were 8 points more likely to say they were “almost certain” they would vote in the fall.
* Virginia Democrats turned to the U.S. Supreme Court after the state Supreme Court rejected a voter-approved redistricting plan. To the surprise of no one, that appeal did not go well.
* And in Connecticut, former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, one of the leading Republican gubernatorial candidates, suspended her campaign last week. As The Hartford Courant reported, the exit came “moments after new documentation surfaced of tens of thousands of dollars of apparent personal purchases charged to her city credit card, including photographs of her wearing clothing identical to items she billed to the city as office supplies.”
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