Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The closely watched special Senate primary election in South Carolina has finally arrived, and Donald Trump is pulling out all the stops in the hope of getting Sen. Darline Graham Nordone past her Republican rival, Rep. Ralph Norman.
In addition to holding another tele-rally the night before the primary in support of the appointed incumbent, the president has taken an even more unusual step: The Wall Street Journal reported that MAGA Inc., the Trump-aligned super PAC, “is spending more than $800,000 on get-out-the-vote calls and text messages in support of Graham, according to a federal filing, marking the first time that the group has spent money on a race in months.”
The winner of the GOP primary will face Dr. Annie Andrews, a South Carolina pediatrician, who won the Democratic nomination.
* Although Oklahoma’s gubernatorial race has generated far less attention, the state’s GOP runoff primary has also arrived, pitting former state Sen. Mike Mazzei and state Attorney General Gentner Drummond.
On Monday night, Trump also held a tele-rally in support of Mazzei, while continuing to wage a crusade of sorts against Drummond because he used to be a Democrat who donated to former President Joe Biden.
* It’s also Election Day in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, where local voters will choose a successor for the late Rep. David Scott, who died in April. The contenders — Marcye Scott, the late congressman’s daughter, and former Gwinnett School Board Chair Everton Blair Jr. — are both Democrats. Once the winner is sworn in, the House Democratic minority will grow from 213 to 214 members.
* For the second time this year, JD Vance appeared in Maine, headlining a Monday afternoon rally, although once again, Republican Sen. Susan Collins was not on hand to campaign with the incumbent vice president.
* In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is widely seen as a heavy favorite to win a second term, and the latest New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena University poll bolsters those assumptions. The statewide survey found the incumbent governor ahead of Stacy Garrity, the Republican state treasurer, by 16 percentage points among likely voters.
* On a related note, that same poll in the Keystone State showed Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s support among Pennsylvania Democrats sinking to just 22%. In contrast, the senator’s backing among Pennsylvania Republicans has climbed to 73%.
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