Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With just 18 days remaining in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron appears to be trailing in the polls. The Republican nominee is therefore unveiling a new television ad featuring endorsement from Donald Trump.
* Speaking of the former president, Trump formally endorsed Gov. Jim Justice in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race, delivering a serious blow to the governor’s Republican primary rival, Rep. Alex Mooney
* In Arizona’s U.S. Senate race, the state Democratic Party sent $10,000 to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego according to the latest quarterly fundraising report. An NBC News report added, “It is the most aggressive move the state party has made yet to boost Gallego, solidifying his standing as the favorite for the Democratic nomination.”
* Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues to take steps toward the national stage, launching a new advocacy group to promote abortion rights. The Democrat’s organization will be called Think Big America, and a New York Times report noted that it will “help fund state ballot measures — typically expensive endeavors — to codify abortion rights in states whose legislatures have enacted or could enact abortion bans.”
* A far-right propagandist named Douglass Mackey was convicted earlier this year on charges that he helped orchestrate a voter-suppression scheme in the 2016 presidential election. He’s now been sentenced to seven months in prison.
* In North Carolina’s gubernatorial race, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson appears to be the Republican frontrunner, but party insiders concerned about his record of extremism are reportedly eyeing wealthy businessman Bill Graham as a credible primary rival. Graham kicked off his candidacy a few hours ago.
* The latest national poll from the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia found President Joe Biden with a narrow lead over Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up,
* And Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, perhaps best known for the generosity he’s shown Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has also become a generous supporter of Cornel West’s far-left independent presidential campaign.
