Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It’s Primary Day in Virginia, and there will be a series of competitive contests throughout the commonwealth, including several closely watched Democratic state Senate races. This is also the first set of primaries since Virginia adopted its new post-census district map.
* House Republicans are moving forward with a plan to end the Pentagon’s practice of releasing summaries of service records to the public. These summaries have been used in several recent election cycles to expose candidates who’ve wildly exaggerated their military backgrounds.
* The Messenger reported this morning that Nuestro PAC — “the outside group launched in 2020 to build on the strength of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ robust Latino voter outreach operation” — is preparing to invest $37 million to boost President Joe Biden’s prospects with Latino voters.
* It was a year ago this week when Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade, and the Biden White House has scheduled several events focused on reproductive rights. That includes a roundtable discussion with Vice President Kamala Harris and MSNBC’s Joy Reid, which will air tonight.
* Former Gov. Doug Ducey has kept a relatively low profile since leaving office earlier this year, but Axios reports that the Arizona Republican is moving forward with plans to launch a new grassroots organization to register voters “who are willing to fight for free enterprise.”
* After many years of growing public acceptance of same-sex relationships, new polling data from Gallup found a sudden drop in the number of Americans who believe same-sex relationships are morally acceptable. As NBC News reported, the shift was driven “primarily by Republicans.”
* And in Nevada, Republican congressional candidate David Flippo recently used social media to promote an image of a makeshift hut, telling the public, “This is not a village in a 3rd world country, this is the US border!” As Politico noted, the photo was actually taken in rural Africa. Asked for an explanation, the GOP campaign accused Politico of being a “propaganda arm” for Democrats.
