Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Just a week into Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign, three of his top consultants — Tad Devine, Mark Longabaugh, and Julian Mulvey — who helped lead his 2016 effort, are parting ways with the Vermont senator. The consultants said in a statement they and the candidate no longer share the same “creative vision.”
* In Chicago’s mayoral race, former assistant U.S. attorney Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle advanced to a runoff election yesterday. As NBC News’ report noted, “Either would be the city’s first black woman mayor. Lightfoot would also be the city’s first openly gay mayor.”
* Sen. Doug Jones (D) is trying to taunt Roy Moore (R) into running against him in next year’s Senate race in Alabama. I have a hunch Republican officials are hoping the taunts don’t work.
* Former Vice President Joe Biden said yesterday that there’s “a consensus” among his family members that he should launch a Democratic presidential campaign. The Delaware Democrat added, “The most important people in my life want me to run.”
* In related news, there are reports that Biden’s team has begun extending job offers to prospective staffers in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two early primary states.
* The beleaguered California Republican Party has elected a new leadership slate, which is younger and more diverse than its recent iterations. The new state party’s ideology, however, hasn’t changed much at all.
* And Republicans in Connecticut received some good news yesterday when GOP candidates won two out of five state legislative special elections, flipping a state House seat and a state Senate seat. Democratic candidates won the other three contests, however, and maintain sizable advantages in each chamber.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."