Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In the wake of Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s felony convictions, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy believes the Nebraska Republican should quit. “When someone is convicted, it’s time to resign,” the GOP leader said this morning. “He had his day in court. I think if he wants to appeal, he can do that as a private citizen.”
* A striking detail in the latest national survey from the Pew Research Center: While 76 percent of Democratic voters are confident the fall elections will be conducted fairly and accurately, only 47 percent of Republican voters agree.
* Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela of Texas was already planning to retire at the end of the year, but he told NBC News this week that he’ll actually resign from Congress in the next few weeks. This will both shrink the Democratic majority in the House and trigger a special election.
* Speaking of Texas Democrats, Rep. Henry Cuellar appears to be facing an FBI investigation, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters this week that she’s backing his re-election campaign anyway. “I support my incumbents,” Pelosi said. “I support every one of them, from right to left. That is what I do.”
* Following a drunken incident in which she verbally abused children attending a sleepover, Abby Broyles, a former investigative television reporter, has ended her congressional campaign. The Oklahoma Democrat was running in the state’s 5th district. * As more than 100 House Republicans help raise money for Rep. Liz Cheney’s primary rival, the Wyoming Republican is not participating in this week’s annual House GOP retreat, being held in south Florida. * And while Donald Trump has not yet made an endorsement in Missouri’s Republican Senate primary, in the wake of former Gov. Eric Greitens’ domestic-violence controversy, the former president appears to be warming up to Rep. Billy Long. In a written statement this week, Trump wrote, “Have the great people of Missouri been considering the big, loud, and proud personality of Congressman Billy Long for the Senate? … This is not an Endorsement, but I’m just askin’?”
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."
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