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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Apparently not satisfied with the damage he’s helped do in Springfield, Ohio, Donald Trump also vilified legal immigrants in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, during his latest rally in the Keystone State.
* In Arizona’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest New York Times/Siena College poll found Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego with a five-point lead over failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, despite Trump’s advantage in the same state and in the same poll. (Click the link for information on the survey’s methodology and margin of error.)
* In Maryland’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, a super PAC created to boost former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan placed $18.2 million worth of ad buys so far this week, which is an enormous investment. Politico’s report on this noted, “Republicans are now outspending Democrats in the state by a more than two-to-one margin.”
* Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign unveiled a new television ad this week focused specifically on IVF access, featuring the wife of a service member who’s relied on IVF and who’s concerned what might happen if her husband were assigned to a state where IVF faces Republican-imposed restrictions.
* While Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, has played an active role in the 2024 campaign, Melania Trump has been largely invisible so far this year. That said, CNN reported this week, “One of the few times she has appeared at a political event, she’s received a six-figure paycheck — a highly unusual move for the spouse of a candidate.”
* The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend on the many Republicans rallying to boost Jill Stein’s Green Party presidential candidacy, hoping to divide the anti-Trump vote enough to return the former president to the White House.
* And the Associated Press reported that Harris and her Democratic campaign are “stepping up her efforts to win over voters who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enlisting prominent members of the faith to make the case in pivotal Arizona that Donald Trump does not align with the church’s values.” The AP added that Team Harris announced an advisory committee last week “to formalize the outreach to current and former members of the church, widely known as the Mormon church.”