By
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Gov. Doug Burgum has qualified for tonight’s Republican presidential debate, but the North Dakotan apparently injured his leg playing basketball yesterday, and it’s now unclear whether he’ll be able to participate in the event.
* At an event late last week, former Ambassador Nikki Haley said that during her tenure as South Carolina’s governor, she didn’t want any unionized companies moving into her home state. The Republican presidential candidate added that she didn’t want unionized workforces to “taint” the state.
* Ahead of tonight’s debate in Milwaukee, President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign launched a new state-specific ad in Wisconsin, focused on recent job growth in the Badger State.
* Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is throwing his support behind Donald Trump’s bid for a second term. He joins South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice as sitting Republican governors endorsing the former president’s 2024 campaign.
* MAGA PAC, the super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy, created a “VP Presidential Debate” website for tonight’s event. This comes on the heels of the former president recently publishing an online item characterizing the debate as opportunity for the candidates to audition to be his running mate.
* While presidential campaign hopefuls routinely go out of their way to impress the governors of Iowa and New Hampshire, Trump is doing the opposite. After months of clashes with Gov. Kim Reynolds, the former president yesterday turned his attention to Gov. Chris Sununu, slamming the New Hampshire Republican as “a selfish guy” who “didn’t have the courage to run” for president. Trump added, in reference to Sununu, “[N]ow he’s stuck in never, never land, lonely and virtually unelectable!”
* Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has agreed to headline the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s convention next month, which is likely to add to the chatter about Shapiro’s possible future in national politics.