Morning Headlines
- On an otherwise quiet Friday night, President Trump endorsed Katie Britt in the GOP Alabama Senate Primary. Britt will compete against Representative Mo Brooks in a June 21st runoff for the seat after nearly winning the required majority of the vote to win the primary outright. Britt bested Brooks in the primary by a 45%-29% margin and carried 62 of the state’s 67 counties. Trump previously endorsed Brooks in 2021, but unendorsed him after he started polling extremely poorly. Brooks’s campaign experienced somewhat of a revival after Trump pulled his endorsements, allowing him to sneak into the run-off past right-wing pilot Mike Durant. Given that Britt won the primary so decisively, and she was already a heavy favorite in the runoff, Trump’s endorsement could be the nail in the coffin for Brooks. Brooks himself was aggressively pursuing Trump’s endorsement, consistently asking him to #ReEndorseMo on Twitter. This endorsement comes as somewhat of a surprise to some, given that Britt enjoyed near-unanimous institutional support from GOP Senators such as Richard Selby (AL), Mitch McConnell (KY), and Richard Burr (NC). Brooks ran to Britt’s right and has primarily focused the later stages of his campaign on the 2020 Election.
- Trump-endorsed Former Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin cruised to victory in the first round of Alaska’s House of Representatives special election. With an estimated 72% of the vote in, Palin won about 30% of the votes. She leads fellow Republican Nick Begich III and Independent Al Gross by clear margins, who only received 19% and 13% of the vote, respectively. Both Begich and Gross have also qualified for the August 16th Special General Election, which will use ranked-choice voting and be held on the same day as the Top 4 Primary for the Alaska 2022 US House Election. Democrat Mary Peltola won 7% of the vote and appears to be in good shape to win the 4th spot in the Special General Election, beating out moderative conservative Tara Sweeney and progressive independent Santa Claus.
- While the looming image of President Trump still dominates the Republican Party, there are signs he is relatively uncomfortable with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ standing within the party. Especially as DeSantis has grown in popularity as a possible 2024 Presidential Nominee, Trump reportedly has been considering announcing a presidential run early to try to clear the field for his 2024 aspirations. According to Rolling Stone, Trump especially believes that declaring his candidacy in Florida would help him assert his dominance over DeSantis. DeSantis, meanwhile, is worried that 2024 is his “moment” to run for president, and if he waits six years he will miss his chance completely.
- Over at Elections Daily, Political Election Projections (@tencor_7144) explains why Republicans have a rare opportunity to compete in the normally blue Oregon State Senate. He rates the chamber as “Leans Democratic,” an identical rating that Elections Daily assigned to the Oregon Governor Race. A Republican upset win in either of these situations would break a decade of Democratic Trifecta control in Oregon, which resulted in Gov. Kate Brown (D) winning the title of the nation’s most unpopular governor in 2021.
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