The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, Carolyn Fiddler, and Matt Booker, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
● KY-Gov: Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and Donald Trump Jr. made news for all the wrong reasons a month ago when they were photographed holding a rally in a mostly-empty arena. Politico's Alex Isenstadt reported this week that Bevin was quite pissed about this embarrassing episode, and that it was part of the reason he shook up his campaign around Labor Day. While campaign manager Davis Paine has retained his title, Isenstadt writes that Bevin has transferred campaign operations to another GOP strategist.
Campaign Action
In a rarity, the Trump team doesn't seem to have been at fault for an event gone wrong. Unnamed sources told Isenstadt that Trump's advisers wanted to assemble the crowd in a small ballroom, but Paine instead chose the large arena. The result of that choice can be seen here.
Meanwhile, Bevin and his allies at the RGA have spent the last few weeks running ad after ad (including this racist offering from Bevin) arguing that Beshear opposes banning sanctuary cities, and the fact that Kentucky doesn't actually have any sanctuary cities hasn't deterred them one bit. The RGA seems convinced this is the right strategy in this very red state, and they're out with two more commercials (here and here) tying Beshear to national progressives and arguing that he's not "tough on illegal immigration." Beshear recently launched a 15-second response ad saying that as an attorney general, he's "certified that Kentucky has no sanctuary cities."
House
● CA-45: Orange County prosecutor Ray Genneway announced this week that he was dropping out of the race to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Katie Porter. Genneway, who was one of several Republicans campaigning here, cited fundraising challenges as his reason for exiting the contest.
● CA-50: The Associated Press reports that Darrell Issa, a Republican who represented the neighboring 49th District until January, has decided to challenge indicted GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter. Issa has not yet announced he's in, but he's scheduled a press conference for Thursday. Issa's event will feature two current GOP candidates, former Escondido Mayor Sam Abed and El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, which could mean that they'll drop out and back him.
● MA-04: On Tuesday, Democratic state Sen. Paul Feeney announced that he would not join the race for this open seat.
● MI-08: State Board of Education member Nikki Snyder told MIRS' Kyle Melinn over the weekend that she was interested in seeking the GOP nod to take on freshman Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, and that she could enter the race as early as next week. Snyder, who is not related to former Gov. Rick Snyder, was narrowly elected statewide in 2016 to her current post.
So far, Republicans haven't landed a viable candidate to take on Slotkin in this 51-44 Trump seat. Former Rep. Mike Bishop, who lost to Slotkin 51-47 last year, hasn't ruled out a rematch, but he's sounded very unenthusiastic about the idea. Melinn writes that Bishop is one of the Republicans who has been "cheering Snyder on," and that the former congressman won't need to run if she's able to put together a serious campaign.
● TX-12: This week, businessman Chris Putnam announced that he'd challenge longtime Rep. Kay Granger in the GOP primary for this safely red seat in the Fort Worth area. Putnam is a former member of the Colleyville City Council, a community that is entirely located in the neighboring 24th District.
● VA-05: Campbell County Supervisor Bob Good, who also works as an athletics official at Liberty University, told The Hill this week that he was likely to challenge freshman Rep. Denver Riggleman for the GOP nomination and "plan[s] to formally announce my candidacy soon." It's not yet clear if the 5th District GOP will choose their nominee next year through a primary, a convention, or through a party-run "firehouse" primary.
Riggleman has been a reliable vote for the Trump administration during his brief time in Congress, but Good argued that the incumbent had betrayed the party "with his votes against the border wall in favor of increased immigration." Good also declared that Riggleman has been "ignoring President Trump's policy on American jobs for American workers, and even restricting the ability of ICE to do their jobs."
Riggleman is best known for his intense obsession with Bigfoot, but he pissed off plenty of social conservatives at home in July when he officiated a same-sex wedding between two of his former campaign volunteers. This quickly resulted in a homophobic backlash against the congressman, and local Republican Parties in three small 5th District counties each passed anti-Riggleman motions. Not all of the resolutions mentioned the wedding, and Good also didn't bring it up in his interview with The Hill. However, Good did allude to the intra-party anger at the incumbent by saying he "responded to the call from the party to give our voters a concerted choice as their nominee."
Good's Campbell County makes up less than 10% of the 5th District, so he wouldn't start the race with much of a geographic base. Good's boss, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., is also already supporting Riggleman. Falwell wrote in his endorsement letter that, while some local GOP leaders were going after him over the wedding, "I believe that excluding other conservatives over issues that have already been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court does nothing but help liberals gain more power."
This seat, which includes Charlottesville and south-central Virginia, backed Trump 52-41, and Riggleman defeated a well-funded Democrat 53-47 last year. A few Democrats are already campaigning here.
● WI-07: Over the last few days, both Mosinee Mayor Brent Jacobson and surgeon Fernando Riveron have announced that they will not run in the Dec. 30 GOP primary for this special election. On the Democratic side, former state Sen. Pat Kreitlow, who lost the 2012 general election to Republican incumbent Sean Duffy 56-44, also took his name out of contention.