The Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from the Daily Kos Elections team.
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Leading Off
From Daily Kos Elections' Stephen Wolf:
Campaign Action
Senate
● IN-Sen: Wealthy egg farmer John Rust's hopes of running for Senate were dealt a double blow on Tuesday: First, Indiana's bipartisan Election Commission unanimously voted to remove him from the May Republican primary ballot, then the state Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding the state law that put Rust in this position.
A defiant Rust told reporters afterward he was ready to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but unless he succeeds there, Rep. Jim Banks will face no intra-party opposition.
The law in question requires that candidates run with the party they belong to, and the easiest way for Hoosiers to establish their affiliation is by casting their last two votes in their party's primaries. (There is no party registration in Indiana.)
But while Rust most recently participated in the 2016 GOP primary, his prior vote was in the 2012 Democratic race. A lower court judge blocked that law in December, but the state Supreme Court placed a stay on that ruling earlier this month before upholding the rule on Tuesday.
● OH-Sen: The GOP firm Medium Buying relays that the Democratic group WinSenate, which is affiliated with Senate Majority PAC, has reserved $61 million to defend Sen. Sherrod Brown. Medium says that advertising will start Sept. 3, which is one day after Labor Day, and continue through Election Day. The news comes weeks after Politico reported that a pair of Republican super PACs, the Senate Leadership Fund and American Crossroads, had booked a combined $83 million in Ohio.
Governors
● MO-Gov: Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe has earned the backing of the Missouri Farm Bureau, which the Missouri Scout's Dave Drebes writes is "considered one of the big three" endorsements in Republican primaries. Drebes identifies the other two major organizations as Missouri Right to Life, which is supporting Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, and the NRA, which hasn't yet issued an endorsement. Missouri's primary is on Aug. 6.
House
● MN-03: DNC member Ron Harris announced Tuesday that he was ending his campaign and endorsing state Sen. Kelly Morrison, who is now the only notable Democrat running for this suburban Twin Cities seat.
Harris began campaigning against Rep. Dean Phillips in October shortly before the incumbent both decided to challenge President Joe Biden for renomination and not to seek a fourth term. But that head start didn't prevent Morrison, who launched a month later, from decisively outraising him during the final quarter of 2023.
Minnesota's candidate filing deadline isn't until June 4, though major candidates may not be able to wait until then if they want to take on Morrison in the August primary. Local Democrats in the 3rd Congressional District will hold a convention on May 4 to decide whether to officially endorse anyone; while participation isn't obligatory, most Minnesota candidates seek out party support, and many drop out ahead of the primary if they fail to get it. The Democratic nominee will be favored in a seat Biden took 60-39 in 2020.
● MO-03: Former state Sen. Kurt Schaefer announced Tuesday that he was joining the busy Republican primary to replace retiring GOP Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer.
Schaefer was elected to the state Senate in 2008, and for a time he looked primed to win the 2016 nomination for attorney general without trouble. However, all of that changed with the entry of Josh Hawley, a well-connected University of Missouri law professor who ran ads decrying "career politicians just climbing the ladder, using one office to get another."
Schaefer, who had the support of local conservative mega donor Rex Sinquefield, aired his own commercials accusing his opponent of serving as an attorney for accused terrorists. Hawley hit back by portraying Schaefer as too moderate, and he prevailed 64-36 before easily winning the general election.
Just two years later, Hawley climbed the next rung of the ladder he'd decried when he unseated Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, while Schaefer went on to become a lobbyist.
● NC-06: The News & Observers' Danielle Battaglia reports that seven different public figures have now announced that they're not actually supporting candidates seeking the GOP nod in North Carolina's 6th Congressional District who've claimed to have their backing. Unfortunately for the many opponents of lobbyist Addison McDowell, however, his endorsement from Donald Trump appears secure ahead of next week's primary.
The latest candidate to get dumped is 2022 nominee Christian Castelli, a self-funder who ended Feb. 14 with more cash on hand than any of his rivals. Castelli, Battaglia explains, had been touting a video of NASCAR legend Richard Petty praising him as "a leader who will fight for North Carolina values," but Petty's family says that message was recorded for Castelli's previous campaign and doesn't apply to his latest bid. (Castelli lost to Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning 54-45, who announced her retirement after Republicans gerrymandered her seat.)
Castelli found himself in a similar situation last month when an allied PAC posted a 2022 recording of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson backing him, footage the group indicated was more recent. Robinson, who is the party's frontrunner for governor, responded by threatening to sue.
Castelli was quick to blame one of his primary foes, former Rep. Mark Walker, for his latest setback, claiming it's Walker who has been dishonest. Walker has had to retract support from notables like House Speaker Mike Johnson, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and three members of Congress.
Walker said last month that Johnson had backed him before becoming speaker in October but then notified him the following month that he would now be neutral, while Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin's team said he never supported the candidate.
● NY-01: Former Democratic state Sen. Jim Gaughran announced Tuesday that he was suspending his campaign to take on GOP Rep. Nick LaLota, a development that came about half a day after the Democratic-run legislature unveiled a new map that moved much of his base to the 3rd District. Gaughran said that, while he was happy that many residents of Huntington would get to be represented by Democrat Tom Suozzi in the 3rd, there was no need for the legislature to split the town.
● NY-26: Former Grand Island Town Supervisor Nate McMurray has abandoned his plans to compete in the April 30 special election as an independent and would instead concentrate on trying to make the June 25 Democratic primary ballot for a full term. Democratic state Sen. Tim Kennedy and the Republican nominee, West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson, will face off in April in the race to succeed former Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins for a Buffalo-area constituency that Joe Biden carried 61-37 in 2020.
● OH-09: J.R. Majewski told Politico on Tuesday that he was considering dropping out of the March 19 Republican primary for Ohio's 9th District, though reporter Ally Mutnick says that the disastrous 2022 GOP nominee has told people he's definitely going to quit.
Still, Mutnick notes that "even people who heard directly from Majewski about his plans to drop out acknowledge that he is a volatile character." His departure would leave state Rep. Derek Merrin, who has Speaker Mike Johnson's endorsement, and former state Rep. Craig Riedel as the major GOP candidates.
Majewski already aborted his bid for a rematch against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur once before last May, a move he said he made because his mother was about to undergo surgery. But Majewski relaunched in October, an unwelcome development for House Republican leaders who don't want to give him the chance to avenge his 57-43 defeat.
Majewski gave his critics more to worry about this month when he used a slur to degrade athletes participating in the Special Olympics. The candidate uncharacteristically both expressed "regret" and told Mutnick this week, "If my comments put me in a position where I can’t win the general election then I gotta do the smart thing, right?"
● WA-05: Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner announced Monday that he was joining the August top-two primary to replace retiring Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a fellow Republican.
Baumgartner, who was based in Iraq and Afghanistan while working for the State Department in the 2000s, emerged on the political scene during the 2010 red wave when he decisively unseated state Senate Majority Whip Chris Marr in what the Spokesman-Review says was the state's most expensive state legislative race at the time.
The new state senator then tried to go after an even more prominent Democrat two years later when he challenged Sen. Maria Cantwell, but he lost 60-40. Baumgartner left the legislature after being elected to his current post in 2018.
Several other Republicans are already running to succeed McMorris Rodgers, though former Spokane Mayor David Condon tells the paper he'll stay out of the contest.
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Correction: This piece incorrectly identified Jim Banks as a senator. He is a congressman.
