Morning Digest: Legislative results show just how much pain Trump caused the GOP in Atlanta 'burbs

Leading Off

● Pres-by-LD: Daily Kos Elections' project to calculate the 2016 presidential results for every state legislative seat in the nation arrives in Georgia, where Republicans have complete control of the government but where Democrats have the chance to make some real gains next year. You can find our master list of states here, which we'll be updating as we add new states; you can also find all our data from 2016 and past cycles here.

Donald Trump carried Georgia 51-46, a bit of a drop from Mitt Romney's 53-46 win. In 2012, every Obama state Senate district elected a Democrat while every Romney seat voted for a Republican; in the House, three Republicans and one GOP-allied independent won Obama seats and no Democrats took Romney districts. But the overall toplines mask a very important shift: Trump dramatically underperformed Romney in Atlanta's suburbs—the very phenomenon that has made the special election in Georgia's 6th Congressional District unexpectedly competitive—and Democrats may now have some new targets in both chambers of the legislature. (All House and Senate seats are up every two years.)

Last year, Republicans won exactly the number of Senate seats they needed to hold a two-thirds supermajority but fell two seats short in the House. In Georgia, it takes at least two-thirds of the vote in each chamber to override a governor's veto and to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. GOP Gov. Nathan Deal is termed out next year and if Democrats can flip his seat while holding the GOP below two-thirds in at least one chamber, the new Democratic governor would be able to check the GOP legislature. Of particular importance: If Democrats can successfully block Republicans from drawing new maps when the 2022 round of redistricting comes around, they'd be able to prevent the GOP from once again gerrymandering the state.

There's one important thing we want to note before we dive into the data: Georgia Republicans keep tinkering with the lines. In 2014, Republicans quietly made changes to several state Senate seats, and they did the same thing to a few House districts the next year, in order to shore up potentially vulnerable incumbents. This is why you'll see two blocks of numbers in our spreadsheet, one for the 2012 presidential results under the older district lines and, above that, one for the 2016 results under the new ones.

This past spring, Republican lawmakers also considered another plan to redraw several suburban Atlanta seats to protect some more at-risk members. The legislature adjourned without adopting these latest changes, but this may not be the last we've heard about this matter. In fact, the state NAACP is currently involved in a lawsuit aiming to prevent Georgia from using those 2015 House districts in the next election, which will take place in 2018.

We'll start with a look at the Senate, where the GOP won the same 38-18 supermajority last fall that they also won in 2012 and 2014. Trump carried 35 seats while Hillary Clinton took 21, and three Republicans represent Clinton districts. All 18 Senate Democrats hold Clinton seats. In fact, the reddest Democratic-held district, SD-33, backed her by a decisive 61-35, so Team Blue won't need to worry much about defense.

The bluest GOP-held Senate seat is SD-06, which includes Atlanta's affluent Buckhead area and some of the suburbs. This district backed Clinton 55-40, but Republican incumbent Hunter Hill won a third term 52-48. However, Hunter is running for governor, so Democrats should have a good shot to flip this open seat.

Two more Republicans hold Clinton Senate seats, and at least one should also be a top Democratic target, if not both. A few weeks ago, during the run-up to the first round of the special election for Georgia's 6th Congressional District, local GOP state Sen. Fran Millar made news when he rallied the troops against Democrat Jon Ossoff, proclaiming:

"I'll be very blunt: These lines were not drawn to get Hank Johnson's protégé to be my representative. And you didn't hear that. They were not drawn for that purpose, OK? They were not drawn for that purpose."

Rep. Hank Johnson is an African-American Democratic congressman, and as we noted at the time, this looked like an attempt to draw a wedge between Ossoff and the predominantly white suburban 6th District he wants to represent. Two years before, Millar was even less subtle. As the 2014 elections approached, he vowed to shut down early voting in DeKalb County because it was "dominated by African American shoppers and it is near several large African American mega churches." The good news for Democrats is that Millar's SD-40 backed Clinton by a healthy 54-41 margin. Millar himself won re-election by a similar 56-44 spread, but if Democrats make a strong effort to target him and 2018 is a bad year for Team Red, he could be in real trouble.

The final GOP-held Clinton seat is SD-48, which unsurprisingly is also in the Atlanta suburbs. Republican Senate President Pro Tempore David Shafer won re-election with no opposition, even though his seat backed Clinton 51-45. Shafer is a potential candidate for lieutenant governor, and his departure could also be a huge help to Team Blue.

Right now, one GOP-held Senate seat is vacant, and will be filled in a May 16 special election. SD-32 is also in suburban Atlanta—in fact, it's right in the heart of the 6th Congressional District (Republican Judson Hill resigned to run in special; he came in fifth). Trump carried SD-32 54-40, but that's a huge drop from Romney's 67-31 win (the 2014 Senate redistricting did not effect this seat), mirroring the shift in the 6th District. Consequently, Republicans at least are acting like they're concerned that Democrat Christine Triebsch could upset Republican Kay Kirkpatrick later this month.

We'll turn to the House, where the GOP holds a 118-62 majority, two short of a supermajority. Trump carried 106 seats to Clinton's 74: Two Democrats represent Trump seats, and 14 Republicans hold Clinton turf.

We'll begin with those two Democrats. HD-138, which is located in the southwest portion of the state, backed Trump 53-45, but Democrat Bill McGowan, a former Americus mayor, unseated Republican incumbent Mike Cheokas 51-49. Democrats attacked Cheokas for opposing Medicaid expansion, arguing that he "chose scoring political points" over helping struggling rural hospitals. Southern Democrats didn't have too many success stories in 2016, but this strategy may be effective in other Trump-friendly seats. The other Democrat in a Trump seat is Bob Trammell. HD-132, located in west-central Georgia, backed Trump by a narrow 50-47, but Trammell won a second term 54-46.

Finally, there's the matter of those 14 Republicans in Trump seats. The bluest seat of the bunch is HD-40, located in—you guessed it—suburban Atlanta. Republican Rich Golick won re-election 54-46, but that was his closest race in over a decade, and Clinton carried his seat 55-41. Another three Republicans hold seats that Clinton won by at least a 10-point margin.

While Democrats have the chance to make real gains in both chambers next year, taking the majority under a GOP-drawn map will be incredibly tough. One way to illustrate the GOP's advantage is to sort each seat in each chamber by Clinton's margin of victory over Trump and see how the seat in the middle—known as the median seat—voted. Because both chambers have an even number of seats, we average the two middle seats to come up with the median point in the chamber.

The median Senate seat backed Trump 58-37, far to the right of his 51-46 statewide win. That means that, if Democrats want to take a majority, they'll need to win every seat that backed Trump by 21 points or less, or compensate for any defeats by winning even redder seats. The House was better but still not good, with the median seat backing Trump 55-41. That's why it's so important for Democrats to win the governor's office next year and prevent Republicans in the legislature from locking them out of power for another decade.

P.S. Special thanks to Eli Spencer Heyman for providing his calculations so that we could compare our numbers to his.

Senate

● MT-Sen: Republicans plan to target Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, but they're still searching for a viable candidate. Businessman Troy Downing, an Air Force veteran, hasn't said anything publicly yet. However, the New York Times reported last week that Downing took meetings in D.C. about a possible campaign, including one at the White House. But Democrats gave the The Hill some solid proof that Downing hasn't always been a fan of the new occupant of the Oval Office: Downing spent much of 2015 and 2016 mocking Donald Trump on Twitter, including a tweet from last August ending with the hashtag "#NeverTrumpNeverHillary." If Downing runs and faces a competitive primary, it's likely he'll hear a lot more about this.

● PA-Sen: The field to take on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is still a long way away from fully forming, and we have a new potential candidate. Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta's campaign consultant claimed to the Associated Press that Donald Trump has encouraged the congressman to run, and Barletta quickly confirmed that he is considering.

The claim is believable, though, because Barletta is quite a man in the mold of Trump. As mayor of the small town of Hazleton, Barletta vowed to make it "one of the toughest places in the United States" for undocumented immigrants, and he was not bluffing. Barletta pushed through several anti-immigrant laws, including one penalizing landlords who knowingly rented to undocumented immigrant. Some of his proposals were blocked in court, but that didn't hurt Barletta's political career much.

Barletta went on to unseat longtime Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski on his third attempt in 2010, and the GOP legislature drew the new congressman a safe seat shortly thereafter. Barletta hasn't changed much in D.C.: A few years ago, he bragged to the Washington Post that in Congress, he could now help protect the entire country from "terrorists and drug dealers" by cracking down on immigration. Yep, definitely Trump's kinda guy.

Gubernatorial

● GA-Gov: House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams has looked likely to seek the Democratic nod for a while, and she filed paperwork to set up a campaign on Tuesday. Abrams' aides tell the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she's in exploratory mode, though the paper says she's "all but certain to run for higher office" and that she's "readying for an announcement," which is the same kind of assessment that's been written of Abrams for a long time.

Abrams is very well-connected, and fundraising should not be an issue for her. However, she's by no means assured the Democratic nod. Ex-state Sen. Jason Carter, who was Team Blue's 2014 nominee, is considering, and if he sits it out, a close ally of his, state Rep. Stacey Evans, is reportedly interested. Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson has also talked about running.

Notably, Abrams would be Georgia's first black governor if she were to run and win. In recent years, black voters have made up a larger proportion of the Democratic primary electorate, so she could have an edge if race plays a role in the primary. Abrams also pens romantic suspense novels under the pen name Selena Montgomery, and she could also have an edge if writing skills play a role in the primary.

● IL-Gov: Venture capitalist J.B. Pritzker is up with the first TV spot of Illinois' Democratic gubernatorial primary … which isn't until March of next year. But Pritzker is incredibly wealthy and can afford to start airing ads very early, a luxury not many candidates have.

Pritzker's minute-long spot starts with him telling the audience that under GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, the state's challenges have gotten worse. He then says he's been thinking big "since the very beginning," as pictures of him as a baby and young boy flash by. The candidate then promotes his work on a technology incubator, early childhood education, and school breakfasts, as various people praise his work on these areas.

The Pritzker campaign only said the size of the buy is "sizable," though local CBS producer Edward Marshall says it's for $435,000. On Wednesday, Pritzker also unveiled endorsements 14 different labor groups.

● NE-Gov: Extremely wealthy Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts doesn't look very vulnerable heading into his 2018 re-election campaign, but one termed-out state legislator is mulling a primary challenge. State Sen. Bob Krist says that he will decide by July but is "leaning toward" getting in. Krist argues that "the state needs some centrist leadership," which may be one of the worst pitches to modern-day GOP primary voters humanly possible.

● NJ-Gov: Former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Joe Piscopo has finally put us out of our misery and announced that, rather than run for governor this year as an independent, he's instead endorsing GOP Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. However, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, it's going to take a whole lot more than Jersey Joe's support to get Guadagno to Drumthwacket.

Quinnipiac gives Phil Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive and the clear Democratic primary frontrunner, a monster 50-25 lead in a hypothetical general election, not much different than the 47-25 edge the found in March. Neither candidate is still very well-known, though Murphy's 28-12 score is much better than Guadagno's 18-23 image.

This time, Quinnipiac won't share voters' views about termed-out GOP Gov. Chris Christie until in a future release, but previous surveys from multiple groups have given the governor a horrible approval rating. Christie and Guadagno do not have a good relationship, but not enough people in the Garden State seem to know that or care.

Quinnipiac also takes a look at both parties' June 6 primaries, and most voters still are undecided. On the Democratic side, Murphy leads ex-U.S. Treasury Under Secretary Jim Johnson 25-7, while Assemblyman John Wisniewski and state Sen. Ray Lesniak barely register. With so many voters up for grabs, a strong campaign might be able to knock Murphy off his game, but that's not looking likely. Murphy has by far the most money available in this expensive state and, probably more importantly, he has the support of all 21 county Democratic parties, which carries a lot of weight in Jersey politics.

On the GOP side, Guadagno leads state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli 23-12, with a two other candidates taking 5 percent or less. Guadagno also has more county parties on her side, though Ciattarelli does have a few influential ones in his corner. Guadagno is also out with her first ad, which plays up her career as a prosecutor and sheriff … but not lieutenant governor. The narrator boldly claims that Guadagno is "credited with bringing New Jersey's economy back from the brink," which if true, would probably make her the single most powerful lieutenant governor in American history!

● PA-Gov: Rule number zero of modern politics: Never, ever mess with the trackers—a rule that Republican state Sen. Scott Wagner just threw out the window. On Tuesday, Wagner, a wealthy trash magnate who is running for governor, interrupted his own speech at a country club luncheon to forcibly seize a video camera from a tracker employed by American Bridge, a Democratic opposition research group that specializes in exactly this sort of bird-dogging.

Of course, the incident was caught on camera, which stopped recording after Wagner confiscated it. Shortly thereafter, the tracker began recording on his cell phone and asked for his equipment back. In this second video, Wagner repeatedly insists the tracker is on "private property" and is then seen aggressively reaching for the tracker's phone, which abruptly goes blurry for a moment. At that point, the tracker says, "You're assaulting me, sir." Wagner barks back, "No, I didn't assault you." The tracker continues to seek his camera and holds up a bloody finger, apparently the result of Wagner's violence.

The tracker did ultimately get his equipment back after getting ejected from the club, though without his memory card. (Joke's on Wagner, though: The camera was also recording to its own built-in storage.) Wagner was completely unapologetic, saying afterward, "Let's go to court." And that's exactly what might happen: The local police chief says that the matter is currently under investigation.

Whether or not charges are brought, though, Wagner might come to rue his thuggish behavior and dickish attitude. In 2010, Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina similarly assaulted a tracker (who'd been much more aggressive; the American Bridge guy was just standing quietly in the back of a large ballroom) and suffered badly when video of the incident went viral. Etheridge went on to lose to tea party flotsam Renee Ellmers by less than 1 point that November.

If your opponents have sent an intern armed with a video camera to follow your every public appearance, it's a compliment! It means they're taking you seriously. It also means you have to get used to this new reality, because beating up on a kid with a camera is never a good look.

On an entirely separate note, another rich Republican, businessman Paul Mango, says he's going to formally kick off his campaign on May 17. Prior to now, Mango hadn't directly expressed his interest in the race, though published reports had said he was looking at a bid.

● VA-Gov: Following his rival for the Democratic nomination by about a week, former Rep. Tom Perriello has released his first TV ad ahead of next month's primary, and it stars the biggest name there is: Barack Obama. While No. 44 himself has not endorsed Perriello this time, the former POTUS did vocally back Perriello's unsuccessful re-election bid for the House in 2010, and footage of rally from back then kicks off this spot.

In it, a much darker-haired Obama enthusiastically declares before an adoring crowd, "Tom went to Washington to take on the insurance companies, and the credit card companies, and the Wall Street banks. That's what Tom Perriello's about." Perriello himself then appears to talk about how "progressive causes" have been "his life's work" and concludes by saying, "Together, we really can build a Virginia that works for everyone."

Perriello faces Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam on June 13, and both men have worked hard to stress their progressive bona fides—something, as we've noted, that we'd never have expected to see in a statewide primary in Virginia just a few short years ago.

House

● CA-10: California Republican Rep. Jeff Denham represents a Modesto-area seat that narrowly backed both Obama and Clinton, but he survived serious Democratic attempts to unseat him in both 2012 and 2016. On Wednesday, Denham picked up his first noteworthy Democratic foe for 2018 when investor Josh Harder, who hails from the district, announced he would run.

It's not clear, though, if Harder will have the field to himself. Last year, Denham beat beekeeper Michael Eggman 52-48 as Clinton was carrying the seat 48.5-45.5; four years ago, he beat former astronaut José Hernandez 53-47 while Obama was winning 51-47.

All the way back in March of 2016, Hernandez said he might try again in 2018—note this was in the middle of Eggman's second campaign—but he doesn't appear to have said anything since then. Eggman, who also lost in the 2014 GOP wave, also hasn't said what he's thinking, though Harder just hired Eggman's 2016 campaign manager.

● GA-06: Now shit's getting real. Democrat Jon Ossoff, who's borne the brunt of millions of dollars worth of attack ads, is now out with a negative ad of his own, his first of the race. The spot paints his Republican opponent, Karen Handel, as something of a perennial candidate who's run "six times for five different offices," and "when she wins, she spends your money on herself." It runs through the same litany of spending that a recent DCCC ad also relied on: a Lexus SUV, "$15,000 for fancy office chairs," and a "taxpayer-funded airplane." This spot, though, is crisper and has better production values.

The D-Trip is also revisiting the same theme with a new ad of its own. This one also rattles off Handel's allegedly lavish proclivities but puts more emphasis on the point in time during which she was making these budget requests: in the midst of the Great Recession, when Georgia saw its "worst budget crisis" since the Depression and endured cuts to education and law enforcement. The Washington Examiner's David Drucker says the spot is part of a new $1 million buy.

And it sounds like Atlanta residents can expect a whole lot more of that. In a fascinating development the likes of which we don't think we've ever seen before, local TV station WXIA (known as 11Alive) has added a new evening news broadcast (bumping reruns of "The Andy Griffith Show") in order to accommodate the influx of television advertising related to this race. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there simply isn't enough available inventory during news programs to satisfy demand. Pretty remarkable for a special election for the House!

● IA-01: On Wednesday, Democratic state Rep. Abby Finkenauer announced that she would challenge GOP Rep. Rod Blum. This eastern Iowa seat swung from 56-43 Obama to 49-45 Trump, and Blum decisively won re-election last year in an expensive campaign. Democrats will want to appeal to the many voters who switched from Obama to Trump, and Finkenauer used her kickoff to talk about her local working-class roots.

● MN-08, MN-Gov: After a few days of speculation that he might run for Congress, Republican state House Speaker Kurt Daudt said he wasn't looking at a House bid against Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan. Daudt has been openly considering running for governor, though, and he said he would take a look at that race after the legislative session ends on May 22.

● MT-AL: While it had appeared that the DCCC was mostly keeping its distance from the Montana special election coming up later this month, that seems to have changed with the committee's new $400,000 investment on behalf of Democrat Rob Quist. According to the D-Trip, the money will be used both for TV ads (which aren't available yet) and to help encourage voters to vote by mail, which is used by 60 percent of Montanans. This comes on top of a recent $200,000 transfer from the DCCC to the Montana Democratic Party, which spent the money on ads, according to the Huffington Post.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Leadership Fund is running a new spot that castigates Quist over his financial troubles, which include unpaid taxes. The ad then runs through a long list of Quist's woes, including loan defaults, a contractor's lien, and a lawsuit alleging fraud.

● NM-01: Earlier this week, just after Debra Haaland's term as state Democratic Party chair ended, she announced that she would seek this open Albuquerque seat. Haaland was Team Blue's nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014, and if she wins this 52-35 Clinton district, she would be the nation's first female Native American member of Congress. Haaland joins Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis and law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez in the primary. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that ex-U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez is "said to be mulling a run" for the Democratic nod as well.

● SC-05: On Tuesday, both parties held their primaries ahead of the June 20 general election to succeed Republican Mick Mulvaney in this reliably red northern South Carolina state. Unsurprisingly, no Republicans took a majority of the vote, so there will be a May 16 GOP runoff. State House Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope narrowly led ex-state Rep. Ralph Norman, who was Team Red's 2006 nominee, 31 to 30. South Carolina Guard Commander Tom Mullik and ex-state party chair Chad Connelly missed the runoff, taking 20 and 14 percent respectively.

As BuzzFeed's Alexis Levinson noted, it's pretty remarkable how little outside attention the first round of the primary received given that the contest is taking place at a time when tensions in the House Republican caucus are so visible. But while North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, the head of the nihilistic Freedom Caucus, endorsed Connelly, other allied groups like the Club for Growth did almost nothing to aid him. We'll see if that changes during the runoff, though. As Politico notes, Norman says he'd love to join the Freedom Caucus, while Pope is more friendly with business groups.

On the Democratic side, former Goldman Sachs tax expert Archie Parnell won the nomination with 71 percent of the vote. Trump carried this seat, which includes several northern Charlotte suburbs and stretches south to Sumpter, 57-39. Parnell is very much a long shot next month, though after Kansas Republicans dramatically underperformed in last month's special for that state's even-redder 4th District, both sides will likely keep an eye on this contest.

● TX-07: This suburban Houston seat has been in GOP hands since none other than George H.W. Bush won it in 1966, but it shifted dramatically last year, going from 60-39 Romney to a narrow 48.5-47.1 Clinton win. And this week, longtime GOP Rep. John Culberson picked up two different Democratic foes. Alex Triantaphyllis, who runs a local nonprofit, kicked off his campaign around the same time as Jason Westin, a cancer researcher at MD Anderson, one of the top cancer centers in the country. It's unclear, though, if either Democrat has the connections to mount a serious campaign in what is still a very red area downballot, or if anyone else is considering.

Mayoral

● Cincinnati, OH Mayor: Cincinnati held its non-partisan primary on Tuesday, and the results were not great for incumbent John Cranley. Cranley advanced to the November general election, but in a surprise, he trailed City Councilwoman Yvette Simpson, a fellow Democrat, 45-35 in the first round. Former University of Cincinnati board chairman Rob Richardson Jr., another Democrat, took 20 percent and has not yet endorsed anyone.

What makes the results so remarkable is that Cranley dramatically outspent Simpson in paid advertising by an insane $675,000 to $10,000 margin, and he also had the support of the Ohio Democratic Party. Cranley, who has a reputation as a centrist, also tried to reach out to GOP voters, but plenty of conservatives are angry with the mayor for designating Cincinnati a sanctuary city and for backing a pay raise for city union workers despite the local budget deficit.

Cincinnatt.com also describes Cranley as having a "reputation of having an abrasive, full-speed-ahead personality," which has alienated some people. Turnout was very low, and it's possible voting patters will be more favorable for Cranley in November, but this was not at all a good showing for an incumbent. If Simpson wins, she would be the city's first African American female mayor.

● Jackson, MS Mayor: In Tuesday's Democratic primary, Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber took 5 percent of the vote. No, he didn't lose by a 5 percent margin. He literally won just 5 percent of the vote. The winner was attorney Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who took the Democratic nomination with 55 percent and avoided a runoff. Jackson is a heavily Democratic city, and Lumumba should have no trouble winning the June general election.

Lumumba is the son of the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, a civil rights lawyer who was involved in the black separatist movement known as the Republic of New Afrika in the 1960s. The elder Lumumba was born Edwin Finley Taliaferro but adopted his surname after Patrice Lumumba, the slain Congolese independence leader, and was also known as a forceful defense attorney. In his best-known case, he successfully defended rapper Tupac Shakur from assault charges in 1993.

Lumumba went on to serve on Jackson's city council but never moderated his views. He made national news when he was elected mayor of Jackson in 2013, though he died less than a year into his term at the age of 66. His son and law partner, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, ran in the special election to succeed him. While the younger Lumumba pledged to carry on his father's vision, he lost the special election runoff 54-46 to Yarber in 2014.

Yarber's tenure, however, did not go well, and he's been embroiled in a long-running sexual harassment lawsuit involving a former city employee who alleged that Yarber had threatened her job when she tried to break off an affair they were having. Meanwhile, Jackson's roads were already bad when Yarber became mayor, but there was a widespread perception that he didn't do enough to fix them, and Yarber also feuded with a local commission involved in the repair work.

Yarber attracted further criticism after the city hired a private outside company to run its bus system, an experience that went horribly for residents. The mayor himself also conceded he did a poor job picking his administrative team. It didn't help that one of the other candidates had a similar political base as his.

Shortly after his special election defeat, Lumumba began preparing for another bid, but his outright win on Tuesday was still a big surprise. Lumumba is close to labor groups, and he's pledged to reinstate the 1-cent sales tax for rebuilding infrastructure that his father championed just before his death.

Grab Bag

● Where Are They Now?: Former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who reveled in tormenting fellow Republicans for their alleged apostasies, has now gotten his comeuppance: He's been booted out as president of the Heritage Foundation, one of DC's biggest right-wing think-tanks. DeMint had shocked the political world when he resigned from the Senate to accept the Heritage post early in 2013, just months after he won re-election. Now, though, he's suddenly got bupkes—and plenty of his fellow Republicans are probably none too unhappy about this turn of events.

That's because, while still in office, DeMint founded an organization called the Senate Conservatives Fund that broke with traditional Senate decorum and waged war on Republican members whom DeMint branded as insufficiently conservative, like the late Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (who soon thereafter changed parties). Going after sitting senators did not endear DeMint to his party's leadership, nor did the fact that the SCF also came to the aid of plenty of unelectable tea partiers, like Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell.

Despite his fraught relationship with the Senate GOP, DeMint could have been senator-for-life in solidly red South Carolina had he wanted to. Instead, he opted for Heritage, but as he drew the organization closer and closer to Donald Trump (DeMint had a big role in Trump's transition and even recommended Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court), the think tank's trustees grew displeased and gave him the boot. In a delicious twist, just days before he was finally fired—though after reports had already emerged saying he was circling the drain—Trump specifically praised DeMint as "amazing" in a speech to the NRA. Amazing indeed.

The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, and Stephen Wolf, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, and James Lambert.