MORE COLORADO DRAMA. Just when you thought things couldn’t get weirder in the Republican Senate primary in Colorado, they do. Last week, Jon Keyser’s disastrous interview and comments at a candidate forum made headlines, and this week, it was revealed that Keyser’s campaign turned in ballot petitions with a dead voter’s signature on it and the Secretary of State’s office revealed it had been informed of the signature issues nearly a month ago. A Denver Post debate a few hours later was dominated by Keyser’s signature problems, with Keyser repeatedly on the defensive from both moderators and his fellow candidates. Keyser was a no-show at another debate on Thursday night, instead opting to meet in Washington DC with fellow robot Marco Rubio.
ANOTHER BAD WEEK FOR MCCAIN. If John McCain thought that this week would be any better than last week, he was quickly proven wrong. After a brutal stretch, his campaign manager was forced to send out a memo to “dampen any anxiety among supporters” over Donald Trump and attempt to distance McCain from the toxic GOP presumptive nominee. His campaign also rolled out ads hitting his primary opponent Kelli Ward and Democratic challenger Ann Kirkpatrick, indicating how insecure they feel about McCain’s reelection prospects. The McCain campaign’s panic was proven to be well-founded on Tuesday, when PPP released a poll showing that only 35% of Arizona GOP voters approve of McCain, compared to 50% who disapprove. Despite his near universal name recognition, McCain would tie his primary opponent Kelli Ward in a two-person GOP primary race and his general election lead over Ann Kirkpatrick is just six points. These poll numbers led the media to ask “Is John McCain in re-election trouble?” and conclude that “McCain’s re-election prospects are rocky.” And finally, to cap off another terrible week, the McCain campaign caught heat for blocking one of his own old campaign ads on YouTube in an effort to hide his past comments from Latino voters. Hey…there’s always next week?
TRUMP TAKEOVER IN #FLSEN. Donald Trump’s taken over the Republican Party, and nowhere is that more evident than in Florida’s Republican Senate primary. This week, Carlos Beruff faced scathing headlines and calls to apologize after calling President Obama “an animal” at a recent event. Despite the condemnation, Beruff has refused to apologize, showing just how committed he is to the Trump politics of division and hatred. Todd Wilcox also hopped on the Trump bandwagon , saying that torture practices like waterboarding are effective. These comments mirror Trump’s much criticized comments that “torture works.”
GRAY HEADS TOWARD GENERAL IN STRONG POSITION. Lexington Mayor Jim Gray cruised to a primary victory in Kentucky on Tuesday night, putting him in a strong position to take on Rand Paul in November. As memo the Gray campaign released details, Paul is a professional politician who put his failed presidential campaign ahead of Kentuckians, which stands in stark contrast to Gray, a 7th generation Kentuckian who has created thousands of jobs. The DSCC is proud to stand with Gray in his campaign, and is committed to electing a Senator who is dedicated to fighting for Kentuckians in November.
KOCHS READY TO SPEND BIG TO PROP UP VULNERABLE ALLIES. This week, the Koch Brothers announced $30 million worth of television and digital advertising in Senate races to back up their vulnerable friends in Congress. Pat Toomey, Ron Johnson, Rob Portman and Congressman Joe Heck are all loyal allies to the Kochs so it’s no surprise that they’ll be benefiting from Koch cash.
BONUS MUST-READS. Because there’s just been too many stories we like lately.
Washington Post: The 10 most tortured Republican responses to Donald Trump – Featuring Senators Ayotte, Toomey, Johnson, Portman and Burr. Congrats to Senator Ayotte on being #1!
Washington Post: Republicans are trying to have their Trump cake and eat it too. That won’t work. – Johnson and Ayotte’s “support” but not “endorse” verbal gymnastics are once again mocked.
Roll Call: Why Senate Republicans Are Worried About RNC– Something else for vulnerable Senate Republicans to worry about.
NPR: Women Look to Make History in 2016 Senate Races – While Republicans run in the #PartyofTrump, Democrats are running with strong and passionate women who will help us take back the majority in November.
IN THE STATES
ILLINOIS – The Duckworth campaign released a new ad that highlights the sacrifice Tammy Duckworth made during her military service and contrasts it with the lies Mark Kirk made about his own service. Watch “Repeatedly” here.
NEW HAMPSHIRE – A new poll from WBUR showed Maggie Hassan leading Kelly Ayotte in the New Hampshire Senate race 48%-46%. Among independents, Hassan leads by eight points.
MORE NEW HAMPSHIRE – The Hassan campaign reserved more than $6 million in airtime to run from August to Election Day, indicating they are ready to win in November.
FLORIDA — The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC unanimously endorsed Patrick Murphy on Thursday. The 27-member caucus touted his support for raising the minimum wage, pursuing immigration reform, and making college more affordable.
PENNSYLVANIA – This week, two local Pennsylvania papers slammed Senator Pat Toomey for his obstruction of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Read the Pocono Record’s “Toomey and the Politics of Obstruction” and the Express-Times’ “Toomey two-faced on federal judge vacancies.”
MORE PENNSYLVANIA – Senate Majority PAC released a new ad today slamming Pat Toomey for his Wall Street connections. Watch the ad here (It even has cats!).
NEVADA – The Cortez Masto campaign released an statement slamming the race-baiting radio ad being aired against her. The ad is a desperate, shameful ploy by Congressman Heck’s allies and he should call for it to be taken down.
MISSOURI — The League of Conservation Voters endorsed Jason Kander, touting his role as an advocate for Missouri’s environment. The endorsement also discussed Kander’s military service and how he will be able to work to make connections between national security and climate change when in the Senate.
COLORADO – The Bennet campaign released a television ad touting his work to change the culture of Washington by banning former legislators from ever becoming lobbyists and forcing legislators to stay in Washington in the face of another government shutdown. Watch “Reform” here.
WISCONSIN – The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a judicial nominee for a Wisconsin court that Ron Johnson had single-handedly been blocking for more than six years. Johnson didn’t even show up to the hearing that he spent 2,323 days trying to make sure didn’t happen.
OHIO — American Bridge released an ad this week that ties Senator Rob Portman to Donald Trump in Ohio. Portman’s been touting his support for Trump, despite Trump’s hateful and divisive rhetoric. Watch “Rob Portman: Trump’s Man in Ohio” here.
MORE OHIO – Super PAC ads against Ted Strickland were slammed as false by multiple news outlets this week. A Koch-funded attack was called “misleading” by FactCheck.Org and misconstrued by the Akron Beacon Journal, while PolitiFact rated a Portman-backing PAC hit “false.”
TWEET OF THE WEEK – This week’s Tweet of the Week goes to ColoradoPols founder Jason Bane, for highlighting just how bad things are for Jon Keyser: “@jason_bane: Why on earth would any person write a check to @Jon_Keyser right now? You’d have to be drunk. #cosen #copolitics”
ANOTHER TWEET OF THE WEEK – A second Tweet of the Week goes to Colorado Democratic Party’s Chris Meagher for a great guess at what Jon Keyser and Marco Rubio’s DC conversation was yesterday: “@chrismeagher: “Hi Marco” “Hi Jon.” “I’m on the ballot.” “He knows exactly what he’s doing.” #cosen twitter.com/johntomasic/st…”
BONUS – Shout out to Shripal Shah (@shripal734) for coming up with our new favorite hashtag — #CatToomey.
