Morning Digest: The 'least liked' Republican in Texas is trying to push out John Cornyn—and flailing
A Houston congressman has pissed off almost everyone, including Trump
Leading Off
TX-Sen
Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt has decided to pressure Sen. John Cornyn to step aside rather than challenge him outright, NOTUS' Reese Gorman reports, but his subterfuge has gone over poorly with his fellow Republicans.
Gorman writes that Hunt's camp has spread a rumor that Donald Trump could tap Cornyn, who badly trails scandal-ridden Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls ahead of next year's primary, to lead NASA. Such a move would allow Cornyn to leave the Senate race while still preserving some of his dignity, but there's one problem.
"No one is taking it seriously," an unnamed person close to Trump says. "They know where it's coming from." A separate White House source added, "Have no reason to believe there are legs at this time."
Cornyn, for his part, doesn't like the idea of dropping out so that Hunt could run in his place. The senator told the Wall Street Journal last month that, while he was willing to end his campaign if he believed a strong alternative would step up to stop Paxton, he was skeptical that Hunt was the right choice.
Cornyn then quickly tried to silence the retirement speculation he had started by separately informing the Houston Chronicle, "Any suggestion that I'm thinking about dropping out of the race is false."
This about-face hasn't stopped Hunt from trying to convince the powers that be that he's the one they need to rally around to stop Paxton from winning next year's primary and potentially costing the GOP a vital Senate seat. According to Gorman's sources, though, his approach has not had its desired effect.
"They've pissed off the White House because they're so badgering," one operative says. "The way they've gone along operating is very arrogant and unsophisticated, and they've been told by multiple folks they need to pump the brakes."
One unnamed member of the Lone Star State's gigantic GOP House delegation is also unhappy with Hunt, saying of their colleague, "There's 25 of us in the delegation, and I'd say he is the least liked out of everybody."
There's talk that a different member of the House might have a better chance of blocking Paxton.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, who is Trump's former White House physician, didn't rule out running himself earlier this month. Speculation about his plans only intensified further on Friday when Semafor reported that Jackson recently spoke to Trump's team about the race, though there's no word as to whether he pitched himself as a potential candidate.
Cornyn, though, remains adamant that Paxton's detractors already have their best candidate running. One Republican agrees with him: Rep. Jake Ellzey told Gorman that he was supporting Cornyn, which makes him the first Texas congressman to back the beleaguered incumbent.
The senator, though, is in the hunt for a far bigger endorsement. He told Semafor that he believes he could still win Trump's backing by closing his huge deficit in the polls, and claims he's got a plan to pull off a comeback.
"We just have to do two things," Cornyn said. "One is to remind people what I've done and my record of support for the president during his first and now second term. And, secondly, to remind people what a crook Ken Paxton is."
Major news outlets like ABC and CBS are eagerly sucking up to Trump. How can you possibly trust their coverage? The only way out of this mess is to help build a robust network of independent media sites, like The Downballot. If you haven’t already upgraded to a paid subscription, we’d be incredibly grateful if you’d do so today.
Senate
FL-Sen, MI-Sen, NC-Sen
Donald Trump endorsed a trio of Republican Senate candidates on Thursday evening: Florida Sen. Ashley Moody, former Rep. Mike Rogers in Michigan, and RNC chair Michael Whatley in North Carolina.
Whatley has yet to announce a bid to succeed retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, but he also earned the support of NRSC chair Tim Scott. Rogers, meanwhile, just had Trump clear the field for him after Rep. Bill Huizenga decided not to join the race at the last minute. And Moody, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to replace Marco Rubio, appears to be on a glide path to renomination following the multifaceted implosion of Rep. Cory Mills.
LA-Sen
Public Service Commissioner Eric Skrmetta announced Friday that he would challenge Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy in what was already a busy Republican primary.
Skrmetta was elected in 2008 to represent much of the New Orleans area on the five-member body that regulates utility companies. He'd occasionally shown interest in running for higher office—he even formed an exploratory committee in 2015 as he eyed the state's other Senate seat—but he'd always opted to stay put until now.
Skrmetta joins state Treasurer John Fleming and state Sen. Blake Miguez in the campaign to wrest the GOP nomination from Cassidy, who voted to convict Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 riots. There's also intense speculation that Rep. Julia Letlow, who is an ally of Gov. Jeff Landry, could run as well.
Louisiana's GOP primary will take place next April; a runoff would be held a month later if no one earns a majority in the first round.
NC-Sen
Former Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel is "expected" to drop his bid for Senate and instead run for Wake County district attorney, reports WRAL, now that former Gov. Roy Cooper appears all but certain to join the race for the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
Nickel launched his campaign in April, when Cooper's plans were still unclear. At the time, though, he held open the possibility that he'd defer should the popular ex-governor get in, telling The Downballot, "I'll cross that bridge if we get there." According to WRAL, Nickel plans to switch contests and endorse Cooper early this week.
Nickel is set to join another open-seat race, a possibility that was first reported by Semafor. Lorrin Freeman, the current district attorney in Wake County (the state's largest and home to the capital of Raleigh), announced that she would not seek a fourth term in May.
Freeman had once been viewed as a possible successor to Josh Stein as state attorney general (Stein was elected to succeed Cooper last year). However, she became a "pariah" among fellow Democrats, as The Assembly's Jeffrey Billman put it, after inexplicably pursuing a baseless criminal investigation into Stein that she eventually dropped.
SD-Sen
Even though Donald Trump just gave the ol' "Complete and Total" to South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, the 70-year-old incumbent tells KELO that he hasn't made an announcement about seeking a third term and likely won't do so before the fall.
Governors
AK-Gov
Republican state Sen. Shelley Hughes has entered the race for Alaska's open governorship, joining a crowded field of GOP candidates.
Hughes previously served as the chamber's majority leader when Republicans controlled the Senate, but following the 2022 elections, a bipartisan coalition including every Democrat and a large number of Republicans took charge. Hughes instead opted to join the small minority caucus made up of GOP hardliners.
Already running for Republicans are political operative Bernadette Wilson, former state Sen. Click Bishop, podiatrist Matt Heilala, and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. Democrats have yet to land a candidate in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy, with all eyes on former Rep. Mary Peltola. However, former state Sen. Tom Begich says he'd run if Peltola does not.
MN-Gov, MN-Sen
Conspiracy theorist and self-described "Texas citizen" Mike Lindell will decide in the next few weeks whether he'll run for governor of Minnesota, he told the Star Tribune on Thursday.
Lindell, who still lives in the Lone Star State, has spent the better part of a decade talking about campaigning to lead his native state, but he's always backed down. He's at least sparing us his deliberations for one contest, though: Lindell says he won't be entering Minnesota's Senate race.
SC-Gov, SC-05
Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, announced Sunday that he was entering the busy Republican primary for South Carolina's open governorship.
Norman, whose decision also means his 5th Congressional District will host an open-seat race, may end up facing a House colleague before too long. Rep. Nancy Mace, who has sounded likely to run for months, said Sunday, "I will be making a decision over the next couple of days about my future."
Norman, whom the Post & Courier's Macon Atkinson characterizes as a "real estate multimillionaire," has long been a fixture in state politics.
The Republican earned a promotion from the state House to Congress in 2017 when he won a closer-than-expected special election for the 5th District in the northern part of the state, a victory that came a decade after his first effort ended in defeat. Norman soon became entrenched in office.
The congressman received widespread attention in 2022 when Talking Points Memo reported that he'd suggested the previous year that Donald Trump should use force to keep Joe Biden from becoming president.
"Mark, in seeing what's happening so quickly, and reading about the Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic !!" Norman texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows three days before Biden's inauguration. "Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!"
An unrepentant Norman responded to HuffPost's questions about the message by acknowledging, "Well, I misspelled 'martial.'" He continued, "I was very frustrated then, I'm frustrated now. I was frustrated then by what was going on in the Capitol. President Biden was in his basement the whole year. Dominion was raising all kinda questions."
Norman made news again in 2023 when he became one of just two members of Congress to endorse the presidential campaign of former Gov. Nikki Haley, an old ally from their days in South Carolina state government. (The other was Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, who is not seeking reelection next year.)
Trump, though, remained uncharacteristically silent about Norman's transgression. Atkinson writes that Trump left him alone both because Norman had been wise enough to notify his party's master in advance and because of the congressman's previous loyalty. Trump went on to easily beat Haley in her home state, while Norman won renomination without opposition a few months later.
Norman's current Republican foes, however, may be less forgiving in next year's primary. The GOP field consists of state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, Attorney General Alan Wilson, and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
Norman began his new campaign with endorsements from both Haley and Meadows. Former Sen. Jim DeMint, who left office in early 2013, is also in his corner.
South Carolina, like many other Southern States, requires primary candidates to win a majority of the vote to avert a runoff. The eventual GOP nominee will be the favorite to replace Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who cannot run again because of term limits.
WI-Gov
Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez on Friday became the first major candidate to enter the Democratic primary for governor of Wisconsin, an announcement that came one day after incumbent Tony Evers revealed that he would not run again.
While Evers had kept everyone guessing until the end if he'd seek a third term, the lieutenant governor was apparently preparing to run before he broke the news. Business Insider's Bryan Metzger flags that Rodriguez uploaded her launch video to YouTube a week before Evers said he wouldn't run again.
Rodriguez, who would be the first woman to lead the Badger State, is a former nurse and healthcare executive who is a relative newcomer to state politics.
Rodriguez sought elected office for the first time in 2020 when she narrowly unseated a Republican state representative in a suburban Milwaukee constituency that included part of the longtime GOP bastion of Waukesha County.
Rodriguez soon decided to run statewide in 2022 after Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes opted to wage an ultimately unsuccessful Senate campaign.
Wisconsin is one of just seven states where candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run in separate primaries before campaigning as a ticket in the fall—an arrangement sometimes likened to a "shotgun marriage."
Rodriguez had no trouble winning the nomination, or, it seems, jelling with Evers. The pair went on to win a competitive race against the GOP ticket of wealthy businessman Tim Michels and state Sen. Roger Roth.
Rodriguez launched her new campaign Friday by going directly after Donald Trump, who narrowly carried Wisconsin last year after falling short in 2020.
"We've got a maniac in the White House," she tells the audience. "His tariffs are killing our farmers and his policies are hurting our kids." She also excoriates the Republican-led legislature for "refus[ing] to expand Medicaid, even though 41 other states have done it."
While Rodriguez is the first Democrat in the race, she almost certainly won't be the last.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said in a statement Friday, "In the weeks ahead, I will be taking steps toward entering the race for Governor." Crowley, who would be the state's first Black chief executive, is one of several Badger State Democrats who expressed interest in running following Evers' retirement announcement.
Attorney General Josh Kaul, by contrast, is being coy about his plans even though many observers believe he's likely to get in. Kaul informed reporters on Friday, "I don't have any announcement today. I think in the next several weeks you'll hear from a number of people as to where they stand on things."
On the Republican side, Rep. Tom Tiffany told a conservative podcast on Friday that he'd decide "in the next 30 to 60 days."
Former Gov. Scott Walker, though, reiterated Sunday that he’s still not going to run to reclaim his old job.
House
IA-04
Ryan Rhodes, the former CEO of the far-right social media site Parler, has entered the race for Iowa's open 4th Congressional District, joining a trio of fellow Republicans hoping to succeed Rep. Randy Feenstra.
During the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, supporters of Donald Trump posted hundreds of videos to Parler documenting the riots, leading cloud computing giant Amazon to suspend the site for failing to "remove content that encourages or incites violence." The service was later shuttered in 2023 before getting revived nearly a year later.
Already in the race for the conservative 4th District in northwest Iowa are Siouxland Chamber of Commerce head Chris McGowan, farmer Kyle Larsen, and state Rep. Matt Windschitl. Feenstra has telegraphed a likely bid for governor but has not formally kicked off a campaign yet.
MI-10
Republican Robert Lulgjuraj, who works as a prosecutor in Macomb County, tells the Detroit News he plans to enter the race for Michigan's open 10th District early next month.
Lulgjuraj would finally give the GOP a candidate to replace Rep. John James, who announced his campaign for governor all the way back in April, but several local Republicans are pulling for someone else to run.
The Detroit News reports that 20 local elected officials and business figures have formed a group urging Army National Guard member Mike Bouchard, who is the son and namesake of Oakland County's longtime sheriff, to join the race. This effort includes the older Bouchard as well as Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido, who is one of the more prominent Republicans in the area.
The younger Bouchard is currently deployed overseas, and the paper says he's set to return sometime in the fall.
MN-05
Labor leader Latonya Reeves, who is also a member of the DNC, tells Axios that she's exploring a run against Rep. Ilhan Omar in next year's Democratic primary for Minnesota's safely blue 5th District.
Reeves did not offer any direct criticisms of the outspoken Omar, who's faced high-profile primary challenges every cycle since she was first elected in 2018. Rather, she said she'd like to "tone down the rhetoric," adding, "There's a lot of political angst in the community right now with Trump, and I want to be a voice for the community and focus on CD5 issues."
NE-02
Retired eye surgeon Mark Johnston announced a bid for Nebraska's open 2nd Congressional District on Friday, joining a very crowded field of Democrats eager to flip the swingy seat held by outgoing Republican Rep. Don Bacon.
TN-07
The dates for the special election to fill Tennessee's vacant 7th Congressional District have officially been set, with primaries on Oct. 7 and a general election on Dec. 2. Candidates must file by Aug. 12. Republicans are likely to hold this conservative seat, but Democrats hope that the portion of Nashville the GOP gerrymandered into the district will give them a base of support from which to stage an upset.
TX-34
Army veteran Eric Flores received an endorsement on Friday from Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who represents Texas' 15th District, for his campaign to flip the neighboring 34th. Flores is currently the only notable Republican challenging Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in a Rio Grande Valley constituency that the GOP legislature might gerrymander during an ongoing special session.
Legislatures
ND Redistricting
The Supreme Court has stayed an appeals court ruling that concluded only the federal government—and not private individuals—could bring lawsuits alleging discrimination under the Voting Rights Act.
The stay keeps in place a decision by a district court from 2023 that found that North Dakota Republicans had diluted the voting power of Native Americans by splitting two tribal reservations between a pair of legislative districts. That court ultimately imposed a new map uniting the reservations after Republicans failed to remedy the violation, leading to the election of three Native Democrats.
In May, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's ruling, saying that private litigants like the tribal plaintiffs who sued the state were not entitled to do so—a decision that would have eviscerated what remains of the VRA. The Supreme Court could, however, still uphold the 8th Circuit ruling, though North Dakota's map will likely remain in place at least through the 2026 elections.
Mayors & County Leaders
Detroit, MI Mayor
FOX 2 reported Thursday evening that Pastor Solomon Kinloch pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-wife in 1993, news that comes just ahead of the Aug. 5 nonpartisan primary for mayor of Detroit.
Kinloch's team told the station that the candidate "made a mistake" when he was 19 and "has discussed it as part of his ministry and used it to help put countless others on the path to redemption." The statement went on to blame the timing of the news on unnamed "[p]olitical rivals."
A recent poll from Target Insyght showed Kinloch locked in a close race for a spot in the November general election. City Council President Mary Sheffield led with 34%, while former Council President Saunteel Jenkins edged out Kinloch 17-16 for second-place; no other candidates took more than 6%.
Other Races
FL Chief Financial Officer
The latest proxy war between Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis fizzled out on Thursday night when Trump endorsed state Sen. Joe Gruters to become the new chair of the Republican National Committee—an offer the lawmaker quickly accepted. (The current RNC chair, Michael Whatley, is all but certain to run for North Carolina's open Senate seat.)
Gruters, a longtime Trump ally, had been preparing for what would have been a nasty Republican primary battle against Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, whom DeSantis appointed earlier this month. Such a contest, though, is almost certainly not going to happen now.
Roy Cooper officially announced his Senate bid at 8 am this morning. So happy.
https://www.wral.com/story/democrat-roy-cooper-announces-bid-for-north-carolina-s-open-u-s-senate-seat/22099913/
Chaz Nuttycombe’s VA prediction out. Rs are about to be submerged https://x.com/samshirazim/status/1949810014786383916?s=61&t=5copDbz1aPl7ASsRCUclLg