Morning Digest: Trumpworld wants to primary a governor. They might get saddled with Corey Lewandowski

New Hampshire Republicans have long worried that the MAGA veteran could hurt them at the ballot box.

Republican Corey Lewandowski (credit: Corey Lewandowski X account)

Leading Off

NH-Gov

Longtime Trump apparatchik Corey Lewandowski is threatening to challenge Gov. Kelly Ayotte in next September’s Republican primary following her refusal to heed the administration’s call to gerrymander New Hampshire’s congressional map.

“Governor is the only job in Politics I would ever consider giving up what I am currently doing for,” Lewandowski told Politico in a text message. He responded to the publication of the story by sharing it on social media with the note, “This is news worthy. Wow.”

Lewandowski’s fellow Republicans, though, aren’t quite so enthusiastic about the idea of him taking on Ayotte.

“He’s obviously a smart guy, so he throws his name in there just to get headlines,” an unnamed consultant told Politico. “But in the end, he’s not going to do it because he knows he can’t win.”

Other GOP sources have had far less diplomatic things to say about Lewandowski during his past flirtations with office.

“He’s a thug,” former Sen. Judd Gregg said in 2019 as Lewandowski mulled challenging Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

“I think his strongest supporter is the person who he looks at in the mirror,” GOP strategist Tom Rath snarked that same year. “My guess is he wouldn’t be the frontrunner.”

Then-Gov. Chris Sununu, for his part, reportedly warned Trump’s team that Lewandowski could wreck the prospects of the entire 2020 GOP ticket—including Sununu’s.

Lewandowski’s intraparty detractors noted that he had been charged with battery in Florida in 2016—when he was serving as Trump’s first campaign manager—after he was accused of forcefully grabbing a Breitbart employee who attempted to ask Trump a question.

Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charge, but Republicans feared the matter could resurface if Lewandowski decided to place his name on a ballot. They also remembered that another woman had accused Lewandowski of inappropriately touching her at a 2017 event, though she did not file charges.

But while Trump himself seemed unmoved by these fears as he publicly encouraged Lewandowski—whom he’d fired in 2016 but soon let back into his political orbit—to take on Shaheen, it didn’t happen. Lewandowski didn’t run for anything, and both Shaheen and Sununu ended up easily winning reelection.

Lewandowski said in early 2021 that he was interested in challenging Sununu for renomination. He added that he would also be interested in running if the governor retired and Ayotte ran instead.

Sununu ultimately sought one more two-year term in 2022 before retiring in 2024, and Ayotte won the race to succeed him. Lewandowski, though, wasn’t on the ballot in either cycle.

The same year he was mooting a bid against Sununu, a familiar sort of accusation once again brought Lewadkowski low. That fall, he was ousted from his post running a pro-Trump super PAC after Trashelle Odom, who was then married to a prominent GOP donor, accused him of stalking and assaulting her at an event.

“Corey Lewandowski will be going on to other endeavors and we very much want to thank him for his service,” a Trump spokesperson said. “He will no longer be associated with Trump World.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who had brought Lewandowski on to serve as a top political adviser, also cut ties with him. At the time, Noem denied rumors that she and Lewandowski, who are each married to other people, were carrying on an affair—chatter that has only intensified over the last four years.

Lewandowski was initially charged with misdemeanor battery in the Odom case, but he reached a deal to have the charge dismissed—a deal that included his enrollment in what CBS described as “an impulse control class.” He was back at Trump’s side in 2024, something Odom told CBS left her “very, very upset.”

“He has his power back,” she said months before Trump’s return to the White House made Lewandowski even more influential than ever. Lewandowski currently serves as Noem’s top adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, where Politico says he has “veto power” over contracts greater than $100,000.

Despite his seemingly boundless flaws, though, Trump’s team may not get a stronger recruit if they’re serious about threatening Ayotte.

A host of other New Hampshire Republicans have already said no, including state Sen. Dan Innis, who has pushed legislation to pass a new map. One other potential candidate, former state Senate President Chuck Morse, didn’t respond to an inquiry from Politico. Ayotte beat Morse 63-34 in last year’s primary for the post that Sununu was leaving behind.

Sununu, for his part, may once again have reason to work the phones to discourage Lewandowski from doing anything to hurt the GOP ticket. While the former governor isn’t running for office in 2026, his brother, former Sen. John Sununu, has expressed interest in running to succeed the retiring Shaheen. John Sununu’s prospects are unlikely to improve if Lewandowski, with an assist from Trump, becomes his ticketmate.

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How Rob Sand plans to win Iowa’s governorship

Redistricting Roundup

AL Redistricting

A federal judge has directed a court-appointed expert to propose new maps for the Alabama Senate after Republican Gov. Kay Ivey announced she would not call a special session of the legislature so that lawmakers could draw a map of their own.

A team led by attorney Richard Allen must now prepare three proposals by Oct. 24, per an order by U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, who also rejected a request by Republicans that she stay her August ruling finding that the map violated the Voting Rights Act.

In that decision, Manasco concluded that Alabama’s Republican-dominated legislature had illegally split up Black communities in the Montgomery area, depriving Black voters of their ability to elect their preferred Senate candidates.

Manasco is also part of a three-judge panel that, relying on the same provision of the VRA, previously ordered the creation of a second majority-Black congressional district. Allen also served as the court’s expert in that case and drew the map that took effect last year. Republicans, however, are still appealing both that decision and Manasco’s ruling in the Senate case.

MD Redistricting

Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones has, for the first time, expressed openness to redrawing the state’s congressional map.

“I agree with Gov. [Wes] Moore’s recent comments that now is the time to have conversations about redistricting in Maryland,” she told the Baltimore Banner. “We’ve been having those conversations in the House. He has a ready and an eager and a willing partner in me.”

Moore has offered similar sentiments, but he has not yet called on fellow Democrats to act. At a recent gala held by the Congressional Black Caucus, he told attendees that “while these other states are determining whether or not they have fair maps, so will Maryland.”

Jones’ counterpart in the upper chamber, President Bill Ferguson, has been more hesitant, telling reporters, “We’re talking through it and looking through the options to keep it as a possibility in the case that we have to deploy it.”

At least some Democratic lawmakers want to take a more aggressive approach. In August, state Sen. Clarence Lam introduced a map that would target Maryland’s lone Republican-held congressional district, while House Majority Leader David Moon has said he’s working on a similar proposal.

“We Democrats better not be chumps,” Moon told the Banner. “We’re being bullied here.”

3Q Fundraising

• IA-Sen: Josh Turek (D): $1 million raised (in seven weeks)

• NE-Sen: Dan Osborn (I): $1 million raised

• FL-Gov: Byron Donalds (R): $9.2 million raised

• SC-Gov: Ralph Norman (R): $800,000 raised (in 65 days), additional $500,000 self-funded, $1.1 million cash on hand

• CA-32: Jake Levine (D): $690,000 raised (in eight weeks)

• FL-15: Darren McAuley (D): $200,000 raised

• FL-27: Robin Peguero (D): $330,000 raised; Richard Lamondin (D): $200,000 raised

• IL-02: Robert Peters (D): $275,000 raised

• IL-08: Melissa Bean (D): $540,000 raised (in three weeks)

• IL-09: Bushra Amiwala (D): $430,000 raised

• MI-07: Josh Cowen (D): $205,000 raised

• MN-01: Jake Johnson (D): $240,000 raised

• NY-19: Josh Riley (D-inc): $880,000 raised, $1.8 million cash on hand

• PA-07: Bob Brooks (D): $300,000 raised (in five weeks)

• PA-10: Janelle Stelson (D): $1.2 million raised, $1 million cash on hand

• TX-09: Alexandra del Moral Mealer (R): $575,000 raised (in 37 days), $500,000 cash on hand

• WA-03: John Braun (R): $500,000 raised (in seven weeks)

Senate

IL-Sen

EMILYs List has endorsed Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in her bid to succeed Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, but the development has reportedly upset some supporters of another candidate running in the Democratic primary, Rep. Robin Kelly.

According to Punchbowl, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is supporting Kelly, lodged “vehement objections” with EMILYs List, an influential PAC that helps elect pro-choice Democratic women. (Both Kelly and Stratton are Black. Both are also vocal supporters of abortion rights.) The group, however, was apparently unswayed.

EMILYs has often weighed in in primaries featuring multiple women, particularly when—as is the case here—the nomination might go to a male candidate. Every public poll so far has shown Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi with the lead, but allies of Stratton, who’s always been in second, believe she can overtake the frontrunner. Kelly, meanwhile, has placed third in all polling.

Governors

AK-Gov

Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has joined the almost comically crowded primary for Alaska’s open governorship, making him the 10th Republican (depending on how you count) to enter the race.

The far-right Bronson served only a single three-year term as leader of Alaska’s largest city before losing reelection last year. His brief tenure was marked by frequent feuds with other politicians and a long string of unwanted headlines.

Most notoriously, Bronson sought to shut off the city’s water fluoridation system, baselessly calling it a “health hazard,” only to be forced to turn it back on hours later after being told he was obligated to by law. He also defended anti-masking advocates who wore yellow Stars of David, generating fierce criticism when he claimed their appropriation of the infamous Nazi-mandated badge was “actually a credit to” Jews.

Interest in the contest is even higher than the last time Alaska Republicans had a seriously contested race for governor in 2018, when seven candidates ran in the GOP primary. That race was ultimately won by Republican Mike Dunleavy, who is now termed out.

This time, however, the field is not only bigger but features many more prominent names. And thanks to a change in state law, hopefuls won’t compete in separate party primaries. Instead, all candidates from all parties will appear on a single primary ballot, and the top four vote-getters will advance to a November general election, which will be decided through ranked-choice voting.

CO-Gov

Victor Marx, the founder of a Christian ministry, has joined the GOP primary for Colorado’s open governorship with the endorsement of the state’s most prominent—and notorious—conservative, Rep. Lauren Boebert.

As Colorado Politics notes, that makes Marx the 19th Republican to join the race, though only some are in any way notable. That smaller list includes a trio of state lawmakers—Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, Rep. Scott Bottoms, and Rep. Mark Baisley—as well as former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell.

The Democratic field is considerably smaller, and only two candidates stand out: U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and state Attorney General Phil Weiser. Colorado Republicans have won just two races for governor in the last 50 years, when Bill Owens secured two terms starting in 1998.

ME-Gov

Former health care executive Jonathan Bush appears set to announce a campaign for governor of Maine on Wednesday, the Bangor Daily News reports. Bush, a cousin of both George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, would join a busy Republican primary that will take place in June.

RI-Gov

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha announced on Friday that he would not challenge Gov. Dan McKee in next September’s Democratic primary.

McKee currently faces a tough intraparty challenge from former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, while state House Speaker Joe Shekarchi is also considering a bid.

Shekarchi responded to Neronha’s decision by telling the Boston Globe he remains interested in joining the primary, though he added he wasn’t in a hurry to make up his mind. The Ocean State’s candidate filing deadline isn’t until late June.

Virginia

Two new polls show Democrat Abigail Spanberger with a double-digit lead over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in next month’s race for governor of Virginia. Emerson College’s survey for The Hill shows Spanberger up 52-42, while a poll from the Washington Post and George Mason University has her ahead 55-43.

The latter survey, which was carried out with fieldwork by Braun Research, also gives Democrats a smaller edge in Virginia’s two other statewide races. (Emerson did not include these contests in its release.)

Jay Jones outpaces Attorney General Jason Miyares 51-45, while Ghazala Hashmi edges out John Reid 49-45 for the open post of lieutenant governor. The survey was finished just before Jones was the subject of a pair of unwelcome news stories. (See our VA-AG item below for more.)

WI-Gov

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson tells WTMJ that he’s still “seriously looking at” running to regain the office he left behind more than two decades ago, in comments shared by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. These appear to be the first comments Thompson has made about the race in the nearly two months since he first expressed interest in joining the Republican primary.

If Thompson, who would be 85 at the start of the next gubernatorial term, achieves a comeback, he would be the oldest governor in Wisconsin history. The University of Minnesota’s Eric Ostermeier says the current record is held by Walter Goodland, a Republican who died in office in 1947 at the age of 84.

House

AZ-01

Nathan Gonzales of Inside Elections mentions three Republican state representatives as possible candidates for Arizona’s open 1st District: Pam Carter, Alex Kolodin, and Justin Wilmeth. Kolodin is currently challenging Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, though Gonzales writes that he could opt to defend this swing seat.

It does not appear that any have publicly expressed interest in running, though Wilmeth seemed to offer a hint on Friday. He shared a recent tweet in which fellow state Rep. Matt Gress—himself a potential candidate—wrote he would “do everything I can” to make sure Republicans hold the 1st.

“Ya know what, Matt? You’re exactly right!” Wilmeth wrote. “It’s vital we keep CD1 in capable Republican hands to advance President Trump’s economic-friendly agenda. I too will do all I can to ensure that happens!”

One person who probably won’t be taking up that challenge, though, is retired NASCAR driver Danica Patrick. Both Gonzales and NOTUS separately write that, while there’d been some speculation Patrick could campaign here, their sources doubt she’s interested.

FL-19

Catalina Lauf, a former Trump administration official who unsuccessfully ran for Congress twice in Illinois, has become the fifth former congressional candidate from another state to join the GOP primary for Florida’s open 19th District.

Lauf competed in a packed 2020 nomination contest to take on Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood, only to lose to then-state Sen. Jim Oberweis. Lauf then challenged Democratic Rep. Bill Foster in 2022 following redistricting but lost 56-44. Oberweis, whose own campaign against Underwood likewise ended in defeat, is now one of Lauf’s opponents in Florida.

The roster also includes yet another failed 2020 candidate: Ola Hawatmeh, a fashion designer who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nod to face then-New York Rep. Antonio Delgado. Hawatmeh, whom Axios says went on to become an aide to Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz, hasn’t attracted much attention for her new effort.

The two candidates who have drawn the most notice are a pair of former congressmen: Chris Collins, a New Yorker who resigned in 2019 after pleading guilty to his part in an insider-trading scheme, and Madison Cawthorn, who lost renomination in North Carolina in 2022.

While Cawthorn was briefly a national MAGA star, he isn’t getting a rapturous welcome from his old allies in the Trump administration in the days since he launched his comeback.

Morning Digest: Madison Cawthorn is back—as a Florida Man

“Madison was a disaster in his first term in Congress and everything that Team Trump has seen from him since, only makes people think he’s going to be even a bigger disaster this time around,” an unnamed person close to the White House told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman. “He has a bit of talent so it is unfortunate that he is so self destructive.”

Gorman’s piece has many more similar quotes about Cawthorn, so we encourage you to enjoy the piece in full.

MD-07

Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway filed paperwork with the FEC on Thursday for a possible Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Kweisi Mfume, though his spokesperson says he hasn’t decided if he’ll run.

Mfume, who turns 77 this month, told Axios back in May that he’d seek reelection to Maryland’s safely blue 7th District.

MO-01

Former Rep. Cori Bush announced Friday that she’d seek a rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell, who defeated her in last year’s Democratic primary.

Whoever wins next August’s nomination battle should have no trouble in Missouri’s 1st District, a safely blue constituency in the St. Louis area that the GOP’s new gerrymander left untouched.

Bush, who was a nurse and racial justice activist, rose to prominence in 2020 when she denied renomination to 10-term Rep. Lacy Clay in an upset, and she quickly became one of the better-known progressives in Congress. But Bush also made many enemies and soon found herself facing a strong challenge of her own from Bell, who at the time was prosecutor for St. Louis County.

Bush’s detractors, led by the hawkish pro-Israel group AIPAC, spent well over $10 million on ads against the congresswoman, an ardent critic of Israel’s government. The ads, though, didn’t focus on the Middle East. Instead, they took Bush to task for voting against Biden administration priorities—ostensibly from the left—and accused her of taking credit for securing billions in federal aid from bills she didn’t vote for.

Bush was also hindered by a federal investigation into allegations that she had misused campaign funds to pay her husband, Cortney Merritts, for security services. That issue likewise did not make it into her critics’ attack ads, but the congresswoman had to use funds from her campaign account to pay for legal fees rather than to support her reelection effort.

Bell prevailed 51-46 in the primary, which was tantamount to election in this safely blue seat.

Bush, who has remained active in progressive politics since her defeat, was in the news again in March when Merritts was indicted by Ed Martin, the far-right former chair of the state GOP who was briefly serving as Donald Trump’s interim U.S. attorney for Washington D.C. The indictment, which accused Merritts of using fraud to receive COVID relief payments, did not mention Bush.

NH-02

Democratic state Rep. Paige Beauchemin, who first won her seat in New Hampshire’s 400-member House in a 2023 special election, has announced a primary challenge against first-term Rep. Maggie Goodlander. Beauchemin promised a campaign of “disruptive compassion” based on “a message of radical empathy and grassroots energy.”

NY-10

New York City Councilmember Alexa Aviles is considering a primary challenge against Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman in the safely blue 10th Congressional District, reports City & State. Aviles “declined to comment” on her interest, but the publication noted that she’s seeking the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which she’s a member, and likely would not run without it.

NY-19

Republican state Sen. Peter Oberacker, who’s been considering a bid against Democratic Rep. Josh Riley in New York’s competitive 19th District, has filed paperwork with the FEC and will reportedly launch a campaign “in the coming days,” Politico wrote on Friday.

OR-04

Air Force Veteran Monique DeSpain said Thursday that she would once again challenge Democratic Rep. Val Hoyle in Oregon’s 4th District.

In 2024, DeSpain and the National Republican Congressional Committee went after the congresswoman over a corruption scandal involving a cannabis company run by former Hoyle donors. Hoyle, who was not accused of any wrongdoing by authorities, ran a few points behind the top of the ticket, but not by enough to cost her a second term: The incumbent prevailed 52-44 as Kamala Harris carried the 4th District 54-42.

TN-07

Donald Trump on Friday endorsed former state cabinet member Matt Van Epps just ahead of Tuesday’s packed special Republican primary for Tennessee’s 7th District.

The race got a little less busy a short time later when state Rep. Lee Reeves announced that Trump’s decision had convinced him to drop out and also back Van Epps. Van Epps already had the support of former Rep. Mark Green, whose resignation set off this special election, and Gov. Bill Lee.

Democrats also have a contested primary on Tuesday, though unlike on the GOP side, there’s no obvious frontrunner among the four candidates. The Republican nominee will be favored in the Dec. 2 general election for this conservative seat, but Democrats are hoping to score an upset.

Morning Digest: Why Tennessee Democrats think they can pull a special election upset

TX-08

Businessman Brett Jensen announced Thursday that he would enter the Republican primary for Texas’ 8th District, saying he’s already “made an initial $2 million investment” into his new campaign. Jensen is running to succeed GOP Rep. Morgan Luttrell, who is not seeking a third term in this safely red seat north of Houston.

TX-09

San Jacinto College Trustee Dan Mims said Thursday that he would seek the GOP nomination for Texas’ open 9th District, a once-Democratic constituency Republicans made safely red under their new gerrymander. Mims previously led his family’s company, which he describes as a “major foodservice distributor,” before it was sold in 2010.

TX-10

Chris Gober, a prominent Republican lawyer whose clients have included Elon Musk’s super PAC, on Friday became the first notable candidate to announce a campaign to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Michael McCaul.

Gober, Bloomberg writes, has served as an attorney for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz, and state Attorney General Ken Paxton. His involvement with Musk, though, brought a new level of outside attention. The New York Times profiled him in January in an article titled, “Musk Lawyer Tries to Build a Powerhouse Firm With a Billionaire Client.”

Gober, though, didn’t mention Musk—whose off-and-on again partnership with Donald Trump still appears to be off—in his announcement. The new candidate instead touted himself as an ardent MAGA disciple whom Trump “needs to advance the America First agenda and win.”

TX-35

Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, who is the brother of Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, said Thursday that he would seek the GOP nomination for a congressional district that neighbors the one his sister currently represents.

Carlos De La Cruz is campaigning for Texas’ open 35th District, a previously blue constituency that GOP map-makers transformed into red turf. Monica De La Cruz, who serves the 15th District and currently represents 17% of the new 35th’s residents, quickly endorsed her brother’s new bid.

The new candidate joins a GOP primary field that includes state Rep. John Lujan and Josh Cortez, who is a former adviser to the congresswoman.

San Antonio Councilman Marc Whyte, however, said Wednesday that he would endorse Lujan rather than run himself. Whyte does not appear to have ruled out seeking the 21st District, a different open seat he’s expressed interest in.

Attorneys General

VA-AG

Virginia Democrat Jay Jones apologized Friday for a text message he sent in 2022 in which he joked that then-state House Speaker Todd Gilbert should get “two bullets to the head.”

Jones, a former member of the House of Delegates, made those comments to Republican Del. Carrie Coyner, the conservative National Review reported. Coyner also told the publication, “Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert. It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official.”

“I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family,” Jones, who is challenging Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, said in a statement. “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry.”

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, put out her own statement saying, “After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted.” Fellow Democrat Ghazala Hashmi, who is running for lieutenant governor, similarly told Jones to “take accountability for the pain that his words have caused.”

The news came two days after the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Jones was charged with reckless driving in 2022, and that half of the 1,000 hours of community service he performed in recompense were devoted to his own political action committee.

Donald Trump responded to the latest story on Sunday by posting on social media that Jones was a “​​Radical Left Lunatic” who should “drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY.”

Trump also told his followers that he was providing his “complete and total endorsement” to Miyares. Trump, who lost Virginia in all three of his presidential campaigns, had refrained from publicly backing any member of the GOP’s statewide ticket before now.

Ballot Measures

MO Ballot

A Missouri judge has once again ordered Republicans to redraft the ballot language for a constitutional amendment seeking to repeal abortion rights in the state, concluding in a brief order that the latest version still “fails to adequately alert voters” that the GOP proposal would roll back a citizen-sponsored amendment guaranteeing the right to an abortion that voters approved last year.

Judge Daniel Green previously rejected the first ballot summary written by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on the same grounds.

Editor’s note: This Digest incorrectly identified a candidate for governor of Colorado. The candidate is state Rep. Mark Baisley, not Brandi Bailey.