Comment on Chris Murphy works behind scenes as Democrats prepare to vote on next state party chairman

Politico: “The president has not yet done a formal debate prep session. That could begin at Camp David, where Biden is considering holing up for days later this month, according to two of the officials, though they cautioned that plans were not finalized.” “Aides to the president are of the mindset that Trump could use the debate to badger Biden as an inadequate father.

Michael Rulli (R) “won a special election Tuesday in eastern Ohio for a U. S. House seat that has sat vacant for months, expanding the GOP’s narrow majority in the congressional chamber,” the AP reports. “Rulli defeated Michael Kripchak (D) to fill the remainder of Rep. Bill Johnson’s (R-OH) unexpired term.“ “Rulli’s victory by roughly 10 percentage points was much closer than earlier GOP performances in Ohio’s 6th District.

“Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to let him remain out of prison while he continues to appeal a nearly two-year-old conviction on criminal contempt of Congress charges,” NBC News reports. “Bannon filed an emergency motion Tuesday evening asking the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overrule a lower court’s order last week that he report to prison for four months on July 1.”

Politico: “Elections across five states Tuesday were largely low-turnout affairs, but they’ll help shape the future of Congress. Voters who cast their ballots helped select a new U. S. representative in Ohio, picked battleground contenders whose races could help determine control of Congress in 2025 and settled safe seat grudge matches in a long-running fight over the makeup of the House GOP conference.” “But there was one constant across the Republican primaries: Trump remains the kingmaker.”

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals that only a third of voters think it’s likely Vice President Kamala Harris would win an election were she to become the Democratic nominee, and just three of five Democrats believe she would prevail. A quarter of independents think she would win. The poll shows that Harris shares the same poor ratings as Biden.

“Hunter Biden’s conviction Tuesday on three felony offenses represents another dark moment for a family that has endured a series of tragedies and comes after a trial that laid bare the strain his addiction put on the president and relatives who have rallied around him,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The unprecedented felony conviction of a sitting president’s son raises the possibility that Hunter Biden will face some prison time, and leaves him with a criminal record going into a separate tax-evasion trial that is currently set for September.