Americana

Colorado. A campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution turned in more than 230,000 signatures on Thursday, likely putting their question on the November ballot. An anti-abortion effort, running simultaneously, announced that it had fallen short of the signature threshold and would end its 2024 campaign. “God gave us a choice between life and death for our state,” campaign leader Faye Barnhart said in a statement to Westword. “Many didn’t have the faith or vision to see this amazing window of opportunity to lead our state to choose life.”

Nebraska. Gov. Jim Pillen said he’d “call as many special sessions as it takes” to pass property tax reform, after the unicam (the state Senate) finished its regular session without acting on it. Pillen, who endorsed this month’s effort to change how Nebraska assigns electoral votes, added that that could be handled in a special session, too; supporters of that plan believe they could put it in place for November, and make it impossible for Joe Biden to win an electoral vote in Omaha, if it’s done by early summer.

Biden for President, “Pro-Worker.” The president’s visit to a UAW picket line in Michigan made it into his new Pennsylvania ad, which is tied to this week’s swing across the state, and his endorsement of new tariffs on Chinese steel. JoJo Burgess, a local mayor and member of the United Steelworkers who was in the room for the tariff announcement, narrates the story of “the most pro-American worker president” and scorns Donald Trump for never passing an infrastructure bill.

Hogan for Maryland and NRSC, “Common Ground.” The paid ads for Maryland’s Democratic U.S. Senate candidates highlight what they’ve gotten done — local wins by Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, legislative wins by Rep. David Trone. The premise of Larry Hogan’s first paid ad is that nothing is actually getting done in Washington, voiced by a diverse set of Marylanders, who are frustrated by both parties “arguing all the time.” Hogan promises to bring “common sense” to the city, without specifics; on the trail, he’s gone into more detail, attacking a state tax increase proposal that’s not mentioned here.

Black Bear PAC, “They/Them.” In the GOP primary for West Virginia governor, car dealership owner Chris Miller has spent weeks attacking Attorney Gen. Patrick Morrisey as a supporter of trans rights. His last ad, linking Morrisey to an old lobbying firm’s work to expand access to gender-affirming medical care for minors, got taken down after Morrisey filed a complaint. And a pro-Morrisey PAC has hit back with footage of the cross-dressing ads Miller shot for his dealership, paired with a story about how Marshall University allowed LGBT and drag events on campus while Miller was on its board.

Trump won the presidency with 46% of the popular vote, and his approval rating rarely cracked 50% during four years in office. When he left, with some Republicans abandoning him over his Jan. 6 actions, his average rating was in the 30s. Nostalgia for the first three years of his presidency has shrunk the pool of winnable voters for Biden, who has to find new ways to convince them that the country will be in trouble if he loses. “The third party vote that we see leans toward Biden; these voters see him as the lesser of two evils,” said Mike Kulisheck, the managing director of the Benenson Strategy Group. “He’s got to make himself the solution to the worries that third party voters have about their choice. It’s impressive, the degree to which people remember the Trump years fondly.”

Since February, Fox’s battleground state polls have found Biden making incremental gains on Trump, thanks to a shrinking Trump advantage on the economy. Trump still leads on that issue, helped by an advantage with voters under 30; Biden leads with those voters on most other questions. Biden has gained more ground in a multi-candidate ballot test, at the expense of Kennedy, who Democrats spent time and money attacking over the last two months. He’s gotten less popular with 2020 Biden voters and stayed steady with 2020 Trump voters, picking up one in 10 of them.

Every swing state Senate Democrat is polling better than Biden right now, against opponents far less known than Trump. Baldwin starts the race with a positive approval rating, and an advantage with independents, who view her favorably by a 37-32 margin. Eric Hovde, running his first race since 2012, is largely unknown — Democrats have heard more about him than Republicans, and 48% already view him unfavorably.

White House. Jury selection wrapped up in Trump’s Manhattan trial on Thursday, setting up opening arguments next week. “I am sitting here for days now from morning until night in that freezing room,” Trump complained to reporters during a break; he’ll campaign in Wilmington, N.C. tomorrow.

Biden spent Thursday in Philadelphia, campaigning with 15 members of the Kennedy family – some who endorsed him after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got into the race last year, some making a new, clean break with the candidate. “We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other,” the candidate said in a statement; he’s been asked repeatedly about his relatives refusing to support him, and Democratic polling has found their voters losing interest in Kennedy if they find out that his siblings endorsed Biden.

Kennedy got better news in Michigan, where the Natural Law Party gave him its ballot line after its leadership met with him and Cornel West. Founded in 1992 to promote Transcendental Meditation as a cure-all for political division, the party had shrunk out of existence in most states. Michigan’s now its headquarters, and the only state where it claims a ballot line, which in 2020 it gave to perennial candidate Roque De La Fuente.

On Thursday, West joined the protest on Columbia University’s western lawn, hopping a fence to enter the closed campus and delivering a speech to students. “We’re seeing the tremendous courage of these brothers and sisters of all colors, all genders, all sexual orientations, religious identity, standing in solidarity with our precious Palestinian brothers and sisters who are undergoing an indescribable genocide,” West told FreedomNews after the camp was cleared.

House. Kansas Rep. Jake LaTurner will leave Congress this year, ending (or pausing) what had been a dynamic political career. Elected to the state Senate at age 24, he became Kansas’s youngest-ever treasurer, then explored a 2020 U.S. Senate bid, before pivoting to beat a scandal-plagued congressman in the Republican primary. “It is time to pursue other opportunities and have the benefit of spending more time with my family,” said LaTurner, now 36, and the 17th House Republican to retire this year without seeking another office. Biden lost LaTurner’s 2nd Congressional District by 17 points, and Democrats aren’t targeting it.

• four days until primaries in Pennsylvania
• eight days until the Utah GOP convention
• 87 days until the Republican National Convention
• 122 days until the Democratic National Convention
• 211 days until the 2024 presidential election