WaPo: “It has long been central to Republican mythology that Democrats have nothing but seething contempt for the rural and small-town inhabitants of the Real American Heartland. Republicans sometimes pair this with vile lies about Democratic proposals that would deliver economic benefits to those regions, turning their residents against them. An important new study of the distribution of…

AL Political Reporter: “Fundraising materials including mass texts and email blasts sent to a number of registered Alabama Republicans appear to show coordination between the Alabama Republican Party and U.S. Senate candidate Mo Brooks to raise funds for Brooks during former President Donald Trump’s visit to Alabama later this month. Additionally, several sources within ALGOP…

AL Political Reporter: “Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Tuesday issued more guidance on the state’s “vaccine passport” ban, saying schools can’t require students to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations.  Gov. Kay Ivey in May signed into law the state’s ban on vaccine passports, which also prohibits people from being denied access to schools, universities, businesses and…

Bearing Drift: “Glenn Youngkin’s blank-slate strategy to win Virginia’s gubernatorial election ran aground again in Fredericksburg as he couldn’t bring himself to refute the Big Lie – even entertaining the possibility that Donald Trump could still reverse last year’s election. Youngkin – who refused to acknowledge Biden “was legitimately elected’ until after he’d sewn up the GOP…

News & Observer: “The fight for our democracy is, by a very wide margin, the greatest issue we face as a people. Bar none. The notion that anyone could regard (anti-democratic) Senate prerogative, or Joe Manchin, or infrastructure, or even the economy, as in the same ballpark is baffling. Or much worse. I worry that…

TX Observer: “In a small, ersatz backyard, Maddux is growing nopales and green onions in a raised planter. Inside the vinyl garage, he’s hung a half-length mirror and photo print of the Conciergeriein downtown Paris. As he shows off each detail, he chuckles, with a hint of self-deprecation. “Humor helps you out here. If you…

Political Wire: ““New audio from inside a U.S. government shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in Fort Bliss, Texas, reveals allegations of sexual misconduct by staff toward minors, acknowledgment the children were running low on clean clothes and shoes and a reluctance by officials to make public the scope of the facility’s Covid outbreak,” NBC News reports.”

Slate: “On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings for a number of Joe Biden’s nominees, including Hampton Dellinger, whom the president selected to serve as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy. An outspoken progressive, Dellinger surely expected Republican senators to grill him about his past political tweets on controversial…

Off the Kuff: “Former President Donald Trump has backed Attorney General Ken Paxton for reelection, passing over primary challenger George P. Bush in bestowing the highly sought-after endorsement. “It is going to take a PATRIOT like Ken Paxton to advance America First policies in order to Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a statement…

The Progressive Pulse: “House Democrats plan to next week unveil a new version of legislation named after the late Georgia civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis that could protect voting rights across the U.S. During a Friday press conference, House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said that House Democrats are expected to introduce…