• ND-Gov: State Sen. Merrill Piepkorn confirmed Tuesday that he'd seek the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who holds an office that Democrats last won in 1988. Piepkorn, a former radio host and country singer, has the primary to himself.
• WV-Gov: While many Republicans have been accused of being anti-Trump over the years, businessman Chris Miller is the first one we've seen targeted for sporting a Donald Trump wig. But Black Bear PAC, which backs Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in the May 14 primary, is doing just that in an ad that utilizes footage from what appears to be a 2016 commercial Miller filmed for his car dealership.
"Get out there with a shovel and start digging the moat," Miller is shown saying as he breaks out a bad Trump impression. "We put the wall behind the moat all around the country." Black Bear is funded by the Club for Growth, which has a far more recent history of clashing with Trump.
• IN-05: State Rep. Chuck Goodrich recently began airing a commercial for the May 7 GOP primary in which the narrator rhetorically asks of the Republican incumbent, "Why does Victoria Spartz put Ukraine first? Chuck Goodrich will put America first."
"She's very obviously Ukrainian and speaks with an accent," GOP strategist Cam Savage, who says he is not working on the race, noted to NBC's Bridget Bowman. "Maybe they just see a cheap-shot opportunity and they're willing to take one."
Spartz faced xenophobic attacks well before Russia invaded the country she emigrated from in 2022. One of her primary foes in 2020, Beth Henderson, ran an ad that emphasized Spartz's thick Ukrainian accent and showed the dark outline of a woman gazing at a large Soviet flag on a nearby building, accompanied by the text "VICTORIA'S SECRET." It wasn't enough, though, to stop Spartz from beating Henderson 40-18.
Bowman notes that several other Republicans have been hit with commercials attacking them for supporting funding for Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion, but her sources point out that Spartz has not been an outspoken defender of Ukraine's cause. While the congresswoman called Russia's attack as a "genocide of the Ukrainian people," she soon enraged Ukraine's government by accusing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of "playing politics with people's lives."
The congresswoman responded to Goodrich's ads by airing her own spot that demonized another country that Republicans love to target. After invoking her support for Donald Trump's agenda, the narrator accuses Goodrich of voting "to let Chinese companies buy Indiana farmland" and backing "a sweetheart deal to a communist business Trump called a national security threat." The ad concludes, "China Chuck Goodrich: Puts China first to get rich."
• WI Ballot: Wisconsin voters on Tuesday approved a pair of Republican-backed constitutional amendments despite fears from election administrators that the measures could make their jobs harder and potentially create chaos.
Question 1, which prohibits election officials from accepting help or funds from "private donations and grants," passed 54-46. Question 2, which "provide[s] that only election officials designated by law may perform tasks in the conduct of primaries, elections, and referendums," won by an even larger 59-41 spread.
• Baltimore, MD Mayor: Incumbent Brandon Scott has launched his opening ad campaign ahead of the May 14 Democratic primary, and while none of his commercials call out former Mayor Sheila Dixon by name, it's probably no coincidence that a radio spot praises Scott for having "no scandal and no corruption." The Baltimore Banner says the ads were delayed a week because of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, an event that Scott's commercials do not mention.
Dixon, who resigned in 2010 after she was convicted of stealing gift cards that were supposed to help needy families, has yet to run her own ads, though her allies have been on the air. Better Baltimore, a super PAC partially funded by Baltimore Sun owner David Smith, last month debuted commercials characterizing Scott as a "[n]ice guy, bad mayor." Those commercials, however, did not say anything about Dixon.
Scott and Dixon are competing in a primary that also includes Thiru Vignarajah, a former federal prosecutor who lost three citywide primaries in as many cycles, and several unheralded candidates. Whoever takes a plurality of the vote next month should have no trouble in the November general election in this loyally blue city.