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By Daniel Strauss | 05/22/2018 10:00 AM EDT


With help from Elena Schneider

The following newsletter is an abridged version of Campaign Pro's Morning Score. For an earlier morning read on exponentially more races - and for a more comprehensive aggregation of the day's most important campaign news - sign up for Campaign Pro today. (http://www.politicopro.com/proinfo)

ELECTION DAY - "What to watch for in Tuesday's primaries" by Campaign Pro's Steven Shepard, Scott Bland, Elena Schneider, and Daniel Strauss: "The 2018 midterms move on Tuesday to four Southern states where Democrats are seeking to redefine the region's shifting politics and prepare for the battle for control of the House of Representatives this fall. Primaries in Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky - along with runoffs in Texas for races in which no candidate received a majority of votes in the March primary - include a handful of congressional districts critical to Democrats' chances to win back the chamber. ... Polls close statewide at 7 p.m. Eastern time in Georgia and Kentucky, 8:30 p.m. in
Arkansas and 9 p.m. in Texas. But look out for some results in Kentucky and Texas an hour earlier, when polls close in parts of the states that are in the Eastern time zone." Full story.

LONE STAR STATE - "Allred, Salerno battle for right to take on Sessions" by Campaign Pro's Elena Schneider: "Colin Allred took nearly 40 percent of the Democratic primary vote in March and locked up an endorsement from the DCCC soon after. But the former Tennessee Titan must first emerge from Tuesday's primary runoff before he can face GOP Rep. Pete Sessions in a brand-new Democratic target seat, a suburban, well-educated district that never made even the most ambitious target lists - until it backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. ... Unlike the primary - when Ed Meier spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on broadcast TV ads in the expensive Dallas media market - the runoff is happening
off-air. Allred opted against airing TV ads in the primary or the runoff, focusing resources instead on a mail and digital program. [Lillian] Salerno made a small cable buy, but touted her own ground game, which has hit nearly 60,000 doors and made 200,000 phone calls, she said." Full story.

ARCHIE PARNELL - "Top South Carolina candidate refuses to quit congressional race after abuse discovery" by the Charleston Post and Courier's Jamie Lovegrove: "Archie Parnell, a Democratic congressional hopeful who earned national attention after nearly winning in deep red South Carolina last year, is resisting pleas to withdraw after his campaign staff discovered that he physically abused his ex-wife in the 1970s. In divorce records obtained by The Post and Courier, Kathleen Parnell said the marriage deteriorated after two years in 1973 because of 'unwarranted accusations' from her husband. In October 1973, Archie Parnell, then a University of South Carolina student, was locked out of a
friends' apartment to protect Kathleen Parnell, who was staying there. At 2 a.m., Archie Parnell used a tire iron to break a glass door, the complaint said. He made more unspecified accusations to Kathleen Parnell before striking her several times. She said she was beaten again later that evening." Full story.

FIRST IN SCORE - POLLING DATA - Internal poll finds Cisneros leading in CA-39: Democrat Gil Cisneros' campaign released a poll showing him leading the nine-candidate field with 20 percent support in the open race to replace retiring Rep. Ed Royce. Republicans Young Kim and Bob Huff are tied in second place with 14 percent. Democrat Andy Thorburn has 11 percent. The rest of the field tracks below double-digits, while 15 percent of respondents are still undecided. Check out the polling memo here.

FIRST IN SCORE - VoteVets drops mail program in CA-39: VoteVets is wading into the primary with a $200,000 eight-piece mail program to boost Cisneros. The literature will go to Spanish- and English-language households. The mail pieces tout Cisneros' naval career, saying he "led with his actions as well as his words." Check out a sample here.

- VoteVets extends buy in NM-01: The group is up with another $80,000 for the week behind a TV ad effort to boost Democrat Damon Martinez in a crowded primary to replace Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who's running for governor. Watch the ad here.

Days until the 2018 election: 168

Upcoming election dates - May 22: Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky primaries, plus Texas primary runoffs - June 5: Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota primaries - June 12: Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina and Virginia primaries.

Upcoming filing deadlines - Arizona: May 30 - Vermont: May 31 - Alaska, Kansas, Wisconsin and Wyoming: June 1 - Hawaii and Minnesota: June 5 - Connecticut: June 12.

Thanks for joining us! You can email tips to the Campaign Pro team at sbland@politico.com, eschneider@politico.com, dstrauss@politico.com, mseverns@politico.com and jarkin@politico.com.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @politicoscott, @ec_schneider, @danielstrauss4, @maggieseverns and @jamesarkin.

POLITICO and the South China Morning Post are partnering to expand coverage of U.S.-China relations. Read our note from POLITICO Editor-in-Chief John Harris and Editor Carrie Budoff Brown to learn more.

FIRST IN SCORE - A new poll conducted by On Message Inc. on behalf of Rep. Diane Black's gubernatorial campaign finds her with 41 percent support in the Republican primary, followed by Republican Randy Boyd with 28 percent, Bill Lee at 9 percent and Beth Harwell at 8 percent. Read the polling memo here.

BACK IN BLANK - "Blankenship to wage third-party bid after losing primary" by POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt: "West Virginia coal baron and former prisoner Don Blankenship announced on Monday that he plans to launch a long-shot third-party Senate bid after finishing a distant third in this month's Republican primary. Blankenship said he would run in the general election as the Constitution Party nominee. But he would need to overcome a 'sore loser' law in West Virginia that prevents failed candidates in a main-party primary from refiling to run in the general election under another party's banner. Blankenship said he's prepared to challenge that law in court if needed. If he's successful, his
move that could hurt the GOP's prospects of unseating Democratic incumbent Joe Manchin in November." Full story.

JUMPING BACK IN - "Hillary and Bill Clinton Go Separate Ways for 2018 Midterm Elections," by The New York Times' Alex Burns and Matt Flegenheimer: "[I]n the 2018 election campaign, Hillary and Bill Clinton have veered in sharply different directions. Mrs. Clinton appears determined to play at least a limited role in the midterms, bolstering longtime allies and raising money for Democrats in safely liberal areas. Her husband has been all but invisible. ...

"Mrs. Clinton is expected to break her virtual hiatus from the campaign trail this week, when she will endorse Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York in a contested Democratic primary, her spokesman, Nick Merrill, confirmed -- a move sure to enrage liberal activists seeking Mr. Cuomo's ouster at the hands of Cynthia Nixon, the actress turned progressive insurgent. Mrs. Clinton has also recorded an automated phone call endorsing Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic leader in the Georgia House, who is competing for the party's nomination for governor on Tuesday." Full story.

ADMINISTRATION SPEED READ - "RNC pays half-million dollars to firm representing Hope Hicks in Mueller probe" by Campaign Pro's Maggie Severns: "The Republican National Committee paid $450,000 in April to the law firm representing Hope Hicks in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, new public disclosures show. Hicks retained Robert Trout of Washington litigation firm Trout Cacheris & Janis as investigations into links between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russian officials heated up in the fall of 2017. ... The filing showed that the RNC made payments to Trout Cacheris & Janis of $275,534.09 on April 18 and $176,245.87 on April 19. Both payments were marked as 'legal
and compliance services.'" Full story.

STAFFING UP - Sylvana Dussan is now the deputy digital director for the Kyrsten Sinema for Senate campaign in Phoenix, Arizona. She previously was the social media specialist at the National Governors Association.

CORRECTION: The May 21 edition of Morning Score misstated the NRCC's April fundraising. The committee raised $5.4 million last month.

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Getting Democrats out to vote alone is not going to win this election," - Democrat Stacey Evans, according to The Washington Post.

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