MIDTERM MADNESS: Rauner, Lapinski barely win in Illinois
Bruce Rauner pulled out a win against challenger Jeanne Ives, but he's poised for a very tough race in the fall.
The New York Times previews the coming (wildly expensive) general election contest in between Rauner and J.B. Pritzker.
And conservative Democrat Dan Lipinski survived a challenge from progressive Marie Newman.
And we're still waiting for a call in the race to take on Peter Roskam, but Kelly Mazeski is leading.
CO-GOV: Democrat Noel Ginsburg is bowing out of the primary.
FL-27: Donna Shalala's past contributions to Republicans are becoming an issue in her primary contest.
KY: A Republican candidate for Secretary of State is facing backlash after joking that he'd like to use Rep. John Yarmuth as target practice.
MS-SEN: Republicans are a bit anxious about Phil Bryant's pick to replace Thad Cochran, reports the New York Times.
NY-GOV: The New York Times does a deep dive into Cynthia Nixon's challenge to Cuomo.
OH-GOV: Pro-Taylor super PAC Onward Ohio is up with a new ad slamming Mike DeWine for not being sufficiently in line with Trump on immigration, China and the NRA.
And DeWine is calling Mary Taylor "a slacker."
TX-27: Blake Farenthold is considering resigning from Congress before the end of his term, according to POLITICO.
TRUMP AGENDA: “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” advice gets ignored
The White House is defending Trump's call with Putin, saying the United States should not "get to dictate how other countries operate."
And here's the details, from the Washington Post: "President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers Tuesday when he congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call."
In an interview with NBC's Pete Williams, FBI Director Chris Wray did not deny threatening to resign.
"Conservative strategist Stephen K. Bannon oversaw Cambridge Analytica’s early efforts to collect troves of Facebook data as part of an ambitious program to build detailed profiles of millions of American voters, a former employee of the data-science firm said Tuesday," according to the Washington Post.
Our Hill team reports on the emerging sticking points in the omnibus funding bill as yet another deadline looms.
Stormy Daniels underwent a lie detector test in 2011 about her relationship with Donald Trump.
Rick Perry says he's not moving to the VA.
Ben Carson says he left the details of redecorating his office to his wife and staff.
And Scott Pruitt is facing another round of controversy over travel costs.
