Is Walsh ending his Senate campaign?
Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) has canceled a series of upcoming events amid buzz that he’ll drop his campaign.
{mosads}Walsh has canceled a scheduled a Tuesday night fundraiser in Wyoming, a Democratic source tells The Hill, and an organizer for “Women for Walsh” has posted on Facebook that a Wednesday fundraiser has been postponed.
Walsh has been struggling mightily to move past a scandal over his plagiarism of large sections of a graduate paper in 2007, and over the weekend two of Montana’s largest newspapers called for him to drop his election campaign against Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
Walsh has until Monday to make a decision on whether or not to drop out — Democrats can still replace him on the ballot until then. The state’s former lieutenant governor, Walsh was appointed earlier this year to fill Sen. Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.) vacant seat after he stepped down to become ambassador to China. Walsh was already running for the retiring senator’s seat.
“We will not comment on rumors, which is exactly what’s driving this story,” Walsh campaign spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua told The Hill.
Democrats tell The Hill that former NARAL Pro-Choice America head Nancy Keenan, a Montana native, might be Democrats’ preferred candidate should Walsh decline to run, though any Democrat would start out at a steep disadvantage against Daines. One local Democrat also mentioned Montana state Sen. Dave Wanzenried (D) as a potential replacement.
Politico first reported that Walsh was weighing dropping his bid.
—This post was updated at 9:00 p.m.
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