After a prolonged standoff with the state’s Democratic governor, President Donald Trump says Republicans will seek another state instead of North Carolina to hold its August convention.

Gov. Roy Cooper rejected a proposal for a full convention and insisted on scaling back the event due to uncertainty as to what the status of the COVID-19 pandemic will be in August.

Several other locations are expected to or have already expressed interest in hosting the event, but the GOP is still weighing its options for the event.

Today, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court District of Columbia asking that political parties be able to collect unlimited political contributions for independent expenditures.

In RNC v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), the RNC argues the First Amendment protects the right of political parties to engage in unlimited independent expenditures and accept unlimited contributions to accounts maintained by those parties when designated solely for independent expenditures.

The RNC wants to conduct this independent activity in select U.S. Senate and House Races in 2014 followed in 2016 in the race for the President.

On May 21, a similar lawsuit was brought against the FEC by the Libertarian National Congressional Committee asking for comparable relief.

John Cozine, Research Manager for State and Federal Communications, shared a fun fact with me today. He told me he went to Junior High and High School with Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

It is true; I saw the yearbook picture as proof. But I wouldn’t want anyone to put my Junior High picture on the internet, so I decided to opt for kindness and go with a more current photo.

Reince Priebus was elected Chairman of the RNC on January 14, 2011. You can find his blog here on the RNC website.

Photo of Reince Priebus courtesy of Wispolitics.com on Wikipedia.