* Politico notes that the Supreme Court issue and US Sen. Mark Kirk’s avoidance of the national GOP convention aren’t the only differences that the incumbent is exploiting with his Republican Party…

Just this week, Kirk co-sponsored a criminal justice reform bill that would loosen some mandatory minimum sentences, despite complaints within the GOP that it would unwittingly release violent criminals early from prison. And he joined with five of the most liberal senators to urge the NBA to move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to the state’s controversial new law that bans anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people.

Kirk’s strategy is dictated by his home state’s leftward bent: His Democratic challenger, Tammy Duckworth, may need to do little more than emphasize her party label to oust him in November. Kirk has long been considered the most endangered GOP incumbent in an awful year for Republican senators trying to get reelected. The party is defending 24 seats, and one of two divisive figures, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, is likely to be leading its ticket. […]

“When he breaks from Mitch McConnell, it helps him,” Durbin said. “At the end of the day, though, he has chosen Mitch to be his leader.”

Other Democrats are crying foul over Kirk’s attempts to straddle the middle. On some issues, the Illinois senator has found himself ardently touting the GOP’s position: Last week, he bashed a fiduciary rule proposed by Obama that Democrats say puts clients’ needs ahead of financial advisers. And the hawkish Kirk was one of the loudest critics of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, which Duckworth backs.

Democrats are also calling out Kirk’s past support for a controversial Medicare blueprint crafted by now-Speaker Paul Ryan and free trade policies. His opponents are also seizing on Kirk’s vow – most recently made in an interview with NBC Chicago – to back Trump if he becomes the GOP presidential nominee.

Kirk was elected statewide during a very good year for the GOP. This year will likely be different, at least in Illinois, which trends D in presidential years.

* More on that NBA issue…

A group of U.S. senators, including Sen. Mark Kirk, penned a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver urging him to move the 2017 All Star Game from North Carolina after an “anti-LGBT” bill was passed in the state last month.

North Carolina passed legislation in March that centers around single-sex public restrooms and changing facilities in the state’s schools and public agencies. […]

“We cannot condone nor stand idly by as North Carolina moves to legalize and institutionalize discrimination against the LGBT community,” the group wrote. “Nor should the NBA allow its premier annual event to be hosted in such a state.” […]

“The NBA boasts one of the most multicultural and multiethnic groups of players of any sports league in the world with more than 100 international players on its rosters,” the group wrote. “The NBA also made history just two years ago this month when Jason Collins become the first openly gay athlete to play in a major American professional sports league.”

* Meanwhile…

In response to Republican Mark Kirk’s announcement that he will skip the Republican National Convention this summer, Duckworth deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath released the following statement:

“Whether or not Republican Mark Kirk is at his Party’s national convention in person, he will certainly be there in spirit. He has already shown he puts party loyalty first when he pledged he ‘certainly would’ support Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in the general election, and on issues like squeezing the middle class to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and turning Medicare into a voucher program, Kirk’s as Republican as it gets. No amount of physical distance will separate Sen. Kirk from his Republican roots, nor from Donald Trump’s circus.”