Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It’s Election Day in the Nashville area, where Democrat Aftyn Behn and Republican Matt Van Epps are facing off in a closely watched congressional special election. Donald Trump, who won this district by 22 points last year, called into to a local GOP rally on Monday and said, “The whole world is watching Tennessee right now, and they’re watching the district.” The president added that the results have “got to show that the Republican Party is stronger than it’s ever been.”
* Under the proposed map from Indiana Republicans, Democrats would not have any seats in the state’s congressional delegation. There’s still uncertainty, however, about whether the gerrymandered map has the support it needs to pass the GOP-led state Senate.
* Three years after Mandela Barnes came up short in one of the nation’s most closely watched U.S. Senate races, Wisconsin’s former Democratic lieutenant governor is launching another statewide bid, this time running for governor. Barnes joins a crowded Democratic field.
* A month after Virginia Republicans suffered sweeping defeats up and down the ballot, state Sen. Mark Peake, the chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, announced that he’ll resign later this month. Peake’s tenure only lasted eight months.
* In South Carolina’s gubernatorial race, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace’s top campaign consultant, Austin McCubbin, announced his resignation this week, claiming that the congresswoman has “decided to turn her back on MAGA.”
* Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., announced last week that she won’t run for re-election in 2026. The field of Democratic candidates hoping to succeed her is already large and growing.
* Two weeks ago, Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida was indicted, and now she’s facing a primary challenger: Former Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness, who came up just a little short against Cherfilus-McCormick in a 2021 primary, is seeking a 2026 rematch.
* And in New York, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler last week endorsed fellow Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik’s gubernatorial candidacy. That wouldn’t be especially notable were it not for the fact that Lawler made little effort to hide his interest in the race before GOP officials urged him instead to run for re-election in his competitive district.
