Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As Democratic leaders increasingly look at Virginia’s gubernatorial race as a “team effort,” President Joe Biden is headed back to the commonwealth and will campaign with Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday.
* On a related note, Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin sat down with The Associated Press yesterday for the first time since the gubernatorial hopeful secured the GOP nomination over the summer. An AP report noted this morning that the interview “was cut off by campaign aides when the subject turned to his policy positions.”
* That said, the same AP article noted that Youngkin said he remains personally opposed to marriage equality, though he recognizes same-sex marriage as “legally acceptable.”
* Speaking of gubernatorial races that are just 11 days away, a new Emerson College poll found a tightening contest in New Jersey, with incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy ahead of Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli, 50 percent to 44 percent.
* In Arizona, Rep. Ruben Gallego recently rejected the idea of challenging Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in a 2024 Democratic primary, but in a CNN interview yesterday, the congressman did not rule out the possibility. “For me, all I care about is what happens between now and 2022,” Gallego said. “Those questions wait, wait.” (This is a problem Sen. Joe Manchin doesn’t have to worry about in West Virginia.) * The New York Times reported overnight, “A prominent Washington lobbyist close to Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, is warning Republican political consultants that they must choose between working for Representative Liz Cheney or Mr. McCarthy, an ultimatum that marks the full rupture between the two House Republicans.” * In a plea to officials at “all levels of government,” Florida’s elections supervisors released a memo yesterday, urging everyone to denounce “false claims” surrounding last year’s election and “tone down the rhetoric.” * And while many Democratic leaders in New York are keeping their distance from India Walton’s mayoral campaign in Buffalo, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer formally endorsed the Democratic nominee yesterday. Schumer added that Democrats “are at our best when we build a big tent [and] forge inclusive coalitions to fight for everyday people.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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