Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In roughly 12 hours, it’ll be Primary Day in Louisiana, where voters will participate in an unusual system in which all the candidates for a given office appear on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation. As an Associated Press report explained, the top contest is the race to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, and if no contender reaches a majority, the top two candidates will appear on a Nov. 18 general-election ballot.
* Rep. Dean Phillips raised some eyebrows by considering a Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden, and now he’s facing a primary rival of his own in his Minnesota congressional district. Ron Harris, a Democratic National Committee member, announced his congressional candidacy a few hours ago.
* Ahead of a likely three-way U.S. Senate race in Arizona, The New York Times reported on Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego launching an effort to visit “all of the 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona before Election Day next year.” This is, evidently, a feat “that few, if any, contenders in a statewide race have ever attempted.”
* In Michigan, the latest Public Policy Polling survey found former Detroit police chief James Craig leading his GOP primary rivals in next year’s U.S. Senate race with 30% support, followed by former Rep. Mike Rogers with 19%. That said, a narrow majority remain undecided.
* On the heels of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis scheduling a debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of the Floridian’s 2024 rivals is taking a similar step: Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced plans this week to debate Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California. As a New York Times report noted, it’s “highly unusual for presidential candidates to spend time during a campaign debating a person they are not competing against.” * Though I continue to caution against taking 2024 general-election polling too seriously more than a year before the election, the latest national Fox News poll found Biden leading Donald Trump in a hypothetical match-up by the narrowest of margins, 49% to 48%. * And as Rep. Nancy Mace continues to make television appearances with extraordinary frequency, The Daily Beast reports that the South Carolina congresswoman has privately told Republican colleagues that she believes she has “a real shot at being named Trump’s vice presidential nominee for the 2024 election.”
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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