Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With four weeks remaining before Election Day in Virginia, the latest Washington Post-Schar School poll found the Democratic candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, leading Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in their gubernatorial race, 55% to 43%, among likely voters.
* On a related note, Earle-Sears still wants an endorsement from Donald Trump. The president was in Virginia for an event on Sunday, and while the lieutenant governor attended his rally and sat in the VIP section, Trump made no reference to his party’s gubernatorial candidate.
* Speaking of the commonwealth, the race for state attorney general in Virginia was jolted late last week when the public learned about abhorrent texts the Democratic nominee, former state Del. Jay Jones, sent in 2022, which included indefensible jokes about political violence.
* In Texas’ U.S. Senate race, Republican leaders urged Rep. Wesley Hunt not to join the GOP primary. The congressman ignored the pressure and launched a statewide campaign, setting up a three-way contest with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
* In Tennessee, there’s an enormous crowd of GOP candidates vying to succeed former Rep. Mark Green, a Republican who recently resigned from Congress. We’re now one day away from the local primary in the Nashville-area district, and the president has endorsed Matt Van Epps, the state’s former commissioner for general services. * The Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with the Senate Democratic leadership, launched a $1 million ad campaign last week, targeting two Republican incumbents — Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Dan Sullivan — with messaging related to the government shutdown. * It’s been a while since the Democratic National Committee spent money in a Mississippi election, but the party is investing in state legislative races as part of a larger strategy to make inroads with new constituencies. * And in Missouri, former Rep. Cori Bush lost her re-election bid last year, losing a Democratic primary against incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell. In the 2026 cycle, however, she wants a rematch in the state’s only remaining Democratic district.
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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