Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As negotiations continue over the Democrats’ Build Back Better agenda, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has left the country for a European fundraising trip. The New York Times reported, “Ms. Sinema’s office declined to say how long she would be abroad, what countries she was visiting, how the trip was being paid for and whether she was doing any additional fund-raising for her own campaign.”
* On a related note, a new Data for Progress poll shows Sinema’s support among Democratic voters in sharp decline: Only 24 percent of prospective 2024 primary voters have a positive impression of the incumbent senator. That said, the 2024 election cycle is still three years away, and a lot can happen in three years.
* We learned this week that former President Obama will campaign next week for the Democratic ticket in Virginia, and yesterday, The Hill reported that Obama is also headed to New Jersey to campaign for incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy (D).
* In Iowa this morning, retired three-star Admiral Michael Franken launched a U.S. Senate campaign, joining a crowded Democratic field. The winner of the party’s primary will face incumbent Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who’s generally seen as the favorite.
* In New York, state Attorney General Tish James this week confirmed for the first time that she’s “considering” a Democratic gubernatorial campaign next year. Her comments weren’t surprising, but they were a slight departure from what James has said before. * The latest national CNN poll, released yesterday, showed President Joe Biden with a 50 percent approval rating. Despite the conventional wisdom that the president’s public support is falling sharply, this is the second poll this week to show Biden with 50 percent backing. * And in Arizona’s 2022 U.S. Senate race, Republican Blake Masters is still working for Peter Thiel’s investment firm, but the GOP candidate’s campaign manager said Masters will leave his lucrative job before next summer’s primary. As a local NBC affiliate noted, his billionaire boss has already invested $10 million in an independent expenditure committee that is already running ads against one of Masters’ primary rivals.
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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