Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In case concerns about Democratic congressional retirements weren’t serious enough, House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio announced yesterday that he won’t run for re-election in his Oregon district. The Democratic incumbent, who’ll turn 75 next year, has been on Capitol Hill for 34 years.
* Ending months of speculation about her electoral plans, former Georgia state Sen. Stacey Abrams has decided to run for governor again next year. The Democrat’s announcement sets the stage for a rematch against incumbent Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, who narrowly defeated Abrams in a highly controversial 2018 race.
* In related news, Donald Trump responded to Abrams’ announcement by saying he intended to defeat her: “I beat her single-handedly, without much of a candidate, in 2018. I’ll beat her again.” The former president added, however, that he won’t support Kemp’s re-election campaign, because the GOP governor didn’t help him overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
* In Virginia, two state legislative election recounts will get underway today. The results will help dictate which party is in control of the commonwealth’s House of Delegates next year.
* Now that Mehmet Oz has launched a Republican U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, many local television stations feel compelled to stop airing the “Dr. Oz Show,” in order to prevent him from having an unfair advantage. * Maryland’s Democratic gubernatorial primary was already pretty crowded, and it’s poised to get even more crowded as retired judge Katie Curran O’Malley launches a statewide bid of her own. She might also be familiar to voters as former two-term Gov. Martin O’Malley’s wife. * And in Massachusetts, where Republican Gov. Charlie Baker announced this week he won’t seek a third term, the state GOP issued a press statement yesterday criticizing their own party’s governor as he prepares to exit the stage. “Our party remains committed to the America-First agenda advocated by President Donald J. Trump,” Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons said, “and it’s clear to me that Charlie Baker was shaken by President Trump’s endorsement of another Republican candidate in Geoff Diehl.” For the record, Trump lost Massachusetts by more than 33 points last year. Baker, in contrast, won re-election in the Bay State by more than 33 points.
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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