Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* In Texas’ Republican U.S. Senate primary, the latest statewide poll from Texas Southern University found state Attorney General Ken Paxton leading incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, 43% to 34%, while roughly a fourth of the GOP voters haven’t yet made up their minds. (Click the link for more information on the poll’s methodology and margin of error.)

* On a related note, while Texas’ primaries won’t be held until next year, Cornyn is already dipping into his campaign war chest to run attack ads targeting Paxton, suggesting the senator’s internal polling has offered him discouraging news.

* A week after House Republicans advanced their inaptly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a progressive group called Protect Our Care has launched an ad campaign targeting 11 GOP lawmakers from competitive congressional districts. The Democratic-aligned group Families Over Billionaires recently began airing related ads focused on Republican Medicaid cuts.

* A related note: House Majority Forward, a political action committee aligned with the House Democratic leadership, also launched an ad campaign this week targeting 26 House Republicans from competitive districts.

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* In a curious twist, the National Republican Congressional Committee also launched an ad campaign last week, targeting 25 House Democrats from competitive congressional districts for having voted against the far-right GOP megabill.

* In West Virginia, incumbent Republican Sen. Shelly Moore Capito was already facing one primary challenger from the right, and now she’s facing another: State Sen. Tom Willis filed the paperwork for his Senate campaign last week.

* And in Alabama, where Sen. Tommy Tuberville is giving up his seat to run for governor, there will likely be a crowded field of GOP candidates running to succeed him. Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL who leads a nonprofit that fights human trafficking, is apparently the first out of the gate.