Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Politico reported overnight: “A Utah judge on Monday rejected a Republican-passed redistricting plan that created two more-competitive districts in the state — a win for Democrats who thought the map did not go far enough. In denying the new map, the judge put in place one of two options offered by plaintiffs that creates a solidly-Democratic district that covers Salt Lake City, giving the party its second win in the redistricting wars that have swept the nation ahead of the midterms.”
* The number of congressional members headed for the exits continues to grow: Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey announced this week that she won’t seek reelection in the 2026 cycle.
* In Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, Democratic hopeful Abdul El-Sayed has reportedly scrubbed his social media accounts. According to a CNN account, the deleted content included “a dozen tweets that championed the ‘defund the police’ movement, described police as ‘standing armies,’ and urged cities to divert money from law enforcement to social services.”
* In Georgia, a conservative advocacy aligned with Gov. Brian Kemp raised a few eyebrows last week with an ad that held GOP Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins partially responsible for the government shutdown. Carter and Collins are two of the party’s top U.S. Senate candidates ahead of next year’s race.
* Rep. Al Green of Texas announced late last week that he’s running for another term in his newly redrawn district, though he will not run unopposed for the Democratic nomination. * Though Maryland’s redistricting effort has faced significant pushback from state legislative leaders, Democratic Party officials continue to lean into the initiative. Politico reported: “Democratic Reps. Steny Hoyer and Jamie Raskin are inserting themselves into the state’s redistricting fight, escalating pressure on state lawmakers and the senate president to take up the mid-decade redrawing of congressional lines ahead of the 2026 midterms.” * And as the dust settles on the 2025 elections, there’s one takeaway that shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle: Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republicans’ gubernatorial nominee in her state, based much of her candidacy on an anti-trans message. She also lost by nearly 15 points, suggesting the issue isn’t quite as potent as some in the GOP want it to be.
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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