Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In a bit of a surprise, Rep. Fred Upton announced his retirement this morning. The Michigan Republican, a relative moderate by contemporary GOP standards, was one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump early last year.
* It’s Election Day in California’s 22nd district, where local voters will participate in a special election to replace former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes. As the Associated Press noted, both parties have “largely ignored” the contest, and the seat “is expected to stay in Republican hands.”
* Republican Gov. Larry Hogan signed a new district map in Maryland yesterday, which is expected to leave the makeup of the state’s congressional delegation largely intact. Maryland’s Democratic legislature had initially created a heavily gerrymandered district map, but it failed in court, and the party effectively threw in the towel rather than proceed with the legal fight.
* In New Hampshire, the latest Saint Anselm College poll found incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan leading each of her likely Republican rivals, but by relatively modest margins. Retired Gen. Don Bolduc, who ran a failed Senate bid in 2020, was the most competitive in the survey, trailing Hassan by just five points, 44 percent to 39 percent.
* On a related note, cryptocurrency enthusiast Bruce Fenton has entered the GOP primary in the race to take on Hassan, which wouldn’t ordinarily be especially notable, except Fenton is reportedly prepared to spend $5 million of his own money on his candidacy, and in the Granite State, $5 million goes a very long way. * And speaking of statewide races in New Hampshire, the same Saint Anselm College poll showed incumbent Republican Gov. Chris Sununu with a big advantage over Democratic state Sen. Tom Sherman, 51 percent to 34 percent. * In Ohio’s U.S. Senate primary, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan launched an ad with an anti-China message, leading the leaders of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus to call on the congressman to pull the commercial. At least for now, Ryan and his campaign have said they’ll continue to air the ad. * In Michigan over the weekend, Donald Trump criticized Republican Rep. Peter Meijer over the spelling of the congressman’s last name. Politico noted one of the reasons that wasn’t smart: “While jokes about pronunciation may have tickled [the former president], everyone in that area knows how to say ‘Meijer,’ which is one of the most popular grocery store chains in the Midwest, and which also happens to be owned by the congressman’s family. It’s like knowing how to say ‘Walmart’ or ‘KMart.’”
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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