Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Following this morning’s vote, the position of House Republican Conference chair is vacant, but as expected, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) sent a letter to her GOP colleagues this morning, throwing her hat in the ring. As things stand, she does not yet have a rival.
* Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) yesterday signed a new law that will purge infrequent mail voters from the state’s ballot list. Democrats and other voting-rights advocates said the measure will make voting harder by removing voters from Arizona’s Permanent Early Voting List, but it nevertheless enjoyed support from GOP legislators.
* The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s political action committee is unveiling new, bilingual ads targeting four congressional Republicans — each of whom represent districts with large Latino populations — who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. The targets include Reps. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.) and Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas).
* At a White House virtual event yesterday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said he’s so eager to address the public-health crisis that he has a new message to those who are reluctant to get vaccinated: “[G]o get vaccinated so you’re alive to vote against me in the next election. I don’t care. I just want to get it done.”
* In Arizona, Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, a lifelong Republican, was asked about his party’s ongoing election audit. “My fear is that all of this is further tearing at the foundations of our democracy and tearing at people’s faith in our electoral systems,” he told the New York Times. “If there were fraud going on, if there was systematic corruption going on, I would be the first to speak out against it. But we have looked at this again and again and again with numerous audits here.” * Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.) was officially sworn in yesterday, following his recent special-election victory. The Democratic advantage in the chamber has now returned to a 219-to-212 majority, with four vacancies. (Three of the four are in districts previously represented by Democrats.) * And in California, gubernatorial hopeful Caitlyn Jenner told CNN this week that she did not bother to vote in the 2020 presidential election. According to local election records, that’s not true. (I’ve heard of politicians lying in the opposite direction — claiming to have voted in races they skipped — but this is a new one.)
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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