Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The Texas Republican Party didn't seem overly eager to defend Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over the senator's Cancun excursion yesterday. "That's something that he has to answer to his constituents about," state GOP chair Allen West told the Associated Press.
* On a related note, a political action committee, the No Excuses PAC, is launching a new radio ad, which will air on 147 radio stations in Texas, calling the Republican senator "Cancun Cruz" and denouncing him as "an embarrassment to Texas."
* With fewer than seven months remaining before Virginia's gubernatorial race, a new poll from the Wason Center found former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and state Sen. Amanda Chase (R) leading their respective party primaries, though roughly half of voters in both parties remain undecided.
* In keeping with recent national trends, Republicans in Iowa's state legislature are moving forward with plans to curtail early voting in the state by more than a week.
* Pennsylvania's open U.S. Senate race continues to attract new candidates, with state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D) launching his statewide bid yesterday.
* In Colorado, the Democratic primary to take on Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) in 2022 keeps growing. This week, state House Rep. Donald Valdez (D), who unsuccessfully ran for this seat two years ago, became the seventh contender hoping to take on the right-wing incumbent.
* Though there were some rumors about Ivanka Trump running for the U.S. Senate in Florida next year, she reportedly called Sen. Marco Rubio (R) recently to offer her support for his re-election.
* And in Vermont's largest city, the chair of the Burlington Republican Party resigned yesterday, both from his position and from the GOP. "As a result of their fixation on loyalty to narcissistic national leaders and their adoption of a politics of personal revenge, I am disappointed to conclude that it is no longer productive for me to serve the remainder of my term as chair," Kolby LaMarche wrote in his resignation letter.