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Friday’s Campaign Round-Up, 1.13.23

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

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

* The National Republican Senatorial Committee is trying to go back on the offensive in the wake of its 2022 failures, launching new attack ads yesterday targeting three Democratic senators running in red states: Montana’s Jon Tester, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown.

* Though Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign in November, the Republican still hasn’t held any public events in support of his comeback candidacy. That will apparently soon change: The former president will reportedly headline an “intimate” event in South Carolina later this month.

* In Iowa, the wife of a former Republican congressional candidate was arrested yesterday, charged with, among other things, 23 counts of fraudulent voting in 2020. Because voter fraud is nearly impossible in our system of elections, Kim Phuong Taylor was, of course, caught.

* Democrats face long odds in every statewide race in Mississippi, but in this year’s gubernatorial election, the party has recruited a top-tier contender: Brandon Presley, a member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, is running for governor, announced his candidacy yesterday. (If his last name sounds familiar, it’s because Elvis Presley is the candidate’s great uncle.)

* On a related note, while there were rumors that state Auditor Shad White might take on incumbent Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves in a Republican primary this year, he’s announced this week that he’ll seek re-election instead.

* In Indiana, former Gov. Mitch Daniels this week acknowledged that he’s interested in the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. In response, the far-right Club for Growth unveiled a new attack ad, trying to discourage Daniels from launching a campaign.

* And Trump this week called for primary campaigns against any Republican senators who vote with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. I’m not sure how that’s supposed to work, though given the frequency with which McConnell opposes Democrats, I assume the Democratic majority would welcome the GOP support.