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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It took a couple of days, but Republican Adam Laxalt conceded defeat this morning in Nevada’s highly competitive Senate race. In a statement, the GOP candidate acknowledged that he called Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto to congratulate her.
* Some of the unresolved congressional races continue to be called, including in Arizona, where Republican Rep. David Schweikert appears to have overcome his ethics controversies and narrowly won another term.
* In a familiar-but-unsettling set of circumstances, Republican operative Steve Bannon is now demanding that Arizona officials refuse to certify midterm election results he doesn’t like.
* How difficult a position is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in? The California Republican’s allies, trying to find votes that would hand him the speaker’s gavel, reportedly made multiple calls to Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, urging him to change parties. The conservative Democrat apparently declined.
* Donald Trump will reportedly launch another presidential campaign today, but he apparently won’t have a campaign manager, preferring instead to have a variety of aides oversee assorted responsibilities.
* NBC News reported late yesterday on the latest results out of New Mexico: “In New Mexico’s most competitive House races, the first Latina elected to the historically Democratic 3rd Congressional District defended her seat while a former Latino city councilman unseated the Republican incumbent in the 2nd Congressional District, effectively turning the state into a blue stronghold once again.”
* Louisiana will be one of three states holding gubernatorial races next year, and Republican Sen. John Kennedy issued a statement yesterday that read in part, “Over the last year, Louisianians have asked me time and time again to come home to serve as governor during these difficult times. ... We’ve always listened to them, so I am giving serious consideration to entering the governor’s race. I’ll be announcing my decision soon.”
* And while election deniers appear to have come up short in many of Nevada’s key races, Stavros Anthony will be the state’s new Republican lieutenant governor, and his rhetorical record on the issue is, at a minimum, problematic.