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From The Rachel Maddow Show

Image: Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin attends a debate in Alexandria on Sept. 28, 2021.
Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin attends a debate in Alexandria on Sept. 28, 2021.Cliff Owen / AP file

Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 2.21.22

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

By Steve Benen

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

* A month into Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term, a new poll from the Wason Center shows the Virginia Republican already struggling: 41 percent of Virginians approve of the governor’s job performance, while 43 percent disapprove.

* As Sen. Tim Scott runs for re-election and eyes a possible national campaign, the South Carolina Republican apparently has a billionaire in his corner: Tech billionaire Larry Ellison has donated $15 million to a super PAC aligned with the GOP senator.

* In related news, against a backdrop of scuttlebutt about Donald Trump eyeing Tim Scott as a possible 2024 running mate, Scott suggested on Fox News yesterday that he’s open to the idea. “I think everybody wants to be on President Trump’s bandwagon, without any question,” the senator said.

* As a result of Texas’ new voter-suppression law, lawful voters aren’t just finding that their absentee ballots have been rejected: Texas is rejecting absentee ballot applications, too.

* Speaking of the Lone Star State, the latest Dallas Morning News poll in Texas’ gubernatorial race found Republican Gov. Greg Abbott leading his Democratic rival, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, 45 percent to 38 percent.

* In Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, not surprisingly, has endorsed his former lieutenant governor, Rebecca Kleefisch. Around the same time, businessman Jonathan Wichmann announced that he was ending his GOP gubernatorial candidacy, and will now instead run for lieutenant governor.

* And it was just two years ago when then-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ran a failed campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. This year, the former Hawaii congresswoman, continuing her strange drift to the right, has reportedly agreed to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."