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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In a bit of a surprise, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan announced this morning that she won’t seek re-election next year. This is the first such announcement from a Senate Democratic incumbent, and as NBC News noted, it sets the stage for “a competitive Senate race in a key battleground state during a presidential election year.”
* On a related note, a spokesperson for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the Democratic governor will not be a candidate in the open-seat Senate race.
* The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Kevin McCarthy, announced late yesterday that it will not spend in any open-seat primaries in safe GOP districts. The Club for Growth, the influential conservative group, said soon after that it can now support McCarthy’s bid for speaker.
* After leaving Louisiana’s political world guessing for weeks, Republican Sen. John Kennedy announced yesterday that he will not run for governor this year. The decision is likely to cause a variety of other GOP candidates to jump into the race.
* As the Republican National Committee moves forward with its plans to examine the results of the 2022 midterm elections, one member of its “autopsy” panel confirmed that it will examine Donald Trump’s role in the party’s disappointing showing. “Looking at President Trump, what has he gotten right? And what has he gotten wrong? And how do we learn from that to win elections going forward?” Mississippi’s Henry Barbour told NBC News.
* As the Democratic National Committee moves forward with its plans to overhaul its presidential nominating calendar, New Hampshire Democrats wrote to the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, insisting that it cannot go along with proposed changes.
* And in Arizona, Kari Lake has begun describing herself as the state’s “duly elected governor,” despite the fact that she lost her 2022 race. The Republican has filed lawsuits related to the election, but they’ve failed because Lake has been unable to substantiate her conspiracy theories with evidence.