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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Georgia’s highly competitive gubernatorial race, the latest Quinnipiac poll, released yesterday found Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams tied, with each garnering 48 percent support.
* On a related note, the same poll took a look at Georgia’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, and it found incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock with a surprisingly large lead over Republican Herschel Walker, 54 percent to 44 percent. Earlier this year, Quinnipiac found the former football player leading the incumbent senator by one point.
* Speaking of Walker, the Georgia Republican’s spokesperson announced yesterday that Walker opposed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the recently approved legislation to address gun violence.
* In Wisconsin, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is running for a third term, and he’s also running away from journalists with questions about his Jan. 6 efforts.
* Though it seems like a longshot candidacy, John Wood, best known for his work as an investigator on the Jan. 6 committee, is launching a U.S. Senate campaign in his native Missouri. Wood, a lifelong Republican, is running as an independent.
* Speaking of the Jan. 6 investigation, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers delivered striking testimony before the committee last week. Yesterday, Donald Trump endorsed Bowers’ Republican primary opponent.
* In one of this cycle’s few member-vs-member primaries, Rep. Sean Casten easily defeated fellow Rep. Marie Newman in a Democratic primary for a Chicago-area district this week.
* In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul successfully fended off two Democratic primary challengers this week, as did her handpicked lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado. The incumbent governor will face Rep. Lee Zeldin, who won a crowded GOP primary, in the fall.
* And in Utah, incumbent Sen. Mike Lee, as expected, won his Republican primary this week, but the fact that he finished with roughly 62 percent of the vote — hardly a dominant victory over underfunded rivals — raised a few eyebrows.