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From The Rachel Maddow Show

Image: FILE PHOTO: Voters stand at voting booths during early voting at the Oklahoma Election Board in Oklahoma City
FILE PHOTO: Voters stand at voting booths during early voting at the Oklahoma Election Board in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. October 29, 2020.Nick Oxford / Reuters

Thursday’s Campaign Round-Up, 7.28.22

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.

* With nearly 100 days remaining before the midterm elections, a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll found Democrats leading Republicans on the congressional generic ballot, 44 percent to 40 percent. A month ago, the same pollster found the parties tied.

* In keeping with recent trends, former Vice President Mike Pence yesterday endorsed Rebecca Kleefisch in Wisconsin’s competitive GOP gubernatorial primary. Donald Trump, meanwhile, has already backed Kleefisch’s Republican rival, Tim Michels.

* A SurveyUSA poll for the NBC affiliate in Atlanta found incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock with a surprisingly big lead over Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia, 48 percent to 39 percent.

* The same poll showed a much more competitive gubernatorial race, with incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp with the narrowest of advantages over Democrat Stacey Abrams, 45 percent to 44 percent.

* Speaking of the Peachtree State, a new analysis from NPR, WABE in Atlanta, and Georgia Public Broadcasting took a closer look at sweeping changes to the state’s election laws, and found restricted access to ballot drop boxes “in counties that used them the most, which also have the highest number of voters of color and Democrats.”

* In Hawaii’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, a Mason-Dixon poll for The Honolulu Star-Advertiser found Lt. Gov. Josh Green as the clear frontrunner, leading businesswoman Vicky Cayetano, 55 percent to 19 percent. Rep. Kai Kahele was third in the poll with 16 percent support.

* And in third-party news, former Republican Rep. David Jolly, former Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, and failed Democratic candidate Andrew Yang have apparently linked arms and formed something called the Forward Party. It doesn’t yet have a platform, but its organizers are apparently planning a national convention next summer.

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."