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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Donald Trump held an event in Iowa last night, and while the former president was supposed to focus on education policy, he ended focusing quite a bit of attention on criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’ll likely be his principal rival for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
* On a related note, Trump told reporters that he “probably” regrets endorsing DeSantis during his gubernatorial primary in 2018.
* Speaking of the fight for the GOP nomination, a newly released CNN poll asked Republican voters who they’re most likely to support in the next cycle. Trump was first with 40%, followed closely by DeSantis with 36%. Former Vice President Mike Pence and former Ambassador Nikki Haley were much further back, with 6% support each, and no other contender reached 3% in the survey.
* The bipartisan Ohio Ballot Board cleared the way yesterday for abortion-rights advocates to begin collecting ballot signatures for a proposed amendment to the state constitution. If it’s successful, the question will be added to the statewide ballot and Ohioans will be able to enshrine abortion rights in state law, circumventing the Republican majority in Columbus.
* North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, the new chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Fox News this week that the NRCC doesn’t intend to endorse candidates in open-seat primaries, but the committee might “get involved earlier in terms of helping people build better campaigns.”
* Some interesting new research suggests roughly 90% of U.S. House races in the 2022 midterm cycle were not competitive contests.
* And in New York, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is apparently launching a new organization called Progressives for Israel.