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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* If Sen. Kyrsten Sinema hoped to scare away potential Democratic rivals with her partisan switch last week, the strategy may not be working: Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona continues to take additional steps toward a 2024 Senate bid.
* In a bit of a surprise, Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, this morning endorsed an end to the state’s current system of runoff elections.
* While Republicans have generally been cautious about blaming Donald Trump for the party’s troubles in this year’s midterm elections, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was a bit more candid with reporters yesterday. “Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in ’22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries,” the Kentucky Republican said.
* Democrats still aren’t sure who’ll chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee next year, but the current chief, Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, has made clear that he’s not interested in staying on through the 2024 elections.
* Politico reports that Democracy for America, founded by former Democratic Gov. Howard Dean, is reportedly “planning to shut down” unless the political action committee finds “a last-minute savior.” According to the article, DFA’s doors may close as early as tomorrow.
* In keeping with the recent pattern, a new Wall Street Journal poll found Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leading Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 Republican primary match-up, 52% to 38%.
* And in a sign of the times, defeated gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake appeared on Steve Bannon’s program this week, and the host referred to the Republican as “the governor-elect of Arizona.”