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Wednesday’s Campaign Round-Up, 3.29.23

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is prepared to walk away from Congress after nearly three decades on Capitol Hill, announcing during remarks over the weekend that she now plans to run for mayor of Houston.

* As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies start to hire staffers for an as-yet-unannounced presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s campaign is letting GOP operatives know that they’ll be deemed ineligible to join the Trump campaign or another Trump White House.

* Nevertheless, a pro-DeSantis super PAC continues to ramp up its hiring, including picking up staffers who used to work for the former president’s political operation.

* In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson had left the door open to a possible U.S. Senate campaign, but the Democrat has decided not to run, leaving Rep. Elissa Slotkin, at least for now, as the party’s consensus choice.

* A step backwards for voting rights in Virginia: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has reportedly decided to rescind the commonwealth’s previous policy of automatically restoring the voting rights of people with felony convictions.

* In North Carolina, it’s widely assumed that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will soon launch a right-wing 2024 gubernatorial campaign, but he apparently won’t run unopposed for the Republican nomination state Treasurer Dale Folwell has kicked off a statewide campaign of his own.

* And with Sen. Rick Scott poised to run for a second term next year, The Daily Beast set out to find a credible Democrat who’s gearing up to run against him. Despite the Republican incumbent’s cringe-worthy career on Capitol Hill thus far, possible Democratic contenders, mindful of the Sunshine State’s shift to the far-right, expressed no interest in the race.