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MaddowBlog

From The Rachel Maddow Show

PA Democratic Senate Candidate John Fetterman Campaigns Ahead Of Primary Election
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman campaigns for U.S. Senate at a meet and greet at Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport on May 10 in Lemont Furnace, Penn.Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images

Wednesday’s Campaign Round-Up, 6.15.22

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.

* As expected, Republicans successfully flipped a U.S. House seat yesterday, with Mayra Flores defeating Dan Sanchez in a Texas special election. The GOP candidate will fill a vacancy left by former Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, who stepped down in March to take a job with the law and lobbying firm Akin Gump.

* Among the many interesting primary results yesterday was in Nevada, where former Assemblyman Jim Marchant became the Republican Party’s secretary of state nominee, despite — or perhaps because of — his election-related conspiracy theories.

* In Pennsylvania, a new USA Today Network/Suffolk University poll found Lt. Gov. John Fetterman as the apparent frontrunner in this year’s open U.S. Senate race: The Democrat leads celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in the survey, 46 percent to 37 percent.

* The same poll found a more competitive gubernatorial race in the Keystone State: Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro leads Republican Doug Mastriano in the survey, 44 percent to 40 percent.

* On a related note, Oz has already faced difficult questions about his ties to his adopted home state, and it won’t help that he appears to have misspelled the name of a Pennsylvania town as part of his official statement of candidacy. It didn’t take long before Fetterman, drew attention to Oz’s error, having a little fun at the Republican’s expense.

* In Georgia’s closely watched statewide races, a new poll from East Carolina University found incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp with a five-point advantage over Democrat Stacey Abrams, 50 percent to 45 percent.

* As for Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, the same poll found Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock tied with former football player Herschel Walker, with both candidates garnering 46 percent support.

* It says something interesting about Republicans politics that Ryan Kelley, the far-right real-estate agent running for governor in Michigan, has launched a fundraising campaign based on the FBI arresting him last week.

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."