Today's installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) was officially sworn in this morning, lowering the number of existing congressional vacancies from four to three (Louisiana's 2nd, Louisiana's 5th, and Texas' 6th).
* As part of his launch of a new U.S. Senate campaign, former Ohio state Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) boasted yesterday that he would've joined far-right Republicans in objecting to President Joe Biden's electoral college votes. "If I was a United States senator, I would have been standing with Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rick Scott in holding up the certification of the election," Mandel said.
* On a related note, Mandel refused to offer support for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) -- with whom Mandel intends to share a ballot next year -- instead praising Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
* In California, a new Berkeley IGS Poll points to political trouble for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D): her approval rating is down to just 35%. The L.A. Times noted that this is the "the first time in her nearly three-decade Senate career that a plurality of Californians hold negative views of her job performance."
* According to a report in The Atlantic, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski "allegedly wanted a hefty fee in exchange for helping a government whistleblower win a pardon" from Donald Trump before he left office. Lewandowski said last month that he's eyeing a possible gubernatorial campaign in New Hampshire next year.
* As his first term gets underway, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) has started a new leadership PAC. It's called the "Health Jobs Justice" PAC.
* And Richard Haass, the longtime president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former official in the Reagan and Bush administrations, announced this week that's he's giving up on the Republican Party. Paraphrasing his old boss, Haass said, "I didn't leave the Republican Party; the Party left me."