Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* To get a sense of where things stand in the race for the Republicans’ presidential nomination, Vivek Ramaswamy thought it’d be a good idea in last night’s debate to talk about former Ambassador Nikki Haley’s daughter using TikTok. The South Carolinian responded soon after by calling him “just scum.”
* At least for now, the legal effort in Minnesota to kick Donald Trump off the primary ballot has run its course. Opponents of the former president’s candidacy challenged his eligibility on 14th Amendment grounds.
* Speaking of Trump, the former president picked up an endorsement last night from his former White House press secretary, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. She’s the sixth sitting GOP governor to back the party’s frontrunner.
* On the heels of President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign releasing new television ads targeting Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, the incumbent’s team also this week unveiled ads intended to appeal to Cuban-Americans and Venezuelan-Americans
* In Georgia, the latest poll from The Atlanta Journal Constitution found Trump narrowly leading Biden in a hypothetical general-election match-up, 45% to 44%. The Democrat narrowly won Georgia in 2020.
* Speaking of polling, the latest survey from the Marquette Law School found Biden narrowly leading Trump in Wisconsin among likely voters, 51% to 49%.
* In Michigan, Democrats have temporarily lost their majority in the state House after a couple of legislators won mayoral races this week. Special elections to replace them are months away.
* Speaking of state legislative special elections, Democrat Paige Beauchemin won just such a contest in New Hampshire this week. As a result, the Republican advantage in the state House is down to just one seat.
* And in Derby, Connecticut, Democrat Joseph DiMartino won a mayoral election this week, defeating Republican Gino DiGiovanni Jr. That wouldn’t ordinarily get much attention outside of Derby, but DiGiovanni ran despite facing Jan. 6 criminal charges. The GOP nominee nevertheless finished with roughly 44% of the vote.