Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In California, voters in the 20th congressional district yesterday elected Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong to fill the vacancy left by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Once Fong is sworn in, the House GOP majority will have a two-vote margin, instead of its current one-vote margin.
* As primary results came in last night, Donald Trump touted the victories of GOP candidates who ran unopposed, as if his support for unchallenged incumbents was somehow impressive. The former president did this over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
* In Maryland’s U.S. Senate race, former Gov. Larry Hogan, a former opponent of abortion rights, is now investing heavily in campaign ads that claim he’d “support legislation that makes Roe the law of the land in every state.”
* The Washington Post reports that the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is aligned with the House Republican leadership, “plans to reserve $141 million in fall advertising this week, with spending planned for about 30 races that it has identified as likely to decide the balance of Congress.”
* The Associated Press highlighted the latest research from States United Action, which characterized nearly one-third of Congress as “election deniers.” The AP added, “Heading into the fall elections, two new Senate candidates and 17 new House candidates already are on the ballot this fall seeking to join them.”
* A self-avowed former “honorary” member of the Ku Klux Klan is running for governor in Missouri as a Republican this year. The state GOP is trying to block Darrell Leon McClanahan III from appearing on the ballot, but a state judge ruled in the candidate’s favor late last week.
* And in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, Democratic officials have filed a complaint, seeking a formal review of the signatures submitted by leading Republican candidates. This is worth watching closely because prominent statewide GOP candidates in Michigan have stumbled on this issue in recent years.