Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* The New York Times reported yesterday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has scaled back its investments in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Arizona — three of the nation’s most important battleground states — which the newspaper characterized as “a likely sign of financial troubles headed into the peak of the 2022 midterm election season.”
* On a related note, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched its first general election ad campaign in Arizona today, reminding voters about Republican Blake Masters’ recent comments about privatizing Social Security.
* In New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate primary, a new Saint Anselm College poll found retired Brigadier Gen. Don Bolduc leading the pack with 32 percent support, followed by state Sen. Chuck Morse at 16 percent. Primary Day in the Granite State is Sept. 13, which is four weeks from today.
* On a related note, New Hampshire’s Republican U.S. Senate candidates gathered over the weekend for a debate, at which Bolduc insisted that Donald Trump won in 2020, reality be damned. The apparent GOP frontrunner also expressed support for repealing the 17th Amendment, which would have the effect of preventing Americans from electing their own senators.
* In Texas, the latest Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll found Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott maintaining a steady lead over former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, 46 percent to 39 percent.
* After the Republican Accountability Project released an ad in Georgia last week, highlighting Senate hopeful Herschel Walker’s alleged history of violent domestic abuse, the Republican candidate said he’s “glad” the ad came out because it will help “end the stigma around mental health.” As my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones explained, that’s a tough sell.
* And in Kansas, the recent vote on abortion rights was lopsided, but Melissa Leavitt has apparently posted the bond necessary for a statewide hand recount. An Associated Press report quoted the elections director for the Kansas secretary of state’s office saying this will be “the first recount of the votes on a statewide ballot question in at least 30 years.”