Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Though many GOP officials consider him entirely unelectable in a statewide race, former state Rep. Geoff Diehl easily defeated businessman Chris Doughty in Massachusetts’ Republican gubernatorial primary. Diehl’s candidacy was boosted by an endorsement from Donald Trump, who assured locals the former legislator would rule with “an iron fist.”
* In Michigan’s gubernatorial race, a new poll from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV found Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with a significant lead over Republican commentator Tudor Dixon, 48% to 35%.
* Though Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is generally seen as the favorite in his re-election campaign, two new polls suggest his advantage is modest: The latest AARP poll found the incumbent leading Democratic Rep. Val Demings by only two points, while the latest Susquehanna poll showed Rubio ahead by only three points.
* As for Florida’s gubernatorial race, the same surveys pointed in a similar direction: The latest AARP poll found Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist by only three points, while the latest Susquehanna poll showed Rubio ahead by four points.
* Scott Jensen, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Minnesota, is on record saying, “I would try to ban abortion.” In his new campaign ad, however, the GOP candidate tries to assure voters that he now has the opposite intentions.
* In Pennsylvania yesterday, retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey campaigned alongside Mehmet Oz, his party’s nominee to succeed him, but the senator would not commit to supporting Doug Mastriano, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in the commonwealth.
* And to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s great relief, New York Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou announced this morning that she will not launch a third-party challenge to former federal prosecutor Daniel Goldman in November. Niou recently finished a close second in the Democratic primary in New York’s newly redrawn 10th congressional district.