Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Arizona’s closely watched gubernatorial race, the latest CNN poll found Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs narrowly leading Republican Kari Lake, 49% to 46%.
* Preliminary reporting said Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC that’s part of Donald Trump’s larger political operation, was jumping into the 2022 midterms for the first time, financing new campaign ads in Senate races in Pennsylvania and Ohio. As it turns out, MAGA Inc. is also investing in Georgia’s and Arizona’s Senate races.
* In Wisconsin, the latest CBS News/YouGov poll found incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson ahead by just one point over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, 50% to 49%.
* On a related note, the same poll found Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race all tied up, with incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican Tim Michels each garnering 50% support.
* Ahead of his U.S. Senate campaign in Ohio, Republican J.D. Vance created a non-profit organization, ostensibly to “make it easier for disadvantaged children to achieve their dreams.” The New York Times reported that Vance’s entity ended up doing very little, leaving many of the group’s own employees wondering whether “they had been lured by the promise of helping Ohio, but instead had been used to help Mr. Vance start his career in politics.”
* In a closely watched U.S. House race in Virginia, former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman appears in a new campaign ad in support for incumbent Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger. “This is not a typical political ad,” Riggleman says in the opening frame. “I’m a Republican congressman saying nice things about a Democrat.”
* Oklahoma is a reliably red state, but a new statewide poll commissioned by two local outlets found State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister — a Republican who became a Democrat last year — leading incumbent GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt, 47% to 43%.
* In New Hampshire, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is canceling the remainder of its investments in support of Don Bolduc’s candidacy, but the Senate Leadership Fund super PAC, aligned with the Senate Republican leadership, is still airing ads on the far-right candidate’s behalf.
* And in related news, the latest St. Anselm College Survey Center poll in the Granite State found incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan leading Bolduc, 49% to 43%.