Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Arizona’s attorney general race, a final tally found Democrat Kris Mayes ahead of Republican Abe Hamadeh by just 510 votes. Given the narrow margin, there will now be an automatic recount as required by state law.
* Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff election is two weeks from today, and a newly released AARP poll found Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, with a small lead over Republican Herschel Walker, 51% to 47%.
* In related news, a state judge ruled late last week that Georgia law allows Saturday voting before the U.S. Senate runoff election, and the Georgia Court of Appeals yesterday denied an attempt to undo the lower court’s decision.
* For his part, part of Walker’s closing message in Georgia is a new anti-trans television ad. It’s worth noting for context that the GOP candidate recently told Fox News that trans athletes represent “the biggest threat to democracy.”
* For those keeping an eye on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s campaign to become House speaker, it appears to be moving in the wrong direction: Rep. Ralph Norman, another House Freedom Caucus member, told Politico this morning that he will oppose McCarthy. Rep. Bob Good, another intraparty McCarthy critic, said yesterday that he believes there are “at least a dozen or so” opponents who would doom the minority leader’s chances.
* It was close, but Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette has won re-election and Republican Amy Loudenbeck conceded defeat yesterday.
* And though Donald Trump’s endorsement record isn’t as impressive as the former president likes to pretend, he mocked Colorado’s Joe O’Dea and New Hampshire’s Don Bolduc yesterday, claiming the Senate candidates fell short because they were insufficiently loyal to him and his conspiracy theories. “You can’t win without MAGA!” Trump declared by way of his social media platform.