Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As the Republican National Committee elections near, incumbent Chair Ronna McDaniel, at least for now, has decided not to participate in debates with her challengers. RNC members will choose their leaders at their winter meeting, which will begin a week from Friday.
* House Speaker Kevin McCarthy doesn’t just intend to target Democratic Reps. Ilham Omar’s, Adam Schiff’s, and Eric Swalwell’s committee assignments, the Republican’s political operation is now using this as the basis for a fundraising appeal.
* Nearly 800 days after Donald Trump’s defeat, officials in Pennsylvania’s Lycoming County conducted a hand-count of the area’s 2020 ballots. It took 28 employees three days to complete the review, and, predictably, the final tally didn’t much change and there was no evidence of fraud. Local conspiracy theorists and election deniers remain unconvinced for reasons I’ll never understand.
* In Ohio, Matt Dolan, who finished third in a Senate primary two years ago, will reportedly try again, launching a 2024 campaign against incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown this week.
* Ranked-choice voting, sometimes known as instant-runoff voting, isn’t yet common in the United States, but NBC News reports that legislatures in at least 14 states will consider bills this year that would adopt the model for upcoming elections.
* A growing number of Arizona Republicans, concerned about the effects of far-right activists and their unelectable preferred candidates, are eyeing new reforms to limit extremists’ influence in state GOP affairs.
* And ahead of his 2024 re-election bid, Republican Sen. Rick Scott launched a statewide tour in Florida last week, touting his far-right legislative blueprint that seems unlikely to generate much interest in the Democratic-led Senate.