Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With just three months to go in Mississippi’s gubernatorial race, Gov. Tate Reeves fended off a Republican primary challenger with relative ease, and the incumbent will now face Democrat Brandon Presley in the fall.
* Shortly after Ohio voters easily discarded Issue 1, the Republican leader of the state Senate said he and his party would “probably” try to advance the same plan again. He didn’t appear to be kidding.
* The first debate for qualifying GOP presidential candidates will be aired on Fox News in two weeks. The party’s second debate, we learned this morning, will air on Fox Business.
* In related news, The Washington Post reported that businessman Vivek Ramaswamy yesterday became “the first GOP candidate for president to formally qualify for the first debate by signing a Republican National Committee pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee.”
* Retired Gen. Keith Kellogg served as then-Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser, but this week, he expressed support for Donald Trump and said he considers Pence “unworthy of the presidency.”
* Following a series of walkouts designed to derail the state legislative process, Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced that several Republican lawmakers won’t be eligible to run for re-election next year.
* In keeping with his general approach to class and decency, Trump took another cheap shot at former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during his latest appearance in New Hampshire. “Don’t call him a fat pig,” Trump playfully admonished an audience member yesterday.
* Why has Rep. Nancy Mace been acting like such a reactionary partisan in recent months, after investing so much effort into appearing more mainstream? The Wall Street Journal reported that the South Carolina Republican has been “warming to the idea” of trying to be Trump’s 2024 running mate.