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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* NBC News called Nevada’s gubernatorial race over the weekend, showing Republican Joe Lombardo narrowly defeating incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak. Though Alaska’s race has not yet been called, Sisolak will apparently be the only incumbent governor in either party to lose this year.
* As the political world shifts its focus to Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff election, American Bridge, a super PAC aligned with Democratic politics, has launched some new television ads, including this one about Herschel Walker’s record of brazen dishonesty.
* On a related note, Walker appeared on Fox Business a few days ago and said that “no American will ever” have the American dream if he loses his Senate race. The Republican did not appear to be kidding.
* In Oregon’s three-way gubernatorial race, Democrat Tina Kotek narrowly defeated Republican Christine Drazan. The GOP hasn’t won a gubernatorial race in Oregon since 1982. Kotek, meanwhile, will now be one of the first out lesbian governors in the United States, joining Democratic Gov.-elect Maura Healey of Massachusetts.
* Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego appeared on MSNBC over the weekend and commented on his fellow Arizonan, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, keeping a low profile during the 2022 election season. “We fought as a team in Arizona and we won,” Gallego said. “Sen. Sinema was nowhere to be found. At all. You did not see her at one public event for anybody. ... She did nothing, because she only cares about herself.”
* On Friday morning, Donald Trump published an item to his social media platform declaring, “WE WON! ... Big Victory, don’t be stupid. Stand on the rooftops and shout it out loud!” Yesterday morning, the former president published a follow-up item, adding, “It’s Mitch McConnell’s fault.... He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!”
* Outgoing Republican Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan, who’ll soon be succeeded by a Democrat, offered The Washington Post a memorable quote about the 2022 midterm elections: "After Tuesday, we have no choice but to heed voters when they say that ‘the grass is green, the sky is blue, and by the way, you just got your ass handed to you.’ But waking up to that reality is going to be rough.”
* Outgoing Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin, on the heels of his stronger-than-expected gubernatorial campaign, now has eyes on a new gig: The New Yorker is reportedly pursuing the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. Incumbent RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel has not said whether she intends to seek another term.