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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Louisiana is poised to take a sharp turn in a far-right direction: Republican state Attorney General Jeff Landry will succeed Democrat John Bel Edwards as governor, prevailing in the first round of multi-candidate balloting on Saturday, finishing with roughly 51% of the vote. Had Landry fallen short of 50%, he would’ve been forced into a runoff election that is now unnecessary.
* President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign and its joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee raised $71.3 million in the third quarter, spanning July through August. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the co-chairman of the Democratic incumbent’s campaign, told The New York Times, “It certainly exceeded our own expectations around it significantly. The fact that we’re sitting with $91 million in the bank today is really an extraordinary advantage.”
* The fundraising news has been far less encouraging for former Vice President Mike Pence. NBC News reported that the Indiana Republican raised $3.3 million in the third quarter, but his operation is down to $1.2 million cash on hand and is $620,000 in debt.
* Sen. Kyrsten Sinema hasn’t officially announced her re-election plans, but if she’s going to seek a second term, the Arizona independent has some work to do: USA Today reported that Sinema raised just $826,000 between July and September, less than half the total from the second quarter.
* In West Virginia, the latest poll from Emerson College found incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin trailing Republican Gov. Jim Justice, 41% to 28%, though nearly a third of the state’s electorate is either undecided or prepared to vote for someone else.
* In related news, Manchin continues to talk about a possible independent presidential campaign. “I’m having a hard time — I really am,” he told the Associated Press last week. “The two-party system, unless it changes, will be the downfall of our country.”
* And in Virginia, which will hold important state legislative elections three weeks from tomorrow, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has launched a six-figure ad buy, tying the state races to the chaos GOP members are creating in Congress.