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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Though then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was reluctant to formally endorse Donald Trump’s 2024 candidacy, his successor apparently has no such qualms. “I’m all in for President Trump,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNBC a few hours ago, adding that he supports the former president “wholeheartedly.”
* The number of congressional retirements is picking up speed, and the latest such announcement came from Republican Rep. Michael Burgess. “It is with a satisfied and grateful heart that I announce that I will not be seeking reelection to the United States of Representatives in 2024,” the Texan said in a written statement.
* On a related note, another Texas Republican, Rep. Pat Fallon, is also giving up his congressional seat. In an unusual twist, however, Fallon is apparently hoping to trade one capitol building for another: Fallon is reportedly now running for his old seat in the Texas Senate.
* Rep. Gabe Amo was officially sworn into office yesterday, following last week’s congressional special election. With the Rhode Island Democrat now in office, the House Democratic conference is now back up to 213 members.
* As Sen. Kyrsten Sinema weighs her 2024 options, she appears to have a fundraising problem. Politico reported that after the Arizonan left the Democratic Party to become an independent, she shed Democratic donors, “and she hasn’t made up the loss with Republicans or independents.”
* In North Carolina, the latest statewide poll from Meredith College found President Joe Biden narrowly leading Donald Trump in a hypothetical general-election match-up, 40% to 39%. In 2020, it was the incumbent Republican president who narrowly carried the Tar Heel State, winning North Carolina by roughly 1%.
* On a related note, the same Meredith College poll found Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein with a small edge over Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, 38% to 36%, in a hypothetical gubernatorial general election in North Carolina. Both Stein and Robinson, however, have primary rivals they’ll face ahead of Election Day 2024.