By
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Because New Hampshire Democrats refused to comply with the Democratic National Committee’s new primary calendar, President Joe Biden’s campaign has decided not to compete in the contest and his name will not appear on the state’s primary ballot. Local Democratic voters can, however, still cast write-in votes in support of the incumbent.
* Speaking of the Granite State, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent months arguing that the Republican presidential primary race in New Hampshire should be seen as a two-person race, pitting him against Donald Trump. New Hampshire’s incumbent Republican governor, Chris Sununu, said the opposite this week — during a campaign stop with DeSantis. “I think there’s three or four candidates that are clearly surging ahead,” Sununu said. “There’s six or seven, I don’t even know how many we’re counting at this point in the race.”
* Speaking of the former president, Trump seemed to take great satisfaction in derailing House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s bid for House speaker. Politico reported that Trump called one person close to him said, in reference to the Minnesota congressman, “He’s done. It’s over. I killed him.”
* The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is making seven-figure investments in Florida and Texas, suggesting the party believes incumbent Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Rick Scott are vulnerable ahead of their 2024 re-election bids. NBC News’ report on this added, “The committee typically makes these investments in state parties to bolster staff during an election cycle, but a DSCC aide said the investment announced Monday is the largest the committee has made at this point in an election cycle.”
* Sen. Kyrsten Sinema hasn’t yet announced her 2024 plans, but according to McKay Coppins’s new book, the Arizona independent told Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah that she could “do anything” once she’s out of office and feels that what she’s done in the Senate is “good enough.” An aide to Sinema told Business Insider, “Private conversations are easily misconstrued and mistaken during the game of telephone.”
* The controversial third-party organization called No Labels has now gained ballot access in Mississippi, making it the 12th state where the third-party organization has made it onto the ballot.
* And in Michigan, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig launched a Republican U.S. Senate campaign two weeks ago, and he’s already reportedly parted ways with his campaign manager and deputy manager. Last year, when Craig ran an ill-fated Republican gubernatorial campaign, he also went through multiple campaign managers.