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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* As expected, President Joe Biden and Donald Trump clinched their respective parties’ presidential nominations last night with a series of lopsided primary victories. That said, the former president fared worse than expected in Georgia.
* Speaking of this week’s primaries, Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Ezell had little trouble prevailing in their respective Republican primaries in Mississippi.
* In Arizona, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego unveiled his first statewide television ad this week, highlighting his military service and policy priorities.
* In Colorado, there will be a special election to fill resigning Republican Rep. Ken Buck’s vacancy, but Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert has announced that she won’t compete in the race, saying, “I’m not leaving my constituents in the 3rd district.” (The right-wing congresswoman is currently preparing to leave her constituents in the 3rd district, running instead in Colorado’s 4th.)
* A North Carolina appeals court ruled unanimously this week that a Republican effort to restructure local election boards is unconstitutional.
* A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll found Trump leading Biden nationally, 40% to 38%, but the survey included Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the mix, and his 9% support in the poll detracts from its utility.
* On a related note, in case anyone had any doubts about the kind of campaign Kennedy is running, the anti-vaccine candidate is considering New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers as a possible running mate.
* And in South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem is ostensibly in the mix for her party’s vice presidential nomination, which made it that much more unusual when the Republican created a five-minute video touting a dentist office in Texas and released it to the public this week.