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Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Rhode Island’s 1st congressional district, former White House official Gabe Amo won a crowded Democratic primary yesterday. The general election is in November, and Amo is heavily favored to fill the vacancy left by former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline. He’ll also be the first person of color to represent Rhode Island in Congress.
* As for the Republican primary in Utah’s 2nd congressional district, the race has not yet been called, though the latest tallies appeared to show former House aide Celeste Maloy with a narrow advantage over former state Rep. Becky Edwards. The winner will be well positioned to succeed Republican Rep. Chris Stewart.
* It was nearly a decade ago when former Rep. Mike Rogers retired from Congress, left his Michigan district, and moved to Florida. Now, evidently, the Republican has decided to move back to Michigan and launch a U.S. Senate campaign.
* In Texas’ U.S. Senate campaign, Rep. Colin Allred appears well positioned to win the Democratic primary, but he apparently won’t run unopposed: Mark Gonzalez, a progressive district attorney in Nueces County, has resigned his post and kicked off a Senate bid. The winner will take on incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz next year.
* The latest national CNN poll found Donald Trump with a growing lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, 52% to 18%. As recently as June, CNN polling found the former president with a more modest 19-point lead over the Florida governor, suggesting support for Trump’s candidacy is strengthening.
* Speaking of DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is slamming his rival for putting “politics ahead of his job” and not showing up with President Joe Biden during a tour of hurricane damage this past weekend. “Your job as governor is to be the tour guide for the president, is to make sure the president sees your people, sees the damage, sees the suffering, what’s going on and what needs to be done to rebuild it,” Christie said yesterday. “You’re doing your job. And unfortunately, he put politics ahead of his job. That was his choice.”
* And NBC News ran a notable report last week on Dylan Quattrucci, the deputy state director of Trump’s campaign in New Hampshire: “The No. 2 official in New Hampshire on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign told police to kill themselves in an expletive-ridden Jan. 6 video shot close to the U.S. Capitol, according to a recording posted this month by an X account associated with the ‘Sedition Hunters,’ a group of online sleuths who have helped authorities identify hundreds of people present that day.”