Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In North Carolina, a Democratic incumbent on the state Supreme Court narrowly won re-election, prompting Republicans to try to throw out more than 60,000 votes. The State Board of Elections rejected the GOP effort.
* Fearing possible trouble for some of Donald Trump’s most scandalous personnel choices, Heritage Action — the advocacy arm of the Heritage Foundation — is launching an ad campaign targeting Senate Republicans in nine states, urging them to support each of the president-elect’s prospective nominees. Among the targeted states are Alaska and Maine, home to Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, respectively.
* In New York, the latest Siena College poll found Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul with a 46% approval rating, though the same survey found a 57% majority of New Yorkers want to elect someone else in the 2026 race. (Click the link for additional information on the survey’s methodology and margin of error.)
* Sen. Bernie Sanders cruised to a landslide re-election victory in Vermont last month, but the independent incumbent suggested he’s unlikely to run again in 2030. When Politico asked if he’s now in his final term, the senator replied, “I’m 83 now. I’ll be 89 when I get out of here. You can do the figuring. I don’t know, but I would assume, probably, yes.”
* On a related note, there’s considerable uncertainty about whether Sen. Dick Durbin will run for re-election in 2026. The longtime Democratic leader, who recently turned 80, told CNN he’ll be “making an announcement after the first of the year” about his electoral future.
* And during his latest “Meet the Press” appearance, Donald Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker that before the pandemic struck in 2020, he “had polls that were the highest.” Boasts like these might make the Republican president-elect feel better, but they’re not even close to being true: As The New York Times noted after the interview aired, “He had a 48 percent approval rating in late February 2020, according to a Gallup poll, lower than all but three of his predecessors dating to Harry S. Truman at a similar time into their presidencies.”
