Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* With just four weeks remaining before legislative elections in Virginia, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s PAC has launched a new television ad defending the GOP’s position on abortion rights. It’s part of a $1.4 million ad buy.
* A network of Republican donors who backed Mitt Romney’s and Paul Ryan’s 2012 ticket hosted the “E2 Summit” in Utah this week in the hopes of settling on an alternative to Donald Trump. The donors heard directly from North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
* In related news, Trump responded to the gathering by condemning Republicans who “go after the people who are on their side.” In the exact same social-media missive, the former president took rhetorical aim at “RINO Paul RINO,” “Mitt ‘The Loser’ Romney,” and “Bill ‘No Guts or Talent’ Barr.”
* On a related note, Trump continues to mock former Rep. Will Hurd now that the former Republican congressman has ended his struggling presidential campaign. I’m not sure what the point is, except the former president appears to enjoy belittling people just for the sake of doing so.
* Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan continues to express interest in some kind of independent presidential bid. “However I can serve, I’m still trying to figure that out, but I’m not walking away,” the former Republican governor told Bloomberg.
* In Arizona’s 2024 U.S. Senate race, Public Policy Polling tested a hypothetical three-way match-up and found Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego leading failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, 41% to 36%, followed by independent incumbent Sen. Krysten Sinema with 15%. The PPP survey, first shared with The Hill, appears to have been commissioned by Gallego’s campaign.
* And in the state of Washington, former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, whose career in congressional Republican politics was derailed after she voted to impeach Trump in early 2021, is trying to return to elected office: The former congresswoman is now running for public lands commissioner.
