Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Eight months after the late Rep. Sylvester Turner passed away, his Houston-area district still doesn’t have a representative in Congress, but it’s getting closer: Two Democrats advanced to a runoff this week, though the general election won’t be held until February.
* The White House has pushed Kansas Republicans to redraw their congressional map to defeat Rep. Sharice Davids, the only Democrat in the state’s four-person House delegation. That isn’t going to happen any time soon: The Associated Press reported that the Kansas House’s top Republican has “dropped efforts to force a redraw of U.S. House districts that would have thrust the state into a widening national battle for partisan advantage in the 2026 elections.”
* Speaking of redistricting, some key legislative leaders in Maryland have balked at redrawing their state’s district map, but Democratic Gov. Wes Moore initiated the process this week anyway, announcing a redistricting commission to draft proposed maps ahead of the midterms.
* In a bit of a surprise, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla announced this week that he will not be a gubernatorial candidate in his home state of California next year, choosing to instead remain on Capitol Hill.
* In Cincinnati’s mayoral race, Republican Cory Bowman — best known as Vice President JD Vance’s half-brother — lost badly to Democratic incumbent Aftab Pureval.
* In Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, the latest Atlanta Journal Constitution poll found Rep. Mike Collins leading the Republican field, but a plurality of GOP voters in the state remain undecided.
* And in South Carolina’s gubernatorial race, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace continues to unravel in the aftermath of her recent incident at a local airport. In her latest message, the GOP congresswoman told supporters, “The establishment is in PANIC MODE. They are doing everything they can, including falsifying police incident reports, to STOP US. And it’s not going to work. If they can’t find it — they’ll just make it up. They’ll do everything they can to destroy us.”
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
