Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Texas’ closely watched U.S. Senate race, the latest poll from Texas Public Opinion Research found Democratic state Rep. James Talarico continuing to lead Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton, 47% to 40%. This dovetailed with the latest Texas Southern University poll, which also showed Talarico ahead in three GOP-held congressional districts.
In the meantime, Talarico’s team is pushing to reveal Paxton’s depositions from a civil case in which a mineral assets company called Unity Resources was accused of fraud. As The Associated Press reported this week, “Paxton was connected to Unity but not a defendant, and the case was settled.”
* Although Texas’ gubernatorial race has generated less attention, there’s reason to believe it won’t be the shoo-in many expected as the year got underway. The latest poll from Texas Public Opinion Research found incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott leading Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, 48% to 41%.
* In Iowa’s competitive U.S. Senate race, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is facing a new round of questions following a NOTUS report about her husband arranging a meeting between lobbyists and Iowa lawmakers, including Hinson.
* With less than two weeks remaining before Rhode Island’s primaries, a survey from Emerson College Polling and Nexstar affiliate WPRI-TV 12 found incumbent Gov. Dan McKee trailing former CVS health official Helena Foulkes by double digits.
* In Ohio’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is running a new ad, authorized by Republican Sen. Jon Husted’s campaign, that tries to connect a deadly highway crash to illegal immigration. The family of the crash’s victims, however, did not approve the attack ad, and they are now pleading with Republicans to take it down. To date, those pleas have been ignored.
* Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, facing a tough re-election bid against former state Senate President Troy Jackson, has agreed to participate in four general election debates against her Democratic rival.
* And in the White House, Karoline Leavitt formally stepped down as the president’s press secretary this week, but she’ll remain in Donald Trump’s orbit: Leavitt has accepted a role with MAGA Inc., the super PAC controlled by the president.
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