Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Arizona’s most competitive congressional district, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee rallied behind Marlene Galán-Woods, a former Republican best known locally for work as a broadcast journalist. Primary voters in the Phoenix-area district, however, shrugged off the DCCC’s advice and backed Dr. Amish Shah, who’ll now face former football kicker Jay Feely in November.
As The New York Times noted, “Although a number of the candidates the committee has backed have won their primaries, others have faltered: Moderate candidates backed by House Democrats’ campaign arm lost to progressives in battleground districts in northern Maine and in the Central Valley of California.”
In Arizona’s Tempe-area district, meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton fended off a primary challenge from Kai Newkirk, a first-time candidate who identified as a democratic socialist. With just about all the votes tallied, the incumbent congressman won by roughly 25 points.
* The 2028 presidential primary elections are still a year and a half away, but Democratic Party officials are currently working on their nominating calendar, and South Carolina and Nevada are in the midst of an increasingly acrimonious fight for position.
* The White House’s plans for new tariffs on Canadian products are poised to do fresh harm to Maine’s economy, which is why Republican Sen. Susan Collins and other GOP officials in the state, already concerned about their re-election prospects, are scrambling to distance themselves from the policy.
* In Florida’s gubernatorial race, Democrats appear to have an uphill climb ahead of them, but former Rep. David Jolly, the likely Democratic nominee, has seized on a new issue: Jolly is pushing for a moratorium on data center construction, and he’s slamming Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, the likely GOP nominee, for his passivity on the issue.
* And in Ohio’s gubernatorial race, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were rumored to be at odds when they led Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) early last year, but they’ve apparently worked out their differences: Musk has already donated $5 million in support of Ramaswamy’s candidacy.
The post Thursday’s Campaign Round-Up, 7.23.26: DCCC-backed candidate falls short in Arizona appeared first on MS NOW.
