Eyes on 2024: A year of Senate re-runs?

The Ohio Senate race, expected to be one of the most competitive of the election cycle, is starting to take shape NBC News’ Henry J. Gomez reports that former GOP state Sen. Matt Dolan is planning to jump into the race against Sen. Sherrod Brown, a top GOP target as one of three Democrats up for re-election in states former President Donald Trump won in 2020. 

Dolan also ran in 2022, coming in third place with 23% of the vote in the GOP primary after spending almost $11 million of his own money on the race. And he’s not the only unsuccessful 2022 contender considering another Senate run. 

Former hedge fund manager David McCormick is reportedly weighing another bid for Senate in Pennsylvania after losing the GOP primary to celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz last year, per the Associated Press. 

Both Dolan and McCormick lost to Trump-endorsed candidates in their primaries. Oz went on to lose in November. “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance won in Ohio, but the GOP had to spend millions to boost his candidacy. 

Trump’s preferred candidates’ struggles in the midterms has raised questions about whether his endorsement will carry the same weight in GOP primaries this election cycle. Dolan and McCormick may just find out. 

In other campaign news…

Hoosier Senator?: Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks made his Senate bid official Tuesday, dropping a video on social media touting his biography and military service, while criticizing “radical socialists Democrats” and showing an image of him working alongside former President Donald Trump. It’s the opening salvo in what could be one of the more interesting primaries on the map (the Club for Growth PAC immediately endorsed him, pledging to “spend whatever it takes to help Banks secure the nomination and victory.”

Political pasta-bilities: Politico’s Jonathan Martin reports on how a recent donor dinner put on by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis (with Italian food flown in from New York) offers a glimpse into how the possible presidential heavy-hitter is trying to woo insiders despite a reputation for “aloofness.” 

Trump denies rape allegation: Trump denied in an October deposition unsealed on Friday that he raped E. Jean Carrol in the 1990s, also insulting the writer. 

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Texas two-step: Former GOP Rep. Will Hurd is traveling to New Hampshire at the end of the month to speak at the state GOP’s annual meeting, per Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser. And Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott responded to Fox’s questions about whether he’s weighing a presidential bid by saying “it’s not something I’m ruling in right now.” 

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Leaving the loopholes: NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald and Allan Smith report that the controversy surrounding disgraced former cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried’s campaign donations is unlikely to change campaign finance laws. 

PA postmortem: The Pennsylvania GOP is conducting a postmortem after a disappointing showing in the midterms, Politico reports, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies (the GOP half of the team that conducts NBC’s polling). 

Santos saga, part 384: The Washington Post reports that embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., “has deeper ties than previously known to a businessman who cultivated close links with a onetime Trump confidant and who is the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch.”

Donor drama: A group of about 150 prominent GOP donors are backing RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s re-election in a new letter that comes days after her primary foe, California Republican National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon, has touted her own mega-donor support. 

Watch this space: Politico dives into this year’s Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, which the state Democratic Party chairman dubbed “the most important election that nobody’s ever heard of.”