Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.

* In Louisiana, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy will face voters on Saturday in a GOP primary against Rep. Julia Letlow, who enjoys Donald Trump’s backing and is expected to fare well against the incumbent. That said, there are others in the race, and if no candidate tops 50%, the top two vote-getters will advance to a June 27 runoff.

* Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey hasn’t made a public appearance in two months, and despite written assurances that he’ll “soon” return to work, there have been no disclosures about the illness that’s kept him away from Capitol Hill. Late last week, however, a member of the incumbent’s political operation told Politico, “Of course Congressman Kean is running for re-election.” Kean currently represents one of the nation’s most competitive congressional districts.

* In Nebraska, Democrats will vote Tuesday in this year’s weirdest Senate primary. Many Democratic officials and activists believe independent Dan Osborn stands the best chance against incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, and with this in mind, Cindy Burbank, considered one of the top contenders in the Democratic primary, has said she plans to drop out if she wins this week. Burbank, however, is running against an anti-abortion pastor named William Forbes, a Trump voter who appears to be a GOP plant in the Democratic contest.

* In the wake of the Virginia Supreme Court striking down a voter-approved redistricting plan, a variety of Democratic campaigns quickly evaporated, as districts the candidates attempted to represent no longer exist. As The New York Times summarized, “Rarely have so many fully formed campaigns gone off the rails at once.”

* On a related note, some observers haven’t quite given up on challenging the state supreme court’s highly controversial ruling. A separate Times report noted, “One key to the plan would be having Democrats in Richmond lower the mandatory retirement age for state Supreme Court justices, an idea that began circulating among state lawmakers and members of Congress after a column proposing a version of the idea was published on Friday night in The Downballot, a progressive newsletter.”

* Meanwhile, in Alabama, Republican officials are turning to the courts with emergency applications in the hope of eliminating at least one of the state’s two Black-majority districts.

* And in Maryland, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore last week unveiled the list of candidates he’s supporting in the 2026 cycle. State Senate President Bill Ferguson, who refused to consider the governor’s redistricting plan, was not included on the list. Ferguson is facing a Democratic primary rival, and the race will be decided next month.

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