What Went Down During The 2021 Elections

Don’t look now, but with 25 percent of the expected vote in, Murphy leads Ciattarelli in New Jersey just 50 percent to 49 percent. Hunterdon County is almost fully reporting, and Ciattarelli won it by 23 points; Trump won by just 4 points last year. If you apply that swing statewide, Ciattarelli would win by 2 points.

To build on Leah’s point about Trump and the political spotlight: in a similar vein, Trump held two short rallies by phone for Republican candidates yesterday.

At 7 p.m. Eastern, Trump held a phone rally for Mike Carey, the Republican candidate for Ohio’s 15th district. The rally was open to anyone to call in, but was announced only within an hour or so of its start. “He’s been really successful at everything he’s done,” Trump said of Carey on the call. Carey was on the call and thanked Trump.

At 8 p.m. Eastern, Trump held a phone rally for Youngkin, the Republican candidate in the Virginia gubernatorial election. The rally was technically closed to press, but Youngkin did not attend either.

I agree, Micah, and would also add that as long as Trump continues to baselessly blame his 2020 loss on election fraud, he’s going to continue to pressure Republicans to conduct audits and implement voting restrictions.