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

* Rep. Darrell Issa first retired in 2018, only to launch a successful comeback effort in 2020. Late last week, the California Republican announced that he’s retiring again.

* Speaking of California Republicans, facing a newly redrawn district, Rep. Kevin Kiley announced Friday that he’s running for re-election as an independent, instead of as a GOP incumbent. Kiley added that he “will not have a party affiliation … as an officeholder,” though he’d still have to caucus with one party or the other.

* In Utah, Republican Rep. Burgess Owens also announced his retirement last week, helping the state GOP avoid a member-vs-member primary under Utah’s new district map.

* Early voting began late last week in Virginia, where voters will decide whether to advance a newly redrawn congressional district map that would benefit Democrats. Election Day is April 21.

* On a related note, the day before early voting began in the commonwealth, Barack Obama endorsed the initiative and released a video touting its merits.

* Donald Trump announced last week that he intends to make an endorsement in Texas’ Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff. Though he didn’t say whether he’d back incumbent Sen. John Cornyn or state Attorney General Ken Paxton, the president did add that he’ll be “asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”

* In North Carolina, Nida Allam, a 32-year-old progressive commissioner in Durham County, conceded her Democratic primary race against incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee after a hard-fought primary.

* And while this might seem difficult to believe, Lev Parnas, whose name is probably familiar to Maddow Show viewers, announced last week that he’s launching a Democratic primary campaign in Miami. Parnas joins a growing primary field hoping to take on Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar in the fall.

The post Monday’s Campaign Round-Up, 3.9.26: California’s Issa joins the retirement parade appeared first on MS NOW.

This article was originally published on ms.now