FOXES AND HENHOUSES — Republicans who tried to overturn the 2020 election in key battlegrounds are running to oversee elections in their states. "The campaigns set up the possibility that politicians who have taken steps to undermine faith in the American democratic system could soon be the ones running it," POLITICO's Zach Montellaro reported. Politicians have launched campaigns in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. The actual power secretaries of state hold ranges from state to state, but all will have a "megaphone and a media platform" in future election cycles. RUN THE NUMBERS — The number of polling places for voters of color in Texas' major counties would decrease under a bill making its way through the state legislature, the Texas Tribune's Alexa Ura, Chris Essig and Madison Dong reported. The Republican-backed proposal to redistribute polling places passed the state Senate but was removed from the bill that passed the House. Now, lawmakers are hammering out the details in a conference committee. "In most cases, the districts that would lose polling places are represented by people of color and have a far higher share of potential voters of color than the districts that would gain voting sites," according to a Tribune analysis. YOU'VE GOT MAIL — Former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken's foes are seeking to undermine her Senate campaign in an open letter sent to Donald Trump. The letter was signed by supporters of Josh Mandel, who is running for Senate for a third time, according to POLITICO's Marc Caputo. Critics say Timken tarnished her pro-Trump record when she did not immediately call out Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), when he voted for impeachment. Timken eventually called on Gonzalez to resign, but her initial move was enough for a group of conservative activists to paint her as "everything that President Trump stood against." The letter was also sent to the NRSC. — Meanwhile, Gonzalez said in a recent virtual forum that embracing Trump is a losing strategy for Republicans in the midterms, NBC News' Henry J. Gomez wrote. Gonzalez also voted in favor of a commission to investigate the Capitol riot. He's drawn two primary challengers — and ire from his state Republican Party — over his resistance to Trump. (The former president has endorsed Republican candidate Max Miller). Ohio will lose a congressional seat in this redistricting cycle, making Gonzalez's political future unclear. GREEN MOUNTAIN SHUFFLE — The Senate's longest-serving member could seek a ninth term next year, according to POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has been in the Senate since the 1970s, and is signaling he's likely to run again next year. Since fellow Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is an independent who caucuses with Democrats, Leahy is the only Democrat ever elected to the Senate from Vermont. Meanwhile, Vermont's very popular GOP Gov. Phil Scott is still considering his plans for 2022, when he's up for reelection. Scott told The Atlantic's Russell Berman he does not have "any interest" in running for the Senate, perhaps because Scott doesn't believe a Republican could win in the deep-blue state. Scott's caveat: "You never close the door on anything." GETTING IN — Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee is facing a primary challenge from the Democratic secretary of state. Nellie Gorbea is the first candidate to formally announce a campaign against McKee, WPRI's Ted Nesi reported. It seems Gorbea didn't intend to make her campaign public Sunday night, as "Gorbea's revamped website was put behind a password less than an hour after 12 News revealed it." McKee is the former lieutenant governor who took over in March when now-Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo joined the Biden administration. Dr. Luis Daniel Muñoz, who ran as an independent in 2018, has said he's running as a Democrat. Other candidates expected to jump in are state Treasurer Seth Magaziner and Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza. NOTABLE FLOATABLES — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) could face a challenge from Republican state House Speaker David Ralston, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell report. Warnock, who won a tight runoff against former Sen. Kelly Loeffler at the beginning of the year, hasn't yet drawn a major Republican challenger. Ralston highlighted his Washington meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and NRSC head Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) last week, but hasn't made a commitment to run. OPPO RESEARCH — Anthony Bouchard, one of eight Republicans challenging Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) next year, announced on Friday that he had impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18. The admission was an attempt to get ahead of a news story, the Casper Star Tribune's Victoria Eavis reported . Bouchard shared the information in a 13-minute Facebook video, and the story appeared a short time later in the U.K. tabloid Daily Mail. Of the Republicans challenging Cheney, Bouchard has been the top fundraiser. BALLOT BLOCKADE — Red-state Republicans are seeking to squash recent success by Democrats to implement liberal policies via ballot proposals. Republicans in 32 states have introduced 144 bills to restrict ballot initiatives processes, The New York Times' Reid J. Epstein and Nick Corasaniti, and nine governors have signed 19 of those bills into law. One notable restriction: South Dakota Republicans passed a law requiring ballot initiative petitions be size 14 font at a minimum, and fit on one piece of paper. The result "will force people gathering signatures for petitions to tote around large pieces of paper, including some that unfold to the size of a beach towel." STAFF SHAKEUP — The NRCC's Mike Thom is moving from battleground director to political director. Thom, who has been leading the committee's redistricting efforts this cycle, has been with the NRCC for three election cycles and previously served in deputy and regional political director roles. The committee's most recent political director, Justin Richards, will serve as an NRCC adviser. POLITICO's Alex Isenstadt has more (for Campaign Pro subscribers). — Ex-Republican Kurt Bardella is advising the DCCC months after he left the Lincoln Project, a Republican PAC opposed to Trump, Fox News' David Rutz reports. Bardella was a senior adviser to the Lincoln Project until the group had a high-profile meltdown, and previously worked for several Republican lawmakers. THE CASH DASH — New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury pulled in nearly $100,000 in donations from House lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Roll Call's Stephanie Akin reports. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries and DCCC chair Sean Patrick Maloney all pitched in to Stansbury's campaign. A Republican hasn't held the seat vacated by Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) since 2009, but the donations are a sign Democrats take the race seriously. Stansbury significantly outraised Republican candidate Mark Moores in the six weeks leading up to the election, we reported last week. THE PROCESS (CONT.) — Elections officials in Wisconsin turned up only 27 cases of potential voter fraud out of the 3.3 million ballots cast last fall, and no charges have been filed against voters, The Associated Press' Scott Bauer reported. More than half of the cases, which were released through a records request, originated in one city where "16 people had registered with their mailing address at a UPS store, rather than their residence as required by law." | 
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