• NJ-Sen: Former financier Tammy Murphy won the endorsement of Democrats in Middlesex County at their convention on Thursday night, but as the New Jersey Globe's David Wildstein notes, the vote was conducted by a public show of hands and organizers did not record a roll call. The vote was also not binding: Wildstein explains that party rules allow the county's line to be unilaterally bestowed by its chair, Kevin McCabe, who had previously endorsed Murphy.
Two more competitive conventions, however, will take place this weekend in Morris and Atlantic counties. Both will hold secret ballot votes, and the Globe's Joey Fox says that Kim "seems to be favored in both." Gatherings in two smaller counties, Cumberland and Salem, are also set for the coming week.
Once those conclude, that will bring convention season to an end, as the parties in the state's four remaining counties—Camden, Gloucester, Essex, and Hudson—are all "top-down organizations," as Fox puts it, that will simply approve their chairs' earlier endorsements of Murphy.
• OH-Sen: A new survey of Ohio's chaotic Republican primary for Senate from East Carolina University (which occasionally polls outside of its home state of North Carolina) finds state Sen. Matt Dolan leading businessman Bernie Moreno 33-31, with Secretary of State Frank LaRose at 23.
The school also notes that among the 14% of voters who are still undecided, nearly half lean toward Dolan. The poll, however, was concluded shortly before the Associated Press published a story on Thursday about GOP anxieties concerning an online profile seeking "Men for 1-on-1 sex" that was created and authenticated using Moreno's work email. (Moreno's campaign said the profile was a "prank" on the part of an intern.)
ECU's survey also seemingly backs up Democratic beliefs that Moreno would be a more favorable opponent for Sen. Sherrod Brown—something a well-funded Democratic super PAC has been trying to make happen. In tests of general election matchups, Dolan leads Brown 43-41, but the incumbent has a 45-41 edge on Moreno and a similar 45-40 advantage over LaRose. The poll finds Donald Trump beating Joe Biden 48-38.
• WV-Sen: Despite announcing his retirement in November, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin didn't quite rule out running as an independent in comments to CNN's Manu Raju on Thursday. Manchin, however, called the idea (which was reportedly floated by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer) "a long, long, long-shot scenario." While the filing deadline for major-party candidates passed at the end of January, West Virginia gives independents until Aug. 1 to qualify for the general election ballot.
• PA-12: A group called Moderate PAC, which says it supports centrist Democrats, has launched a new ad campaign targeting Rep. Summer Lee, an outspoken progressive who faces a challenge in the April 24 primary from businesswoman Bhavini Patel.
The PAC's TV ad starts by saying Patel will "create jobs and lower costs for families like yours," then turns to attacking Lee. The congresswoman, says the narrator, "has a different agenda—an extreme socialist one. Defunding the police, attacking President Biden." The voiceover continues, "She even voted against raising the debt ceiling, risking America's credit so she can become a media star of the far left."
Moderate PAC tells Politico's Madison Fernandez that it's spending $270,000 to air the ad. Notably, one of the group's biggest funders last cycle was Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, who gave the PAC $1 million in 2022.