“Donald Trump brokered a deal this weekend to clear the North Carolina GOP Senate field for Rep. Ted Budd, the candidate he endorsed in June but who has failed to emerge so far as the clear frontrunner,” Politico reports.

“During a meeting at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, Trump pledged to endorse former GOP Rep. Mark Walker, who is currently in third place in the Senate primary, if Walker leaves the race and runs again for the House instead.”

“Vulnerable House Democrats are convinced they need to talk less about the man who helped them get elected: President Trump,” Axios reports.

“Democrats are privately concerned nationalizing the 2022 mid-terms with emotionally-charged issues — from Critical Race Theory to Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection — will hamstring their ability to sell the local benefits of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.”

“The push by centrist lawmakers, especially from the suburbs, to keep the conversation away from Trump is frequently derailed by the party’s loudest voices — and their insistence to talk about him at every turn.”

“Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue plans to challenge Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the Republican primary next year, according to multiple people with knowledge of his decision, setting up a divisive contest between two of the state’s leading GOP figures ahead of a likely general election matchup with Stacey Abrams,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

“Perdue’s decision is expected to be delivered Monday and comes days after Abrams, an icon to many Democrats, announced she would run for governor for a second time. Perdue has told allies he was motivated to join the race because he fears Kemp can’t defeat the Democrat again.”

Daily Beast: Perdue to spark new GOP civil war by challenging Kemp.

Associated Press: “The Georgia voters who might change their minds are mostly college-educated suburbanites. But Democrats argue most Georgia voters are fixed in their partisan preferences, and the key is getting your side to vote. Abrams and her supporters argue that outreach and a focus on issues will be more important than national headwinds.”

Said Abrams: “What I saw in 2020 and 2021 is that when people are reached out to, when we talk to them and we meet them where they are, they will vote and they will turn out.”