Senate races

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel (R) announced Friday she will run for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R), joining an increasingly crowded field of GOP contenders. 

Handel, who mounted a failed bid for Georgia governor in 2010, said in a statement she was running because the state needs a “conservative Senator with the courage to take on the status quo.”

Handel’s candidacy became likely when one of her close political allies, Rep. Tom Price, announced last week he would not run. 

Three members of Georgia’s congressional delegation — Reps. Jack Kingston, Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun — have already launched Senate campaigns. 

Republican Gabriel Gomez is going up with his first advertisement of the general election cycle on Friday, an introductory spot in which he speaks Spanish and touts his military service, a campaign source confirmed to The Hill.

And Rep. Edward Markey launched a new ad Thursday night, a negative spot that invokes the Newtown shootings to highlight Gomez's positions on gun control.

Ben Jones, a former Georgia Democratic congressman and "Dukes of Hazzard" star, penned an op-ed in The Boston Globe on Thursday hammering his friend and former colleague Rep. Edward Markey (D) for barring him from a fundraiser for his Massachusetts Senate bid.

The South Dakota Republican said she'll make a decision about running for Senate in the next several months. 

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has expanded his lead over Republican Gabriel Gomez in the first few weeks of the Massachusetts special Senate election, according to a new poll sponsored by the League of Conservation Voters, which has endorsed Markey.

The American Future Fund (AFF), a conservative group, is increasing its ad buy backing Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on gun control by $350,000, expanding into the expensive Boston media market.

The NRSC is accusing Senate Democrats of pressuring the IRS to take action against conservative groups.

A second Republican has launched a bid to challenge Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) in 2014, potentially setting up a fight between the establishment and conservative wings of the GOP.

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) is promising he won't let his state party nominate an "anti-civil liberties, pro-corporate welfare" candidate in the race for the Senate.  Read more...

A Tea Party group has endorsed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) due to his outspoken criticism of the IRS' targeting of conservative groups.
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