“Chris Jankowski, the chief executive of Never Back Down, the main super PAC backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, resigned on Wednesday, following the creation of a new outside group supporting Mr. DeSantis and publicly aired infighting among his allies,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Jankowski sent a resignation note to the board of Never Back Down, according to a person briefed on the matter. The resignation was effective immediately.”

“The departure came after days of internal tensions within Never Back Down, which along with the DeSantis campaign has repeatedly pressed the boundaries of what super PACs usually do.”

“A Michigan businessman called Democratic Senate candidate Hill Harper to offer $20 million in campaign contributions if he agreed to drop out and instead mount a primary challenge to Rep. Rashida Tlaib,” Politico reports.

“The source added that Harper declined the alleged Oct. 16 offer from donor Linden Nelson — which would have split the campaign money between $10 million in bundled contributions directly to Harper’s campaign and $10 million in independent expenditures.”

“Trump is essentially an incumbent in this race in the Republican primary. He’s won the nomination the last two times. And you have much more than 50 percent of the voters in a Republican primary in the early states who say they don’t want him—and I think that’s really the story. These national polls are just ridiculous. There’s no reason to pay any attention to them. If he were to lose Iowa, for instance, or lose New Hampshire, those national polls would change in three days.”

— Chris Christie, in an interview with The Dispatch.

Seth Masket: “Nationally, the Republican presidential nomination contest has been stuck in cement for months, with former President Donald Trump holding a basically insurmountable lead. But national measures of state nomination contests can be misleading. The Iowa caucuses — the first contest — are looking more competitive, and two new endorsements just made them more so.”

“Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats announced yesterday that he was endorsing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for president. Just two weeks ago, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds also announced her endorsement of DeSantis.”

“Two years after Nikki Haley vowed not to challenge Donald Trump for the presidential nomination, the former South Carolina governor who served in his administration and once called him a ‘friend’ is becoming the standard-bearer of the movement to knock him out,” Politico reports.

“In recent weeks, Haley has drawn a surge in support from Trump-skeptical Republicans across the GOP, including donors and organizers in early voting states.”

Gerald Seib: “Since the last presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump has complained repeatedly that the political system is ‘rigged’ against him. As the 2024 election season draws near, the system actually does appear to be rigged—in his favor.”

“The current structure of U.S. presidential elections helps the leading Republican presidential contender in significant ways. Thanks in part to years of work by the former president’s campaign and allies, the party’s primary rules and calendar are designed to help a front-runner sew up the nomination quickly. That would be an advantage in any case, but it may matter even more in a year when Trump’s legal troubles in multiple civil and criminal trials could mount as the primary calendar unfolds.”

“In the general election, the Electoral College also tilts decidedly to the benefit of the Republican nominee. That’s because Democrats gather a lot of their national popular-vote totals in just a few heavily populated states, while Republican nominees tend to win in less-populous states that deliver winner-take-all electoral votes in return for far fewer actual votes.”

“The Biden campaign has drawn up a blitz of Thanksgiving Day advertisements in two key battleground states, airing a pair of TV spots during the Detroit Lions-Green Bay Packers NFL game this week,” CNN reports.

“Two ads highlighting President Joe Biden’s economic record will air during Thursday’s game in the Detroit and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, media markets.”