GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, August 23, where it has come to our attention that there are not musicals about Florida. A shame. WHERE THE WIND COMES SWEEPIN' DOWN THE PLAIN — That's Oklahoma, folks. Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is in a runoff election against former state House speaker T.W. Shannon in the GOP primary to fill the seat of Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who is retiring after serving since 1994. The winner of the runoff will face former Rep. Kendra Horn (D-Okla.), Libertarian candidate Robert Murphy and Independent candidate Ray Woods. Of note: Both GOP primary runoff contenders are enrolled citizens of tribal nations. Shannon is Chickasaw and Mullin is Cherokee. If either wins the general election in November, they will become the only current Indigenous member of the Senate. House race: Mullin's Senate bid opened up a race for Oklahoma's 2nd district House seat, where state representative Avery Frix and former state senator Josh Brecheen are in another Republican runoff. The winner will face Democrat Naomi Andrews and Independent Ben Robinson in November. THE SUNSHINE STATE — The new Congressional map in Florida ramped up Republicans' advantage and dialed down competitiveness for many seats across the state. But first, today's primaries will determine who gets a shot in November. Wide open: There are a bunch of open seats in Florida, which will be ones to watch closely. Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch and Stephanie Murphy are stepping down and Val Demmings is making a bid for the Senate, leaving those seats wide open. Murphy's redrawn 7th District is a key target for the GOP to flip, while Demming's 10th district is likely to go Democrat once again. Playing defense: 1st District -- Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is on the defensive against GOP primary challengers Mark Lombardo and Greg Merk. (But Lombardo, a Marine Corps veteran and former FedEx executive, is the only one reporting any spending.) Gaetz is under a federal sex trafficking investigation but GOP insiders in Florida doubt that it will cost him his seat. EXIT INTERVIEWS BEGIN — Retiring Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) sat down with April Ryan from The Grio to talk about his legacy of 29 years in Congress and his background as a civil rights activist and Black Panther Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) did a sweeping interview with CBS about his 48 years of service (plus his new memoir). "The Senate should be the conscience of the nation," he said. "The Senate has become so bitterly divided on things that they shouldn't be divided on. This is not the swamp; this is where democracy can be – and should be." GET OUT, RIGHT NOW — Russia is expected to step up attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine in the coming days and the U.S. Embassy is urging U.S. citizens to "depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so." PONY UP — The Gang of 8 wants in on the Mar-a-Lago documents, Andrew scooped . The group of congressional and intelligence committee leaders has asked the Biden administration for access to the documents that were seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, adding to Congress' interest in the unprecedented national-security investigation. You'll recall that the Senate Intelligence Committee has a similar request with DOJ and ODNI, so the Gang of 8's involvement here could suggest an escalation of sorts. Privately, aides have expressed frustration about the fact that Congress has learned little about the investigation into the former president.
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