Biden and Trump lock up their nominations
WASHINGTON — President Biden and former President Donald Trump clinched their parties' presidential nominations Tuesday with decisive victories in a slate of lowprofile primaries, setting up a general election rematch that many voters do not want.
The outcomes of contests Georgia, Mississippi, and Washington State were never in doubt. Neither Biden, a Democrat, nor Trump, a Republican, faced major opposition. But their wins Tuesday gave each man the delegate majority he needed to claim his party's nomination at the summertime national conventions.
Not even halfway through the presidential primary calendar, Tuesday marked a crystalizing moment for a nation uneasy with its choices in 2024.
There is no longer any doubt that the fall election will feature a rematch between two flawed and unpopular presidents. At 81, Biden is already the oldest president in US history, while the 77-year-old Trump is a defendant in multiple criminal cases. Their rematch — the first featuring two US presidents since 1912 — will almost certainly deepen the nation’s searing political and cultural divides over the eight-month grind that lies ahead.
In a statement, Biden celebrated his nomination while continuing his assertion that Trump is a threat to democracy.
Trump, Biden said, “is running a campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that threatens the very idea of America.”
On the eve of Tuesday's primaries, Trump acknowledged that Biden would be the Democratic nominee, even as seized on the president's age.
"I assume he’s going to be the candidate," Trump said of Biden on CNBC. “I’m his only opponent other than life, life itself.”
Both candidates dominated Tuesday's primaries in swingstate Georgia, deep-red Mississippi, and Democratic-leaning Washington. Voting was taking place in Hawaii's Republican caucus as well. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Buck’s resignation upends GOP plans in Colorado
DENVER — Republican Representative Ken Buck said Tuesday that he’ll resign next week, narrowing his party’s razor-thin House majority and potentially throwing an obstacle in the way of Representative Lauren Boebert’s effort to succeed him.
Buck, a staunch conservative who already declined to run for reelection as he became increasingly critical of his party’s handling of former president Trump, made his surprise announcement in the middle of the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents.
During an appearance on CNN, Buck lamented that he hadn’t been able to ask a question in the hearing yet even though he is the third-ranking Republican on the committee.
“A lot of this is personal. That’s the problem,” Buck said. “Instead of having decorum — instead of acting in a professional manner — this place has really devolved into this bickering and nonsense,” he said, adding that this was the worst of his nine years in Congress.
Buck’s March 22 departure will trigger a special election to serve the remainder of his term. Under Colorado law, that must happen within 85 to 100 days — or right around the June 25 Republican primary to run in the November race to serve a full term.
Several Republicans are already running to replace him in November, including Boebert, who moved across the state to run for Buck’s more Republicanfriendly seat anchored in Colorado’s eastern plains. But political insiders were noted that Buck’s timing could block Boebert from taking over his seat.
It all depends on the timing of the special election, which must be held between June 15 and June 30. A committee of Colorado Republicans will pick the party’s nominee to serve the remainder of Buck’s current term, and it’s unclear if they would choose the controversial Boebert, who has no previous ties to the district. That Republican nominee would likely easily win the special election in the overwhelmingly conservative district. ASSOCIATED PRESS
GOP group plans $50m campaign to counter Trump
WASHINGTON — A Republican group dedicated to opposing former president Trump is planning to spend $50 million to stop him through a series of homemade testimonial videos of voters who backed him in past elections but say they can no longer support him in 2024.
The group, Republican Voters Against Trump, first emerged in the 2020 campaign and made a return appearance for the 2022 midterm elections. It is run by Sarah Longwell, a leading figure in Never-Trump politics whose focus groups and polling are a staple of centerright podcasts and have made her a go-to figure for political reporters aiming to decipher the motivations behind Trump supporters.
Unlike Democratic organizations that aim to help President Biden by promoting his record in office, Longwell’s group focuses solely on attacking Trump through the voices of his former backers. The Republican Voters Against Trump website features 100 videos, from one to three minutes long, of Republicans speaking to a computer or mobile-phone camera about why they voted for Trump in 2016 or 2020 and will not do so in 2024.
The personal testimonial style, Longwell said, has proved to be far more successful in her focus groups at cleaving Trump voters away from him than traditional attack advertising that contrasts Trump with Biden.
Notably, the speakers in the videos do not praise Biden or offer a case for why he deserves a second term. Nor do any of the initial testimonials address abortion rights — the issue that has powered Democratic electoral victories since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022.
“It’s really important to understand you’re not building a pro-Joe Biden coalition,” Longwell said. “You’re building an anti-Trump coalition.”
NEW YORK TIMES
Aaron Rodgers, Ventura eyed for Kennedy running mate
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has recently approached NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former Minnesota governor and wrestler Jesse Ventura about serving as his running mate on an independent presidential ticket, and both have welcomed the overtures, two people familiar with the discussions said.
Kennedy confirmed Tuesday the two men were at the top of his list. Kennedy is still considering a short list of potential candidates, the people familiar with the discussions said.
Kennedy said that he had been speaking with Rodgers “pretty continuously” for the past month, and that he had been in touch with Ventura since the former governor introduced him at a campaign event last month in Arizona.
A representative for Rodgers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ventura could not immediately be reached for comment.
The involvement of Rodgers — who is expected to start for the New York Jets this fall, at the height of campaign season — or of Ventura could add star power and independent zeal to Kennedy’s outsider bid.
Polls show Kennedy pulling roughly equal numbers of votes away from both President Biden and former president Trump — but Democrats are far more worried than Republicans that he could tilt a close election to Trump. Biden’s allies have been working to block Kennedy from the ballot across the country.
Kennedy is expected to name his running mate in the coming weeks. NEW YORK TIMES
Biden courts Teamsters with visit to headquarters
WASHINGTON — President Biden courted the support of the powerful International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday, reminding its leaders and members of his record on unions as likely Republican challenger Donald Trump tries to reconnect to the blue-collar workers who helped propel his 2016 victory.
Biden met with the Teamsters at its headquarters and emphasized the administration’s support of unions and his longtime support for the labor movement. Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said after the meeting that Biden has been “great” for workers but stressed that “there’s still a lot of work to be done” to bolster unions.
“There’s always a threat to organized labor, so we want to be proactive and make certain every candidate — not just President Biden — understands how important our issues are,” O’Brien told reporters after meeting with the president.
Biden and the Teamsters discussed topics such as the Butch Lewis Act — a measure now signed into law that shored up pensions for scores of workers — Social Security, and Medicare, while the president vowed to continue to “hold corporations accountable,” said Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren
Hitt.