The events will include a nationwide mobilization of surrogates, events targeting groups the campaign sees as crucial to its coalition, like members of the LGBTQ community and college students, and 300 debate night watch parties.

Some of those watch parties will be hosted by social media content creators — to whom the campaign says it will grant access to the post-debate spin room, a place usually reserved for credentialed media.

This pre-debate push will kick off Monday, when the campaign and its allies will host 16 events across a dozen states to mark the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, including events featuring Vice President Kamala Harris in Maryland and Arizona.

The Biden campaign is looking to present the debate as “two distinct visions for the future,” driving a contrast between the presumptive nominees in a razor-thin race less than five months before voters cast ballots.

Voters will see “President Biden, who is fighting for the American people, and Donald Trump, who will walk on stage as a convicted felon fighting for himself no matter how much harm he inflicts on the American people,” said Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler in the memo.

Tyler laid out key issues where Trump “continues to pose the most extreme threat,” pointing to the end of Roe v. Wade, attacks on democracy and economic plans.

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An NBC News poll from April found that a plurality of registered voters — 23% —  said that inflation and the cost of living was the most important issue facing the country. But the same poll found that Trump pulled ahead by 22 points when voters were asked which of the two men would be better at dealing with the issue. 

Biden is spending several days at Camp David preparing for Thursday’s debate, including going toe-to-toe with his personal lawyer Bob Bauer, who is role-playing as Trump. Bauer also played Trump during debate preparation in 2020.

Bauer is joined by a slew of Biden confidants who are working to prepare the president ahead of the debate, including former chief of staff Ron Klain, campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and White House senior adviser Anita Dunn.

Trump has been holding informal policy sessions ahead of the debate. A campaign official also said that Trump’s rallies and interviews demonstrate “elite stamina,” adding that the former president “does not need to be programmed by staff” like Biden.

Polling indicates that the race to the Oval Office is neck and neck, with a Fox News poll from last week showing Biden garnering support from 50% of registered voters, compared to Trump getting 48% support, which is within the poll’s margin of error.

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Trump also endorsed displaying the Ten Commandments in schools and elsewhere while speaking to a group of politically influential evangelical Christians in Washington on Saturday. He drew cheers as he invoked a new law signed in Louisiana this week requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.

“Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal’? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible,” Trump said at the gathering of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.’’

Trump a day earlier posted an endorsement of the new law on his social media network, saying: “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???”

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee backed the move as he seeks to galvanize his supporters on the religious right, which has fiercely backed him after initially being suspicious of the twice-divorced New York City tabloid celebrity when he first ran for president in 2016.

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That support has continued despite his conviction in the first of four criminal cases he faces, in which a jury last month found him guilty of falsifying business records for what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies.

Trump’s stated opposition to signing a nationwide ban on abortion and his reluctance to detail some of his views on the issue are at odds with many members of the evangelical movement, a key part of Trump’s base that’s expected to help him turn out voters in his November rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.

But while many members of the movement would like to see him do more to restrict abortion, they cheer him as the greatest champion for the cause because of his role in appointing U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned national abortion rights in 2022.

Trump highlighted that Saturday, saying, “We did something that was amazing,” but the issue would be left to people to decide in the states.

“Every voter has to go with your heart and do what’s right, but we also have to get elected,” he said.

While he still takes credit for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Trump has also warned abortion can be tricky politically for Republicans. For months, he deferred questions about his position on a national ban.

Last year, when Trump addressed the Faith & Freedom Coalition, he said there was “a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life” but didn’t offer any details beyond that.

In April of this year, Trump said he believed the issue should now be left to the states. He later stated in an interview that he would not sign a nationwide ban on abortion if it was passed by Congress. He has still declined to detail his position on women’s access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

About two-thirds of Americans say abortion should generally be legal, according to polling last year by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Attendees at the evangelical gathering on Saturday said that while they’d like to see a national abortion ban, Trump isn’t losing any of their deep support.

“I would prefer if he would sign a national ban,” said Jerri Dickinson, a 78-year-old retired social worker and Faith & Freedom member from New Jersey. “I understand though, that as in accordance with the Constitution, that decision should be left up to the states.”

Dickinson said she can’t stand the abortion law in her state, which does not set limits on the procedure based on gestational age. But she said outside of preferring a national ban, leaving the issue to the state “is the best alternative.”

According to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate, about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters supported Trump in 2020, and nearly 4 in 10 Trump voters identified as white evangelical Christians. White evangelical Christians made up about 20% of the overall electorate that year.

Beyond just offering their own support in the general election, the Faith & Freedom Coalition plans to help get out the vote for Trump and other Republicans, aiming to use volunteers and paid workers to knock on millions of doors in battleground states.

Trump is also rallying voters in Philadelphia, where supporters were gathering to hear him speak at an arena.

Tyler Cecconi, 25, of Richmond, Virginia, said he’s glad that Trump is stepping out of his comfort zone and going to places that may not be red. At the venue, organizers hung a banner that read “Philadelphia is Trump Country.”

“He’s showing the people that regardless if you vote for him or not, or if it’s a blue county or a red county, it doesn’t matter to him,” Cecconi said. “A president is for everybody in this country.”

The GOP Senate candidate of Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick, attended the rally and appeared on stage to talk to voters about the economy and immigration.

“This economy is not working for most Pennsylvanians and it’s not working for most Americans,” McCormick said.

Earlier in Washington, Trump returned several times during his roughly 90-minute remarks to the subject of the U.S. Mexico border and at one point, when describing migrants crossing it as “tough,” he joked that he told his friend Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to enlist them in a new version of the sport.

“‘Why don’t you set up a migrant league and have your regular league of fighters. And then you have the champion of your league, these are the greatest fighters in the world, fighting the champion of the migrants,’” Trump described saying to White. “I think the migrant guy might win, that’s how tough they are. He didn’t like that idea too much.”

His story drew laughs and claps from the crowd.

Biden’s campaign responded to Trump’s remarks by saying it was “fitting” that Trump, convicted of a felony, spent time at a religious conference making threats about immigration and “bragging about ripping away Americans’ freedoms.”

“Trump’s incoherent, unhinged tirade showed voters in his own words that he is a threat to our freedoms and is too dangerous to be let anywhere near the White House again,” campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.

___

Alexander reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press writers Tom Strong and Amelia Thomson DeVeaux contributed to this report.

Tensions within the Democratic Party about President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war are playing out in a key New York primary race on Tuesday.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman faces Westchester County Executive George Latimer in Tuesday’s highly contentious Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District. This is a safe Democratic district, but it encapsulates the fissures that have emerged within the party.

The race headlines a ballot that includes six primaries for the U.S. House, plus races for state Senate, state Assembly and county district attorney.

The ugly primary in the 16th District has exposed the party’s deep divide over U.S. policy on Israel, with current and former members of the New York congressional delegation sniping at each other and both candidates here seeking to paint the other as out of touch with and unfit for the district.

Bowman, allied with the progressive group of representatives known as the “squad,” represents the left’s opposition to Israel’s conduct during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and to the Biden administration’s support for Israel. Latimer is running on a more centrist, establishment position: His platform affirms Israel’s “rights of existence, stability, self-defense, and peace.”

The race has already seen eyebrow-raising spending in New York City’s expensive media market. The two candidates have spent $3.2 million apiece in the race, according to campaign finance filings. Outside spending has injected an additional $14.4 million into the district, with the United Democracy Project — the super PAC associated with the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee — leading these groups with $11.5 million in support of Latimer.

Bowman has been endorsed by his fellow members of the “squad” and Democratic House leadership. Latimer has been endorsed by former Democratic presidential nominee and Westchester resident Hillary Clinton (though she lives in Chappaqua, which falls in the 17th District), local mayors and council members, and multiple Westchester County legislators.

The winner of the Democratic primary of the 16th congressional district is favored to win the seat in November.

In the 1st Congressional District, Democrats Nancy Goroff and John Avlon are competing for the nomination to face Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, who represents a district that Biden narrowly carried in 2020. Goroff previously led the chemistry department and taught at Stony Brook University. In 2020, Goroff was the Democratic nominee and lost to Republican Lee Zeldin.

Avlon is a former CNN anchor who helped create No Labels, a centrist political group. Goroff boosted her fundraising advantage with a $1.2 million personal loan to her campaign. As of their latest filings, Goroff’s campaign had spent $1.7 million on the race while Avlon’s campaign had spent $1.2 million. However, a PAC backing Avlon is spending $1.4 million on the race, according to data from AdImpact.

In the 22nd Congressional District, based in Syracuse, Democratic voters will choose between Air Force Veteran Sarah Klee Hood and former public school teacher John Mannion. Klee Hood leads in fundraising and has backing from VoteVets, a progressive group that supports veterans running for office. Mannion represents part of the district – stretching from Syracuse suburbs to Lake Ontario – in the state Senate.

Several Democratic House incumbents are facing under-funded primary challengers in races that are not expected to be competitive. Rep. Claudia Tenney is the only House Republican facing a challenge in Tuesday’s primary, though her challenger, Mike Fratto, trails in fundraising, too.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares faces a rematch of his 2012 race against attorney Lee Kindlon. Soares is running on a tough-on-crime message, while Kindlon, an attorney, accuses the incumbent of financial scandals. Kindlon is spending roughly $9,300 on advertising in the primary, according to data from AdImpact, while Soares is spending $4,000. Soares first won the Albany County District Attorney seat in 2004, and won his last primary election in 2020 with 56%, or 18,674 votes.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

PRIMARY DAY

The primary will be held on Tuesday. Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT

The Associated Press will provide coverage for 46 contested races, including U.S. House, state legislature, and county district attorney.

WHO GETS TO VOTE

New York has a closed primary system, which means that only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. New York registered voters can use THIS TOOL to look up their polling place.

DECISION NOTES

The 16th District includes parts of two counties: northern reaches in Bronx County and southern Westchester County. After redistricting, around 90% of the district’s residents live in Westchester.

These district lines work in favor of Latimer, who has spent more than three decades in state and local government in Westchester. Bowman, who has represented this district since 2021, was elected from a version of this district that included a much larger piece of the Bronx.

Latimer and Bowman have tried to pitch themselves to two different pieces of the Democratic Party base. Bowman has emphasized his support among working-class people of color, who tend to live in denser parts of the district closer to New York City, such as the Bronx, Yonkers (where his campaign is headquartered), Port Chester and Mount Vernon. Latimer, who hails from Rye, has sought to forge connections among suburban voters and the district’s Jewish electorate.

One of the key factors in the primary will be turnout in the Bronx and Yonkers, where Bowman is likely to perform better than in Westchester. One area to look at is Co-Op City, which has more than 47,000 residents and is the largest housing cooperative in the United States.

Latimer’s path to victory runs along the New Haven and Harlem Metro-North train lines, which pass through wealthy suburbs like Pelham Manor, Scarsdale, Larchmont and Rye, among others.

New York is not particularly fast at counting its votes. Additionally, mail ballots can arrive up to a week after election day, provided they are postmarked by election day. Late-arriving ballots could delay a race in a close contest.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

In New York, recounts are automatic if the margin between the winning and losing candidates is within 20 votes or not more than 0.5% of the total vote. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE?

As of Feb. 27, there were 13,108,347 registered voters in New York. Of those, 49% were Democrats and 22% were Republicans.

In the 2022 race for governor, turnout was 7% of registered voters in the Democratic primary and 3% in the Republican primary. About 20% of votes in that election were cast before Election Day.

As of June 18, a total of 44,204 ballots had been cast.

HOW LONG DOES VOTE-COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

In the 2022 Republican primary election, the AP first reported results at 9: 04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 2:51 a.m. ET with about 96% of total votes counted.

REGISTER TO VOTE

In New York you can register to vote online – CLICK HERE for the online registration portal.

The registration deadline for the primary election was June 15, but you can register now to vote in the General Election in November.

Hadley Duvall of Owensboro, Kentucky, first told her story publicly last fall in a campaign ad for the governor’s race in her home state, discussing the consequences of abortion restrictions, particularly those without exceptions for rape or incest.

In the ad supporting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, Duvall spoke of how she was raped by her stepfather at age 12, became pregnant and miscarried. Her stepfather was convicted of rape and is in prison.

In the ad, Duvall called out the anti-abortion Republican candidate by name and said that “anyone who believes there should be no exceptions for rape and incest could never understand what it’s like to stand in my shoes.”

Beshear won reelection, and Democrats have said Duvall’s ad was a strong motivator, particularly for rural, male voters who had previously voted for Republican Donald Trump for president.

Now, Duvall is turning her attention to the White House election.

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She plans to appear with first lady Jill Biden at a Pittsburgh rally on Sunday that is part of President Joe Biden’s push to motivate voters on abortion rights, and Duvall will continue to campaign for the Democratic incumbent. Jill Biden will also hold an event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.

The Supreme Court decided on June 24, 2022 to overturn abortion rights that had been in place since 1973. Since then, roughly half the states have some sort of ban in place, and 10 states have no exceptions for rape or incest. The consequences of these bans go far beyond restricting access for those who wish to end unwanted pregnancies.

“Survivors like me have our childhood taken away from us, and it’s something we are healing from every single day. At the very least, we deserve to have our own choices,” Duvall said in a statement to The Associated Press. “But, because of Donald Trump, right now there are abortion bans across the country with no exceptions for rape or incest. I feel like I owe it to myself and to a lot of little girls to speak up. They can’t speak up and I can — and our lives and futures are at stake in this election.”

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has repeatedly taken credit for the overturning of a federally guaranteed right to abortion. He nominated three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. But he has publicly resisted supporting a national abortion ban.

The Pennsylvania events are part of a larger campaign push around the anniversary of the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. That effort kicked off this week with events by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The campaign is holding more than 35 events across the country, including in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia. The events feature women and doctors who have been deeply impacted by the fall of Roe, including Amanda Zurawski and Kaityln Joshua, who have said abortion restrictions put them in medical peril.

The majority of U.S. adults, including those living in states with the strictest limits on abortion, want it to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

In the two years since Roe’s demise, reproductive health in the U.S. has become increasingly more fraught, and Biden and Democrats are seeking to highlight the growing fallout as a reason to reelect the president.

Women who never intended to end their pregnancies have nearly died because they could not get emergency treatment. Miscarriage care has been delayed. Routine reproductive medical care is drying up in states with strict bans. Fertility treatments were temporarily paused in Alabama.

Duvall is a senior at Midway University in Midway, Kentucky. She has also spoken publicly about a state bill that would provide narrowly tailored exceptions to the state’s abortion law.

The AP does not normally identify sexual assault victims, but Duvall chose to be identified and has spoken out publicly about her experience and its connection to the debate over abortion.

A recent fundraising email sent by a GOP political action committee is an example of how they are framing the order, saying it compels federal agencies “to act as Biden’s personal ‘Get-Out-The-Vote’ machine.”

A Republican-led House committee recently issued subpoenas to agency directors and a group of GOP secretaries of state asked the Supreme Court to take up a case challenging the order.

Despite the pushback on the right, there has been no indication the order favors voters of one party over another.

White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said the administration will continue to protect the voting rights of eligible citizens regardless of political affiliation. Biden issued the order in 2021 as Republican legislatures across the country were debating a wave of state voting restrictions amid the false claims that widespread fraud had cost former President Donald Trump reelection.

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“These are baseless claims brought by the very people who spread debunked lies about the 2020 elections and have used those same debunked lies to advance laws across the nation that make it harder to vote and easier to undermine the will of the people,” Patterson said in a statement.

Here’s a look at what the order does, what federal agencies have done so far to comply with it and what Republicans are saying about it.

Intended to make voting easy

Biden issued the executive order on March 7, 2021, noting the federal government’s “duty to ensure that registering to vote and the act of voting be made simple and easy for all those eligible to do so” and that it would be implemented “consistent with applicable law.” Agency leaders were asked to submit a strategic plan within 200 days.

The order directed updates to the federal website vote.gov, including ensuring that voting information be made available in more than a dozen languages. The site is not engaged in registering voters directly, but instead connects visitors with state and local election offices to begin the registration process.

The order specifically mentions the Department of Defense and asks it to establish procedures to provide active-duty military personnel the opportunity each year to register, update their voter registration information or request an absentee ballot.

It also directs the Department of Justice to provide educational materials about registration and voting to those in federal custody as they prepare to be released, along with information about rules that might prohibit them from voting.

Republicans question approach

A year after the order was issued, congressional Republicans sent a letter to the White House raising concerns that the administration had exceeded its authority and was directing federal agencies to engage in activities beyond their mission.

Republicans said the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service had informed state agencies that the costs of providing voter registration services were allowable administrative expenses under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and could be “reimbursed at the 50 percent level.”

“Using the nation’s multi-billion-dollar nutrition program to implement the Biden Administration’s voter registration scheme is not only a cause for concern, but one that necessitates further scrutiny,” the Republicans wrote.

What the letter didn’t say, according to a former White House official who helped implement the order, is that states administer the food assistance program and that states were specifically directed to provide voter registration information under a federal law passed years ago.

Justin Levitt, who served as a senior policy adviser at the White House, also said the agency was only reiterating previous guidance that those expenses were reimbursable.

A few months later, Republicans sent letters to federal agencies requesting information about their plans to comply with the order. They also included repealing the executive order in a broad elections bill they introduced last year.

Last month, the chairman of the Committee on House Administration sent letters requesting documents related to the order and set a two-week deadline to comply. The chairman, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Bryan Steil, then issued subpoenas. He called the federal order “another attempt by the Biden Administration to tilt the scales ahead of 2024.”

A White House official said the Office of Management and Budget had sent an initial response and other agencies were working on responding to the committee when it issued the subpoenas.

The order requires state buy-in

While federal agencies have not published their proposals, they have announced steps they’ve taken to comply with the order.

Levitt, a lawyer and expert on constitutional law, described the order as groundbreaking but limited in scope. Although federal law allows agencies to help with voter registration, he said military recruitment offices were the only ones doing it before Biden issued the executive order. He also said a federal agency can do this only if a state requests it.

“Most of what the agencies have done is directly what states have asked them to do or clarified the rules to make sure people know what the rules are,” Levitt said.

Kansas and New Mexico designated two Native American colleges run by the U.S. Department of Interior as voter registration agencies. Kentucky and Michigan have said they will designate Veterans Administration offices in their states. Michigan also plans to add offices of the federal Small Business Administration.

Asking the Supreme Court to step in

A group of Republicans, who serve as their state’s top election officials, also has been critical of the order, calling it federal overreach into states’ administration of elections.

West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner sent a letter in May 2022 asking Biden to rescind it and spoke against it when testifying before Congress last year. A few months ago, he issued a statement saying his state would refuse to accept any voter registration forms collected by federal agencies.

“Adding federal agencies to an already complex administrative process will make it even more challenging for election officials to ensure timely and accurate registration services before the election,” he said in a statement in April.

In May, Warner joined eight other GOP secretaries of state to file a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to take a case challenging the order. The others were from Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Wyoming.

The court rebuffed a plea to take up and decide the case by the end of June, and won’t consider it for the first time until the justices’ first private conference in early fall. In the unlikely event the court agrees to hear the case, arguments wouldn’t take place before early next year.

‘Innocuous as an order gets’

Republicans who oppose the executive order have labeled it “Bidenbucks,” an apparent reference to the controversy that erupted after the 2020 election when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg provided more than $350 million to a nonprofit that was later distributed to election offices. Republicans have claimed the “Zuckerbucks” effort was an attempt to benefit Democrats.

David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said the timing of the ramped-up criticism — years after Biden issued the executive order and just months before the presidential election — is noteworthy.

“It’s being portrayed as some deep-state power grab, when in reality it’s an effort to ensure that eligible citizens who are engaging with the federal government can easily register or have their registration updated,” Becker said. “It is as innocuous as an order gets.”

He said an important benefit of the federal order is that voters already registered are provided opportunities to update their information. That ensures more accurate voter rolls, something Republicans have said is needed.

“It’s good for election integrity. It’s good for participation,” Becker said. “This didn’t used to be controversial.”

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

This month’s presidential debate will be historic in that it was not organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a bipartisan organization that has managed the presidential debates since the 1988 presidential election.

Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming 2024 presidential debate:

When is the first presidential debate?

The first presidential debate will take place on June 27 at 9 p.m. EST.

How to watch the first presidential debate?

The first presidential debate will air on CNN and be streamed on Max.

Will there be an audience at the first presidential debate?

The first presidential debate will take place in CNN’s Atlanta studios and will not feature an audience.

“To ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate, no audience will be present,” CNN said in a press release.

Who will moderate the first presidential debate?

The first presidential debate will be moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

Why is the first presidential debate in June?

Traditionally, presidential debates have taken place in the fall, with three debates scheduled between September and October.

But this year, the Trump and Biden campaigns decided to hold a debate earlier in the election cycle to get it in before early and mail-in voting begins.

The debate is being organized by CNN, which sent out invitations to Trump and Biden. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has failed to qualify for the debate after not meeting CNN’s requirements for who could attend. The move excluded the Commission for Presidential Debates, which had scheduled three debates in the fall.

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Is the presidential debate mandatory?

No. There is nothing in the Constitution that mentions presidential debates and Congress has not passed a law requiring them. However, debates have become a traditional part of modern American politics.

Will there be a second presidential debate?

Trump and Biden have both agreed to do a second presidential debate on Sept. 10, which will be hosted by ABC News.

“The next president is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees — two more,” Biden said at a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles, adding that Trump had already appointed two justices who are “very negative in terms of the rights of individuals.”

“I think it is one of the scariest parts,” Biden said.

Biden’s comments came at a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles where he appeared alongside former President Barack Obama, actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts and comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

At the fundraising event, the president participated in a discussion with Kimmel and Obama that touched on several policy issues. Kimmel noted that almost two years ago, conservative justices appointed by Trump played a pivotal role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion access.

“These threats to abortion rights, to women’s rights, to even to birth control and IVF are not in our liberal imaginations anymore,” Kimmel said.

“They’re very real, and these decisions, these very personal, intimate decisions, are now being made by nine unelected judges — one of whom flies his flag upside down. One of the others drives around in a $267,000 gift on vacations,” the comedian added, referring to controversies surrounding conservative Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who came under scrutiny for previously undisclosed trips given by a GOP megadonor.

“And I think we are all wondering, what can we do about this?” Kimmel asked.

“Elect me again,” Biden said, adding that the Supreme Court “has never been as out of kilter as it is today” and that Trump would “appoint two more flying flags upside down.” That was in reference to reports that an upside-down flag was flown outside of Alito’s home in early 2021.

Some Trump supporters who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had flown upside-down American flag during the attack, which was prompted by the then-president’s baseless claims of a rigged 2020 election and his refusal to concede.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he would not probe Alito for the reported upside-down flag, but urged the conservative justice to step aside from two pending cases involving Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Alito declined to recuse himself after he came under fire over the upside-down flag at his home and another controversial flag reportedly flown at a second property. In letters to members of Congress last month, Alito maintained that it was his wife who had decided to raise the contentious flags.

Chief Justice John Roberts also rejected a request to meet with Democratic senators to discuss Supreme Court ethics in light of the flag controversy.

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As is tradition, polls opened 10 days before Election Day for an 8-day period of early voting. New Yorkers can pop over to their polling sites to cast their vote in a number of races, including congressional and state legislative races.

Here’s what to know before you head to the polls:

Where do I vote?

New York registered voters can use THIS TOOL to look up their polling place.

Early voting in New York City runs from June 15 until June 23, leaving a one day break before the primary on June 25. Polling locations typically differ between early voting and Election Day. Make sure to double check your site beforehand.

Hours differ as well. Throughout early voting, polls will be open on the weekend from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. But during weekdays, polling times shift significantly from day to day. Check hours here.

Because New York uses a closed primary, only registered party members can cast their ballot. The deadline to change party affiliation was back on Feb. 14.

Since COVID-19, New York has made it so everyone in the state can request an absentee ballot. The deadline to make an online request for an absentee ballot application by letter, telefax, or through the absentee request portal falls on June 15, the first day of early voting.

That’s also the same deadline to register to vote.

If you need a little more time to request an early mail or absentee ballot, voters can still apply in-person through June 24. Here’s the full list of election deadlines to know.

What’s on my ballot?

U.S. Congress

The balance of power is up for grabs once again with all House of Representatives seat on the ballot this November.

In New York City, there are three (District 10, 14, & 16) congressional primaries. The most competitive race may be in 16, where incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman is facing off against Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

State Assembly

The state Assembly has an interesting slate for the 2024 primary. For the 17 districts on the ballot across New York City, only one has a showdown between Republicans; the other 16 are between Democrats.

State Senate

There’s a bit less excitement in the other chamber, at least for city voters. Two Democrats are facing off in District 59 (Queens). Learn more about the candidates here.

What if I’m not registered to vote?

In New York you can register to vote online – CLICK HERE for the online registration portal.

The registration deadline for the primary election is June 15, but you can register now to vote in the General Election in November.

The war between Israel and Hamas is roiling a congressional primary election between two Democrats in New York, reflecting a divide that has splintered the party nationally since the conflict began last year.

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, one of several House liberals who have questioned the Biden administration’s vigorous support for Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on civilians in southern Israel, is facing a tough challenge from centrist George Latimer, a top county official who entered the race with the backing of Jewish leaders in a mostly suburban district north of New York City.

Bowman, a former middle school principal seeking his third term, has been one of the House’s most critical voices on Israel. While he condemned Hamas’ attack, he has said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. He was also among a few members of Congress who opposed a symbolic resolution to support Israel following the Oct. 7 attack because it didn’t urge a cease-fire or push to protect Palestinian civilians.

Latimer, 70, has been a political fixture in the district for more than three decades and serves as the Westchester county executive after holding posts as a local and state legislator. He said Bowman’s rhetoric on Israel was just part of the reason he hopped into the race. A bigger reason, he said, was that people want a more moderate, pragmatic representative than Bowman, who has sometimes been accused of being more concerned with his national profile than the district’s problems.

In a year when congressional races in New York are expected to play a pivotal role in determining who controls the House, this seat, which includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester, is expected to stay in Democratic hands regardless of who wins the June 25 primary.

Still, the result could give Democrats clues on how to frame their message in November, particularly on the war, and signal how crucial suburban districts might vote in the fall.

In an interview, Bowman defended his position on Israel.

“The same way there’s no way I can support or condone the horrible attacks of October 7th, there’s no way I can support or condone the genocide that’s happening in Gaza right now,” Bowman said. “So we’ve got to speak even louder in the U.S. because Israel is supposed to be an ally, and they’re not following international law.”

That stance has put him at odds with much of the Democratic establishment and has resulted in a campaign to unseat him from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major lobbying organization that is working to oust progressives who have criticized Israel.

Bowman said the group is trying to “buy this race.”

“They’re leveraging all of their resources to try to silence me or bully me and intimidate me into doing what they want me to do,” he said.

Bowman won office as a liberal insurgent in 2020, defeating U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, who had served 16 terms and was chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Bowman’s stance on Israel and Palestinians had been a minor issue in that race, too. Engel, who is Jewish, was a strong backer of Israel.

But Bowman, who is Black, proved to be the candidate of the moment in an election year that featured major protests against racial injustice in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. His victory came just two years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shocking upset in a nearby congressional district over U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley, who at the time was the No. 4 Democrat in the House.

In a potentially telling signal of where the Democratic Party is this year, former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive Democrat who entered Congress the same year as Bowman and served one term, recently chose to endorse Latimer in the race.

“I’m making this endorsement to stand up for my Jewish constituents, because Representative Bowman and I have very different views on Israel,” said Jones, who is trying to regain a seat in Congress after he lost his old district in a redrawing of congressional boundary lines. “It is really clear that Mr. Bowman is focused on doing his thing and, I would submit, not enough on how it is impacting the environment here in the Hudson Valley.”

The strategy largely mirrors the Democrats’ political plans for New York’s congressional races this year. The party has tried to move toward the center to attract suburban voters who are typically more moderate.

Latimer, who has scored the endorsement of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, is happy to rattle off the names of local officials with whom he’s worked and dive into the minutia of day-to-day governing — handling potholes, restoring a lighthouse and taking meetings about an issue at the local airport.

“If I go to Washington, I’m not going down there to be part of the verbal food fight. I’m going to try to figure out how to be a productive congressman that gets what results you can get,” Latimer said in an interview.

Both candidates have supported a two-state solution and say they want peace in the region. But where Bowman is pointed on Israel’s actions and wants a cease-fire, Latimer is clear in his support for Israel and said negotiating with Hamas is a nonstarter — though he said he won’t give Israel “a blank check” on everything it does.

“I clearly support that there be a two-state solution and that we negotiate for peace,” he said, but, “don’t tell me, ‘Cease fire now. Sit down, and let’s negotiate,’ when the guy I’m negotiating with in Hamas is a terrorist organization that’s committed to my destruction.”

Bowman, aside from his views on Israel, raised his profile nationally when he triggered a fire alarm in a House office building as lawmakers were working on a funding bill last year. He said it was a mistake as he tried to open a locked door while rushing to vote, though House colleagues later censured him for it.

Bowman said the fire alarm “comes up once every 200 conversations” when he’s back home, mostly when “older moms in the district, older Black women literally slap me on the wrist and say, ‘Stay out of trouble up there.’”

Jimmy Hickey, a 60-year-old who lives in the district and works as a concierge at a co-op building, brought up the fire alarm unprompted when an Associated Press reporter asked about the primary — “that’s childish,” he said. Hickey said he’s a registered Democrat but thinks the party has moved too far to the left.

“A guy like Latimer, he’s still moderate,” Hickey said. “He gets into Congress, he can work with people, get things done. The other guy, I don’t think so.”

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday recognized that the price of insulin is lower under President Joe Biden, but he still wants voters to credit his own administration.

“Low INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “It was all done long before he so sadly entered office. All he does is try to take credit for things done by others, in this case, ME!”

The comment comes as Trump lags Biden on the issue of health care, a top voter priority as the November election nears.

For example, a May survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found Biden with an 11-point lead over Trump on the question of ensuring access to affordable health insurance.

Biden led on several other health-care-related topics in the poll, though the candidates were relatively split on addressing high health-care costs. The poll surveyed 1,479 U.S. adults from April 23 to May 1 and the margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

The two candidates are expected to have their first face-to-face presidential debate on June 27.

Insulin price caps have become a central piece of evidence for Biden’s broader economic argument on the campaign trail against Trump.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden issued a host of provisions aimed at bringing down the price of medicine for seniors, including capping the price of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare recipients. The president has continued to push for a more universal insulin cap that would cover younger people as well.

“Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month!” Biden said at his State of the Union address in March. “And now I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it!”

The Democratic incumbent is trying to use lower insulin costs as proof that he has helped lower consumer costs despite the stubbornly high levels of inflation that have loomed over the U.S. economy’s post-pandemic recovery.

For Trump’s part, the former president signed an executive order in the last year of his administration requiring federal community health centers to pass on insulin discounts to customers, his own effort to lower insulin prices. Biden later paused that policy when he took office as part of a larger freeze to allow his administration to review new regulations set to go into effect.

But the memory of Trump-era health-care policies has still dimmed some voters’ views on the track record of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. A CNBC All-America Economic survey issued in December found that Biden was ahead by 19 points against Trump on health care.

Trump unsuccessfully spent most of his presidential term trying to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Care Act without offering a viable alternative health-care option. The ACA provides roughly 45 million Americans wit health insurance, according to a March estimate from the White House.

Trump has doubled down on the promise to replace Obamacare on the 2024 campaign trail, though he has still not outlined what that replacement would look like.

“I’m not running to terminate the ACA as Crooked Joe Biden says all over the place,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social account in April. “We’re going to make the ACA much better than it is right now and much less expensive for you.”

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Trump signed an executive order in the last year of his administration requiring federal community health centers to pass on insulin discounts to customers. A previous version mischaracterized his action.

Southern New Jersey developer Curtis Bashaw’s Senate nomination over Donald Trump’s preferred candidate in Tuesday’s GOP primary and the possibility that embattled Sen. Bob Menendez’s independent campaign could split Democrats have fueled fresh GOP hopes that they can put a reliably blue New Jersey Senate seat in play this fall.

It’s a fight national Democrats weren’t anticipating, but it’s one they’ll have to win if they hope to maintain control of the closely divided U.S. Senate.

Bashaw, 64, a hotel developer and political newcomer who lives with his husband in the Victorian resort town of Cape May, appears poised to shift away from the right-tilting politics of the GOP primary in a state where Republicans haven’t won an election for the Senate in 52 years. He defeated Trump-endorsed Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner on Tuesday and will face Democratic Rep. Andy Kim in the general election.

Kim, who has shown a knack for holding his own in the rough-and-tumble world of New Jersey politics, easily won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primaries. Menendez, a longtime Democrat, filed to run as an independent in the fall but is currently in New York federal court on corruption charges. He’s pleaded not guilty.

Democrats can hardly afford a close — or expensive — contest in a state they had long assumed was safe.

The Republicans are hoping Bashaw is the candidate who’ll break through the Democratic wall. GOP state Sen. Mike Testa backed Bashaw in the primary, citing his background as a businessman and political outsider and saying he was the only candidate who could win in November.

Bashaw has other upsides for the GOP: He poured nearly $1 million into his own campaign so far, according to Federal Election Commission records, and while he backs Trump, he drew a distinction between Trump’s effort to win back the White House and his Senate campaign in New Jersey. Republicans lost ground there during Trump’s one term in the White House, at one point holding just a single seat in the state’s 12-district congressional delegation.

“There are different missions. We’re on the same team,” Bashaw said of his and Trump’s campaigns. ”New Jerseyans want a hopeful, positive message from somebody that’s done stuff. And I think that’s why our campaign resonates. And I think that’s why Republicans have a shot, for the first time in 50 years, to take back a seat.”

Kim has emerged as a formidable political power in the state’s dominant party.

Returning to his home state in 2018 after serving as a national security official in the Obama administration, Kim defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018, then won again in the GOP-leaning district two years later. He was reelected in a newly drawn district in 2022.

His Senate campaign was borne out of the September indictment against Menendez, which alleged that he and his wife took gold bars and cash in exchange for helping businessmen get lucrative deals with foreign countries. The day after the indictment, Kim said he’d challenge Menendez for the Democratic primary and called for his resignation.

Decision 2024 Jun 4

NJ Democrats, Republicans picking Senate, House candidates amid Menendez corruption trial

New Jersey Jun 3

Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez files for re-election as an independent

Kim’s campaign met resistance when first lady Tammy Murphy entered the race and locked up party establishment support. That sparked a lawsuit from Kim and others aiming to topple the state’s unique primary ballot, which gave preferential positioning to candidates with party boss support.

In an unforeseen turn, a federal judge sided with Kim and put a hold on the so-called county line system. Murphy left the race, saying she didn’t want to engage in a savage primary fight with a fellow Democrat. In the meantime, Kim had endeared himself to progressives who had fought bitterly against the system for years.

In an interview, Kim said his experience would resonate with voters. He referred to Trump not by name, but by bringing up the former president’s criminal conviction in New York and tethering him to both Menendez and Bashaw.

“I don’t think that any other Democrat in New Jersey would be able to be stronger than we are in terms of being able to step up against Republicans,” Kim said. “Our message right now — standing up against corruption, standing up against broken politics — it’s going to work very strong against Senator Menendez as well as a Senate candidate that backs a convicted felon.”

It’s unclear how Menendez’s trial will play out, let alone how his independent bid could affect the race. Trump’s position as the GOP’s standard-bearer, though, could rally loyal Democrats behind Kim. The former president’s time in the White House coincided with a near-total wipe out of Republicans in House seats in the race. The party has bounced back somewhat from an 11-1 Democratic advantage to 9-3, but Trump is widely viewed as holding back Republicans running for statewide office.

“Trump on the ballot is a bigger problem for Republicans than Menendez on the ballot is for Democrats,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “We’ve seen this pattern of voting in federal elections in New Jersey that has been driven by a significant anti-Trump sentiment.”

A cautionary note for Republicans can be found in knowing they have seen this movie before.

In 2018, Republicans nominated Bob Hugin, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive, who spent millions trying to defeat Menendez.

Menendez was coming off his first federal corruption trial, which ended in a hung jury. Hugin attacked him over the scandal, but Menendez won by double digits.

Kim, a three-term congressman who launched his campaign after charges against Menendez were announced last year, rose to the top in the state’s dominant political party over a relatively short period. A former Obama national security official, he defeated an incumbent Republican in a 2018 House race and won a court ruling that toppled a unique-to-New Jersey system widely viewed as giving political bosses influence on who wins primaries.

“Our win today is a stunning victory for a people-powered movement that mobilized against corruption and stood up to the machine politics of New Jersey,” Kim said in a statement.

politics Jun 4

NJ primary elections 2024: Rob Menendez and Ravi Bhalla square off in 8th district race

Decision 2024 Jun 4

Biden and Trump win Democratic, Republican elections in some of 2024's last primary contests

His victory comes after a bruising start to the primary, when a battle between him and New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy began to take shape. Murphy, a first-time candidate and the spouse of Gov. Phil Murphy, bowed out of the contest, saying she did not want to engage in a negative campaign against a fellow Democrat. On Tuesday, Kim defeated labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and longtime grassroots organizer Lawrence Hamm, who remained on the ballot.

Menendez, a three-term incumbent senator, declined this year to seek re-election as a Democrat but filed Monday in Trenton to run as an independent. He has said he hopes to be cleared of the charges this summer.

Democrats’ tight hold on control of the Senate means they can hardly afford a competitive race in a state widely viewed as safe for the party. It’s unclear how Menendez’s trial will end up and how his candidacy could affect the race. Republicans are eager to exploit his run as a wedge to divide the Democratic vote.

Kim attacked Menendez and sought to link him to former President Donald Trump.

“New Jersey has a choice: the chaos and corruption of Bob Menendez and Donald Trump, or a politics that works for families struggling to get by,” he said Tuesday.

Kim is known as a mild-mannered legislator who gained recognition for helping clean up the Capitol after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Murphy joined the contest later last year and quickly earned support from influential county party leaders, a sign that she would be earning their endorsement and with it the so-called county line — or favorable positioning on the primary ballot.

But Kim and other candidates sued to stop that decades-old practice, which is widely viewed as giving New Jersey party bosses sway over primaries, and a federal judge agreed to halt it.

See results from all New Jersey primaries here

Kim, 41, is a native of southern New Jersey and returned to his home state in 2018 to run for Congress, defeating Republican Tom MacArthur in the 3rd District. A Rhodes Scholar, Kim served in the Obama administration as a national security adviser, working at the departments of State and Defense as well as the National Security Council.

In the Republican Senate contest, Bashaw defeated Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner.

Bashaw centered his campaign in part on ending “one-party monopoly” in New Jersey, where state government is led entirely by Democrats, and on sending a conservative to Washington. It’s unclear whether that message will resonate with general election voters, who have not elected a Republican to the Senate in over five decades. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 1 million in New Jersey.

GOP leaders were optimistic that they had their best hope in years of capturing a Senate seat after incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted for a second time on federal corruption charges. But those hopes dimmed somewhat when Menendez said he would not run as a Democrat, and instead Rep. Andy Kim emerged as a as the party’s likely nominee.

After Menendez filed to run as an independent, the GOP is hopeful that Democratic voters might be divided enough to play to the Republicans’ advantage.

“Republicans have the best opportunity to win this seat in 52 years,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Testa, a Bashaw backer.

Serrano Glassner, whose husband, Michael Glassner, was an early political adviser to Trump, was an early entrant into the race and recently was endorsed by the ex-president at a rally in Wildwood.

Bashaw says he backs Trump but has been less outspoken in his support than Serrano Glassner.

Menendez spoke briefly Monday outside the New York court where his trial is being held, saying he has not changed politically despite running under his own banner instead of seeking the Democratic nomination.

Kim said Tuesday that Menendez’s run is selfish and, “I’m stepping up to restore integrity back into the U.S. Senate.”

Menendez, his wife, and two business associates have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that the senator traded the promise of official acts for gold bars, cash, a luxury vehicle and a mortgage payment. A third business associate has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in the case for prosecutors.

President Joe Biden and Trump, already their parties’ presumptive nominees, both won in New Jersey on Tuesday.

The Democratic Socialists of America backed a protest vote for delegates to the Democratic national convention: Voters had the option of choosing “uncommitted” on delegate ballots, with the slogan “Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now” appearing below.

Jessica Dunlap, a spokesperson for the effort, said the goal was to send a message to Biden over his policies toward the war in Gaza.

A similar effort in Michigan this year yielded two delegates, against 115 for Biden.

New Jersey voters were also picking House candidates, with some of the most closely watched races having some tie to Menendez.

In the 8th District, U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez, the son of Sen. Menendez, won his Democratic primary over Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.

Rob Menendez said Bhalla’s heavy focus on his father showed he was afraid to take on the congressman directly.

Menendez, an attorney and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey commissioner, first won election in northern New Jersey’s 8th District in 2022, succeeding Albio Sires.

He has been a lonely voice of support for his father amid his legal woes.

The 8th District includes parts of Elizabeth, Jersey City and Newark.

And in the 3rd District, Assemblywoman Carol Murphy won the Democratic primary over colleague Herb Conaway.

The race is for the seat being vacated by Kim as he runs for the Senate.

Murphy has served in the state Legislature alongside Conaway since 2018. They both represent the 7th district, in southern New Jersey.

Her win comes despite the influential Burlington County Democratic Party’s endorsement of Conaway.

Trump, appearing on the ballot for the first time since his historic conviction for felony crimes, won primaries in New Mexico, where voters could opt for his rivals who have since dropped out, and Montana and New Jersey, where he was unopposed.

Biden won Democratic primaries in New Mexico, South Dakota, New Jersey, Montana and Washington, D.C.

Republicans in D.C. held a party-run primary in March. South Dakota canceled its GOP presidential primary because Trump was uncontested.

Voters also cast ballots in primary races for federal, state and local offices in those states.

Trump and Biden were both expected to easily prevail in all of Tuesday’s contests as the last major candidates still running. But with many Americans saying in polls that they don’t want a rematch of the 2020 election, Tuesday’s results were watched for voter concerns about their choices as November’s election barrels closer.

Trump’s domination during the GOP primary season has also been shadowed by support from a minority of GOP voters for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who dropped out in March. Tuesday’s contests were the first since Haley said two weeks ago that she would vote for Trump in November.

In New Mexico, where she was still on the ballot, several thousand voters cast ballots for Haley, but she was running below 10% of the vote late Tuesday.

Biden has faced his own ongoing protest vote in recent contests as Democratic voters unhappy with his handling of Israel’s war with Hamas seek to register their disapproval. There are organized campaigns in several states Tuesday to vote for “uncommitted” in the Democratic contests. In New Jersey’s primary, “uncommitted” will be on the ballot in many counties above the phrase, “Justice For Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now!”

More than 35,000 people voted “uncommitted’ in New Jersey as of late Tuesday.

After Tuesday, Democrats have two additional caucuses on June 8, for Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to close out their 2024 primary calendar.

Republicans in D.C. held a party-run primary in March. South Dakota canceled its GOP presidential primary because Trump was uncontested.

Meanwhile, voters on Tuesday also cast ballots in primary races for federal, state and local offices in those states.

Retired Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Montana. Sheehy, who had the backing of Trump and national Republican leaders, will challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in what’s expected to be one of the most competitive races that could decide control of the chamber.

In New Jersey, Rep. Andy Kim won the Democratic nomination for the seat held by scandal-plagued Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez, who is on trial in New York on federal corruption charges. Menendez decided not to run in the primary. He filed paperwork Monday to run in the general election as an independent candidate.

On the Republican side, businessman Curtis Bashaw won, defeating Trump’s pick, Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner.

Herb Conaway defeated four Democrats as they competed in a primary for the state’s 3rd District, which Kim holds and which is expected to stay in Democratic hands in November.

Menendez’s son, first-term Rep. Rob Menendez, overcame a tough primary challenge in New Jersey’s 8th District from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.

In New Mexico, where Democrats hold all three of the state’s U.S. House seats, only one primary was being held in the 1st District. Republicans Louie Sanchez and Steve Jones will compete to take on incumbent Melanie Stansbury in a Democratic-leaning district based in Albuquerque.

In D.C., voters were deciding a primary for the city’s nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House. In Iowa, which kicked off the presidential contests in January with its first-in-the-nation caucuses, voters will pick nominees in primary elections for local races and U.S. House seats, including one that could play a key role in determining control of the House.

Democrats in the Des Moines-area 3rd Congressional District were choosing a nominee to take on a first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, who edged out an incumbent Democrat in 2022.

New Jersey Democrats and Republicans decide their parties’ standard-bearers Tuesday for the Senate amid the federal corruption trial in New York of New Jersey Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez, along with candidates for the presidency and House.

Menendez, a longtime Democrat, filed on Monday to run as an independent. He’s not on the primary ballot. Instead, Democratic voters are deciding between Rep. Andy Kim, labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and longtime grassroots organizer Lawrence Hamm.

On the GOP side, it’s a four-way contest but southern New Jersey hotel developer Curtis Bashaw has gotten significant county party backing, and Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner won former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Polls are open Tuesday, June 4, 2024, until 8 p.m.

While New Jersey hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, the stakes are high in the divided Senate where Democrats have a narrow majority. The GOP is looking at Menendez’s independent run as a potential wedge that could boost their chances in the fall.

Menendez, his wife, and two business associates have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that the senator traded the promise of official acts for gold bars, cash, a luxury vehicle and a mortgage payment. A third business associate has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in the case for prosecutors.

President Joe Biden and Trump are on the ballot as well, both already their parties’ presumptive nominees.

The Democratic Socialists of America are also backing a protest vote for delegates to the national convention against Biden over his handling of the violence in Gaza. Democrats in delegate districts across the state will have the chance to vote for “uncommitted” on delegate ballot.

Jessica Dunlap, a spokesperson for the effort in New Jersey, said the goal is to send a message to Biden about his policies toward those living in Gaza. Appearing under “uncommitted” on the ballot will be the slogan: “Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now.”

A similar effort in Michigan this year yielded the group with two delegates, compared with Biden’s 115 in that state.

New this year for Democrats will be the demise of the so-called county line, the ballot system in which those with party backing got grouped together and those without it were frequently listed in what was known as “ballot Siberia.”

New Jersey May 29

NJ officials ready new look ballots for primary elections

New Jersey Jun 3

Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez files for re-election as an independent

The end of the practice stems from a lawsuit Kim and other Democratic candidates brought in federal court, alleging the system unfairly put a thumb on the scale for those with party connections. A federal judge halted the system for this year’s Democratic primary only, as no Republicans joined the suit.

Practically, the change means that candidates for office will be grouped together, as is done in every other state.

But that won’t go for Republicans — whose county parties that still back candidates have retained the system. State legislative leaders have said they would take up the ballot issue but so far haven’t passed any legislation changing how the state conducts primaries.

Voters will also be picking House candidates. Among the most closely watched districts are those that have some tie to Menendez’s current circumstances. In the 3rd District, which Kim represents and is leaving to pursue the Senate seat, Democratic Assembly colleagues Herb Conaway and Carol Murphy are vying to go to Washington. In northern New Jersey’s 8th District, incumbent Democratic Rep. Rob Menendez — the senator’s son — is seeking reelection against Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who’s tried to tie Rob Menendez to his father.

Voters in New Jersey on Tuesday will choose candidates vying to replace Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who is on trial in federal court in New York on corruption charges and has opted not to run in the state’s Democratic primary.

Menendez, who has held the seat for more than 18 years, has said he would consider running in the general election as an independent if he is acquitted.

Presidential primaries will also be on the ballot, along with primary elections for U.S. House.

The prospect of an open Senate seat has already had cascading effects in the state. The early jockeying between first lady Tammy Murphy, who has since suspended her campaign, and front-runner Rep. Andy Kim led to a ruling that eliminated the party line for at least the primary. The party line is a ballot design specific to New Jersey that displays candidates endorsed by county parties in one column, which opponents argue creates an advantage for party-backed candidates.

With the party line gone, Kim has appeared to consolidate support statewide. He faces labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and activist Lawrence Hamm in the primary.

On the Republican side, the Senate primary is among four candidates: hotelier and leading Republican fundraiser Curtis Bashaw, Navy veteran Albert Harshaw, former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy and Mendham Borough Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner. Serrano Glassner has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

In running for the Senate, Kim is vacating the 3rd Congressional District seat he’s held since 2019. The race to replace him has drawn five Democratic candidates. Kim ousted the Republican incumbent in that district in the 2018 in one of the midterms’ closest races, but the district has since been redrawn post-census to be more favorable for Democrats, so the candidate who emerges from the primary is likely to be favored in the fall.

The other U.S. House race to watch is in the 8th District, where first-term Rep. Rob Menendez, son of the current senator, faces a tough challenge from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla. Bhalla has nearly matched Menendez in fundraising, with $1.625 million to the incumbent’s $1.642 million, in the New York City suburban district.

Trump, a Republican, and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, unofficially sealed their parties’ nominations on March 12. They are both on the ballot on Tuesday and can earn more delegates. For Trump, Tuesday marks the first primaries since he became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes.

New Jersey holds its gubernatorial and state legislative elections in odd years, so there are only federal races in this primary.

Here’s a look at what to expect on primary night:

PRIMARY DAY

The New Jersey state and presidential primaries will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT

The Associated Press will report vote totals for the Democratic presidential primary, as well as 19 contested primaries for U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Trump is running unopposed in the Republican presidential primary so vote totals will not be reported. The Democratic ballot includes Biden, anti-abortion activist Terrisa Bukovinac and, in most counties, an uncommitted option.

WHO GETS TO VOTE

Registered party members may vote only in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may participate in either primary.

DELEGATE ALLOCATION RULES

New Jersey’s 126 pledged Democratic delegates are allocated according to the national party’s standard rules. Twenty-eight at-large delegates are allocated in proportion to the statewide vote, as are 14 PLEO delegates, or “party leaders and elected officials.” The state’s 12 congressional districts have a combined 84 delegates at stake, which are allocated in proportion to the vote results in each district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any statewide delegates, and 15% of the vote in a congressional district to qualify for delegates in that district.

There are 12 delegates at stake in the Republican presidential primary. All delegates will be awarded to the winner of the statewide vote. Most states that hold primaries within 45 days of the national convention agreed that their delegates would not be bound to any particular candidate, per Republican National Committee rules. However, New Jersey chose to keep its delegates bound, prompting the RNC to cut its total delegate count from nearly 50 to just 12.

DECISION NOTES

In the presidential race, the first indications that Biden is winning statewide on a level consistent with the overwhelming margins seen in most other contests held this year may be sufficient to determine the winner.

There is an effort to get Democratic voters to vote for “Uncommitted” to protest Biden’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Uncommitted will be on the ballot across the state except for a portion of Ocean County, where supporters didn’t field enough delegates.

In the 8th Congressional District, the key county to watch will be Hudson. Bhalla is currently the mayor of the county’s fourth-largest municipality, so his margin in that county will be important to his overall performance in the district. The district also includes of Essex and Bergen counties.

In the 3rd Congressional District, most of the votes will come from Burlington County. The district also includes parts of Mercer and Monmouth counties.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

New Jersey allows absentee ballots postmarked by election day to arrive up to six days later, so the number of absentee ballots cast in the primary will not be known until June 10. A close contest in which the number of absentee ballots could impact the outcome could delay a race call.

New Jersey does not have automatic recounts, but candidates and voters may request and pay for them. The cost of the recount is refunded if the outcome changes.

WHAT DO TURNOUT AND ADVANCE VOTE LOOK LIKE

As of May 1, there were 6,549,568 registered voters in New Jersey. Of those, 38% were Democrats and 24% were Republicans.

In the 2022 primary election, turnout was about 7% of registered voters in the Democratic primary and 5% in the Republican primary. In that election, 49% of ballots cast in the Democratic primary and 20% of ballots cast in the Republican primary were cast before election day.

As of May 28, a total of 247,807 people had cast ballots before Election Day. About 77% of these ballots were cast in the Democratic primary and 23% in the Republican primary.

HOW LONG DOES VOTE-COUNTING USUALLY TAKE?

In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 8:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended around 2 a.m. ET with about 90% of total votes counted.

ARE WE THERE YET?

As of Tuesday, there will be 41 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, 76 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and 154 until the November general election.

That’s because Florida defers to other states’ disenfranchisement rules for residents convicted of out-of-state felonies. In Trump’s case, New York law only removes the right to vote for people convicted of felonies when they’re incarcerated. Once they’re out of prison, their rights are automatically restored, even if they’re on parole, per a 2021 law passed by the state’s Democratic legislature.

“If a Floridian’s voting rights are restored in the state of conviction, they are restored under Florida law,” Blair Bowie of the Campaign Legal Center wrote in a post, noting that people without Trump’s legal resources are often confused by Florida’s complex rules.

So as long as Trump isn’t sent to prison, he can vote for himself in Florida in November’s election.

Trump was convicted Thursday of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

A lifelong New Yorker, Trump established residency in Florida in 2019, while he was in the White House.

Even if he is elected president again, Trump will not be able to pardon himself of state charges in New York. The president’s pardon power applies only to federal crimes.

The conviction, and even imprisonment, would not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House. The Republican National Convention, which will open four days after his July 11 sentencing date in New York, adopted rules last year that didn’t include any specific provisions if its presumptive nominee is convicted of a crime.

Delegates could move to change their rules before formalizing Trump’s nomination, but there’s no evidence that a significant faction of the party would try to replace the former president on the GOP ticket. Trump commands loyalty across the GOP base, and the Republican National Committee is run by his loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair.

Another prominent Texas Republican, state House Speaker Dade Phelan, also edged out a challenger from the right who was backed by President Donald Trump.

Both won by razor-thin margins, reflecting the anger of hard-line conservatives and a wave of party turbulence in America’s biggest red state over votes that bucked party lines and the impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Gonzales defeated Brandon Herrera, a gun enthusiast who calls himself “The AK Guy” on social media and attacked him over positions that angered the GOP’s hard right in Texas. Supporters of Gonzales had warned that a loss in Tuesday’s election could open the door for Democrats to flip the district in November.

During the campaign Herrera attacked the two-term Republican over his support for a gun-safety bill after the 2022 Uvalde school shooting — which happened in Gonzales’ district — and past criticism of hard-line immigration proposals.

Gonzales will face Democrat Santos Limon in the November general election.

Gonzales, whose critics cast him as a moderate within the GOP, called some of his hard-right colleagues in Congress “scumbags” during an interview with CNN in April.

He was censured by the Republican Party of Texas in 2023 over his support for same-sex marriage protections at the federal level and the bipartisan gun-safety bill following the Uvalde mass shooting.

But Gonzales drew support from top Republicans — including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — at a time when the party holds a thin majority in the House. Speaker Mike Johnson attended a fundraiser for Gonzales, who greatly outraised Herrera.

Herrera is a gun manufacturer who posts videos about weapons and gun rights and has more than 3 million followers on YouTube.

Here’s a look at other key primary runoffs in Texas:

TEXAS HOUSE LEADER PREVAILS — FOR NOW

Phelan, who finished second in March to challenger David Covey, a former local party chairman and oil and gas consultant who was backed by Trump, rallied to scrape out the primary win Tuesday.

Phelan’s victory at least temporarily staved off a push from Paxton and others to force him out of his leadership role in the state’s dominant party. But a shakeup in the Texas Capitol could still lay ahead.

While the win keeps Phelan on the general election ballot in his southeast Texas district, the bruising primary fight leaves questions about his ability to retain the speakership.

At his election night party, Phelan declared victory in what he called “a terrible, awful, knockdown, drag-out” fight and told supporters he will remain speaker.

“I think this runoff did me a favor,” Phelan said. “It let my voters know what my real record is.”

The race was a snapshot of fractures within the GOP nationally. Phelan, who has been speaker since 2021, came under fire after his chamber voted last year to impeach Paxton on bribery and corruption charges. Paxton was later acquitted in the state Senate.

Phelan presided over votes that enacted some of the toughest anti-abortion laws in the country, vastly expanded gun rights, supported Abbott’s highly visible anti-immigration platforms and curtailed LGBTQ+ rights.

After Phelan declared victory, Covey and Paxton accused him of attracting Democrats to vote for him in the Republican primary and push him over the top. Texas has an open primary system, meaning voters can cross party lines to vote.

“Dade Phelan may have won this election, but in doing so, he has irrevocably destroyed his already feeble legacy,” Covey said.

TRUMP TIES

Katrina Pierson, a former spokeswoman for Trump, defeated incumbent Justin Holland for his state House seat in the Dallas suburbs.

Holland was among House Republicans who voted to impeach Paxton. He also voted in favor of raising the age for purchasing assault rifles from 18 to 21, and against Abbott’s plan to spend public education money on private schools. Abbott campaigned for Pierson.

CHALLENGING CUELLAR

Republicans picked Jay Furman, a retired Navy veteran, as the nominee to run in November against Henry Cuellar, a longtime Democratic congressman who along with his wife was indicted this spring on federal bribery, money laundering and fraud charges. Cuellar has said he is innocent; three associates have pleaded guilty in related investigations.

Furman defeated rancher and businessman Lazaro Garza in the South Texas district that Cuellar has held since 2005. Both campaigned on tighter border security and immigration restrictions.

There was another Cuellar on the ballot, too: Rosie Cuellar, his sister, was defeated by Cecilia Castellano in the Democratic runoff for a South Texas state House seat. The March primary was held before Henry Cuellar was indicted.

The winner advances to the November general election against Republican Don McLaughlin, who was mayor of Uvalde when the school shooting happened.

GONE GRANGER

Republicans also chose real estate businessman and state House Rep. Craig Goldman over construction company businessman John O’Shea to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, the nation’s longest-serving GOP congresswoman. Goldman will face Democrat Trey Hunt in the heavily-Republican district anchored in Fort Worth.

Granger, 81, was first elected in 1996 and is a former chairwoman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. She announced last year she would not seek re-election.

But as much as the atmospherics have changed around Biden — whether it’s the room he’s in, the ups and downs of the economy or the outbreak of wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East — his preparations for rematch debates with former President Donald Trump promise to be remarkably consistent with his 2020 sessions, NBC News reported.

Trump is reluctant to practice for debates — much less engage in the full mock dry runs familiar to most presidential candidates — according to three people close to him.

“What’s that?” a Trump aide replied with dry humor when asked about Trump’s plans to prepare.

And yet on June 27 — the first time two men who have held the Oval Office meet in a televised presidential debate — they will have four years’ worth of fresh material to battle over. Trump’s primary message is that he is strong and Biden is weak. Biden’s is that he cares about Americans while Trump cares only about himself.

Trump advisers say he doesn’t need formal rehearsals because he spends so much time interacting with voters and the media — at rallies like the one he held in the Bronx, New York, last week, at pop-ins at local eateries, in one-on-one interviews and in near-daily news conferences at the Manhattan courthouse where he’s on trial.

Biden’s “puppet-masters are in full panic trying to figure out how to prop up their feeble candidate,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “In contrast, President Trump is out delivering 90-minute speeches to tens of thousands of supporters and taking on tough interview after tough interview, talking about how we’re going to bring back the great Trump economy and once again secure our borders.”

Both candidates run the risk of making the debate about themselves — or even too much about their records — when persuadable voters will be listening to hear about their plans for the future. That’s a particularly acute peril for Trump, who rarely passes up a chance to falsely assert that he won the last election.

“One of the issues here for him is how much is he talking about 2017 through 2020, his own record, how much is he talking about Joe Biden [and] how much is he talking in a forward-looking way about his own second term?” said a person familiar with his past debate prep sessions. “Time will tell if he is very forward-leaning. I would certainly recommend it.”

Biden advisers say his campaign will lay the groundwork for the first debate through paid ads, media coverage and grassroots communications designed to highlight Trump’s appointment of Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn abortion protections, his embrace of election conspiracy theories and his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat, as well as what they say is an economic agenda that would “make his rich friends richer and jack up costs for the middle class.”

“In the month leading up to that first debate, the Biden-Harris campaign will zero in on Trump’s dangerous campaign promises and unhinged rhetoric,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a memo last week. “We will make sure that the voters who will decide this election are reminded of the chaos and harm Trump caused as president — and why they booted him out four years ago.”

Comparing their presidencies is one lens through which they can be expected to filter battles over the economy, abortion rights, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the federal response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the future of American governance.

The White House and the Biden campaign have yet to finalize the roster of debate-prep participants. But Ron Klain, a former Biden White House chief of staff who keeps a file on every question asked at past presidential debates, will reprise a role he’s played as a prep guru for several Democratic presidential candidates.

A source close to Biden said the list of participants is likely to include White House aides Anita Dunn, Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed; O’Malley Dillon; and campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond. This source also mentioned author Jon Meacham and Michael Sheehan, who coaches Democratic candidates on oratory style, as possible prep helpers.

It is not yet clear whether Biden lawyer Bob Bauer, who played Trump in 2020 practice sessions, will do that again.

Klain and Dunn both declined to comment for this article, citing their desire to keep the entire effort private.

“We’re not going to discuss,” Dunn said in a text message.

To the extent that Trump can be corralled into modified prep sessions, they are likely to be very informal discussions of issues and tactics.

“Conventional preparations are not something that he thinks he needs to do,” said the person familiar with past debate sessions. “Part of it is him wanting to save his best performance for the performance. Part of it is him thinking, ‘I’ve got this.'”

In their first debate in 2020, Trump took criticism — even from some fellow Republicans — for repeatedly interrupting Biden and moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News. Biden laid something of a trap by interjecting in the opening minutes of the debate, which appeared to annoy Trump and goad him into becoming hyper-aggressive.

When Biden pressed him to disown the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group, Trump told them to “stand back and stand by” in the stretch run to the election. He oddly accused Biden of wanting to get rid of cows.

At their second and final debate in Nashville, Tennessee, in October of that year, Trump’s demeanor was more traditional, and the two men fought more over substance than style.

Trump’s inner circle still includes some of the people who helped focus him on the 2020 debates. For example, communications strategist Jason Miller is a senior adviser to his campaign, and Stephen Miller, a top policy adviser in Trump’s White House, remains close to him. But two of Trump’s three senior advisers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, weren’t in top positions the last time around.

Gone from the debate-prep crowd are then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; Bill Stepien, who was Trump’s 2020 campaign manager; and Hope Hicks, a longtime Trump aide who isn’t working on the campaign.

It’s not clear how much debates affect the outcomes of presidential elections that involve billions of dollars in advertising by campaigns and their allies. But they are rare opportunities for voters to see the candidates side by side, countering each other’s arguments on issues and character.

Trump and Biden have agreed to face each other a second time, on Sept. 10, a schedule Biden proposed that leaves 2½ months between meetings.

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Third parties have rarely been competitive in U.S. presidential elections and the Libertarian candidate four years ago won 1% of the vote. But the party’s decision is getting more attention this year due to the rematch between Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden, which could hinge again on small vote margins in a handful of contested states.

“We did it! I am officially the presidential nominee,” Oliver posted Sunday on X, formerly Twitter. “It’s time to unify and move forward for liberty.”

Trump appeared Saturday night in Washington at the convention to give a speech that was repeatedly booed by many in the room. It did not pay off with the endorsement he requested, though his Republican allies on Sunday praised him for choosing to go before an unfriendly crowd.

Kennedy got a friendlier reception when he spoke on Friday and attacked both Trump and Biden for how they addressed the COVID-19 pandemic. He had talked up his support for the Libertarians and an endorsement could have helped him expedite the process of gaining ballot access in all 50 states, perhaps the biggest hurdle he faces in qualifying for the first presidential debate in June hosted by CNN.

Libertarians prioritize small government and individual freedoms, with a mix of policy positions that could be seen as liberal, conservative or neither.

Oliver is an activist from Atlanta who previously ran for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House from Georgia. His campaign website calls for major cuts to the federal budget with an eye toward balancing the budget, the abolition of the death penalty, and the closure of all overseas military bases and ending of military support to Israel and Ukraine.

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When he took the stage, many on-hand jeered while some supporters clad in “Make America Great” hats and T-shirts cheered and chanted “USA! USA!” Though the audience was divided, it was a rare moment of Trump coming face-to-face with detractors, which is highly unusual for someone accustomed to staging rallies in front of ever-adoring crowds.

Libertarians, who prioritize small government and individual freedoms, are often skeptical of the former president, and his invitation to address the convention has divided the party. Trump tried to make light of that, referring to the four criminal indictments against him, the former president smiled and said, “If I wasn’t one before I sure as hell am a Libertarian now.”

Trump expressed gratitude to the “fierce champions of freedom in this room” and called President Joe Biden a “tyrant” and the “worst president in the history of the United States,” prompting some in the audience to scream back in response: “That’s you.”

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As the insults continued Trump hit back, saying “you don’t want to win” and suggesting that some Libertarians want to “keep getting your 3% every four years.”

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won about 3% of the national vote in 2016, but nominee Jo Jorgensen got only a bit more than 1% during 2020’s close contest.

Libertarians will pick their White House nominee during the gathering, which wraps on Sunday. Trump’s appearance was meant to court voters who might otherwise support independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who gave his own Libertarian convention speech on Friday.

Polls have shown for months that most voters do not want a 2020 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden. That dynamic could potentially boost support for an alternative like the Libertarian nominee or Kennedy, whose candidacy has allies of Biden and Trump concerned that he could be a spoiler.

Trump continued to press on with his speech, saying he’d come “to extend a hand of friendship” in common opposition to Biden. That prompted a chant of “We want Trump!” from supporters, but they were drowned out by boos and chants of “End the Fed!” — a common refrain from Libertarians who oppose the Federal Reserve.

Trump tried to win over the crowd by pledging to include a Libertarian in his Cabinet, but that drew mostly jeers. He did get a big cheer when he promised to commute the life sentence of the convicted founder of the drug-selling website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and potentially release him on time served.

That was designed to energize Libertarian activists who believe government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road, and who generally oppose criminal drug policies more broadly. Ulbricht’s case was much-discussed during the Libertarian convention, and many of the hundreds in the crowd for Trump’s speech hoisted “Free Ross” signs and chanted “Free Ross!” as he spoke.

Despite those promises, many in the crowd remained antagonistic. One of the candidates vying for the Libertarian presidential nomination, Michael Rectenwald, declared from the stage before the former president arrived that “none of us are great fans of Donald Trump.” After his speech, Rectenwald and other Libertarian White House hopefuls took the stage to scoff at Trump and his speech.

Those for and against Trump even clashed over seating arrangements. About two hours before the former president’s arrival, Libertarian organizers asked Trump supporters in the crowd to vacate the first four rows. They wanted convention delegates — many of whom said they’d traveled from around the country and bought expensive tickets to the proceedings — could sit close enough to hear the speech.

Many of the original seat occupants moved, but organizers eventually brought in more seats to calm things down.

The Libertarian split over Trump was reflected by Peter Goettler, president and chief executive of the libertarian Cato Institute, who suggested in a Washington Post column that the former president’s appearance violated the gathering’s core values and that “the political party pretending to be libertarian has transitioned to a different identity.”

Trump’s campaign argued that it was part of an ongoing effort to reach would-be supporters in places that are not heavily Republican, like the former president’s rally Thursday in the Bronx during a pause in his New York hush money trial.

The Libertarian ticket will try to draw support from disaffected Republicans as well as people on the left. Such voters could also gravitate toward Kennedy.

Trump didn’t dwell on Kennedy on Saturday night. But, after previously praising him and once considering him for a commission on vaccination safety, the former president has gone on the attack against Kennedy. He suggested on social media that a vote for Kennedy would be a “wasted protest vote” and that he would “even take Biden over Junior.”

The former president, while in office, referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as “one of the greatest miracles in the history of modern-day medicine.” He’s since accused Kennedy of being a “fake” opponent of vaccines.

In his speech at the Libertarian convention, Kennedy accused Trump and Biden of trampling on personal liberties in response to the pandemic. Trump bowed to pressure from public health officials and shut down businesses, Kennedy said, while Biden was wrong to mandate vaccines for millions of workers.

For his part, Biden has promoted winning the endorsement of many high-profile members of the Kennedy family, in an attempt to marginalize their relative’s candidacy.

Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for Biden’s reelection campaign, slammed Trump and top Republicans for opposing access to abortion and supporting limits on civil society, saying in a statement Saturday, that “freedom isn’t free in Trump’s Republican Party and this weekend will be just one more reminder of that.”

Used for the first time in 2022, the changes helped propel the first Alaska Native to a seat in Congress. They could be short-lived.

Opponents of ranked voting want to repeal it and are entangled in a legal fight over whether their initiative will be able to remain on Alaska’s November ballot. It’s just one example this year of an intensifying fight over a more expansive way for voters to choose candidates, driven in part by deep dissatisfaction with the status quo and opposition from political parties and partisan groups that fear losing power.

Voters in at least two states — Democratic-leaning Oregon and Nevada — will decide this fall whether to institute new election processes that include ranked voting. In deeply conservative Idaho, groups are pushing for a November ballot initiative that would overturn a ban on ranked voting passed last year by the Republican-led legislature. Measures proposing ranked voting, also referred to as ranked-choice voting, also are being pursued in Colorado and the District of Columbia.

In Missouri, a measure advanced by the GOP-controlled legislature will ask voters in November whether to ban ranked voting. This follows an unsuccessful citizen attempt in 2022 to get an Alaska-style system before voters. At least nine states have banned ranked voting, and the Louisiana legislature also passed a ban this past week.

The attempts to introduce a new way of electing leaders and the pushback from those with established power are symptoms of dissatisfaction with the nation’s politics and concern over the future of democracy, said AJ Simmons, research director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois Springfield, who has written on the issue.

“We’ve got this group of frustrated, concerned folks that are looking for a solution to problems that they see,” he said. “At least some have landed on this idea of like, ‘Well, is it maybe how we’re choosing our leaders that’s leading to this problem?’”

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Just two states use ranked voting — Maine for state primaries and for federal elections, and Alaska for state and federal general election contests. Many U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and Minneapolis, use ranked voting, while Portland, Oregon, plans to begin using it this fall. A years-old pilot program in Utah allows cities there to conduct ranked-vote local elections.

Supporters see ranked voting as a more inclusive process that gives voters greater choice and reduces negative campaigning because candidates need a coalition of support to be successful.

In Alaska, under ranked voting, ballots are counted in rounds: A candidate can win outright during the first round of counting if they receive more than 50% of the vote. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and then whoever has the most votes wins.

It’s hard to conclude how ranked voting is changing elections because the systems often differ from place to place, making comparisons difficult, Simmons said.

Alaska has a primary system in which the top four vote-getters in a race, regardless of party, advance to a general election where ranked voting is used. The Nevada and Idaho proposals are similar, while Oregon would keep its primaries closed and limit ranked voting to federal and top statewide races, including for governor.

Whether ranked voting is a successful antidote to voter apathy and anger is unclear, but many are open to the idea.

“I believe in the marketplace of ideas, and if there isn’t real competing, the ability for people to really debate, to really get good answers because one side just doesn’t have to pay attention, we suffer as a result. So if ranked voting helps toward that end, great,” said Brett DeLange, an Idaho voter who is a retired deputy attorney general.

While Oregon’s proposal advanced from the Democratic-led legislature, in many instances the party in power doesn’t like ranked voting because of the uncertainty it injects into election outcomes.

Republicans in Idaho, who control the legislature and hold every statewide office, have been attacking the proposed ranked voting citizen initiative there. State Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon called it “a pernicious plot to take away your ability to vote for conservative lawmakers.”

A state lawmaker unsuccessfully tried to derail it by proposing an amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would limit all elections to one round of voting; State Attorney General Raul Labrador lost a lawsuit brought by initiative backers after they said he assigned a biased title to it.

In the District of Columbia, the Democratic Party sued unsuccessfully to stop the proposed ranked voting initiative, claiming in part that it violates the city’s charter that requires top officials to be elected on a partisan basis.

Sondra Cosgrove, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada who supports the ranked voting initiative in her state, has watched Alaska’s system closely. She said many voters feel political parties have too much control and don’t feel like they have a real choice.

“We’ve got some races where there’s like one person, and then we’ve got other races where there’s like 15 people and they’re all screaming crazy things. And my students are like, ‘Why can’t we have something in the middle?’” said Cosgrove, who also is executive director of the civic engagement nonprofit Vote Nevada.

In Alaska, those on both sides of the ranked voting debate cite the success of Democrat Mary Peltola two years ago. She defeated former Gov. Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, both Republicans, in special and regular elections for the state’s sole U.S. House district following the death of Republican Don Young, who had held the seat for 49 years.

Kay Brown, a Democrat, said she was initially skeptical about ranked voting but feels it should be used for at least a few more election cycles so voters can fairly assess it. She said Peltola’s victory was significant.

“I would have to say, I can’t really argue with the results we’ve seen,” Brown said.

Phil Izon, a leader of the effort to repeal ranked voting, said his grandfather’s confusion over how the system works prompted him to begin researching it and then write the repeal initiative, which has been beset with controversy. It’s the subject of a legal challenge aimed at keeping it off the November ballot, with arguments in the case scheduled for Tuesday.

Some people are more likely to vote for just one person, which can cause ballots to be exhausted “prematurely” and lead to “unpredictable results” such as Peltola winning the House seat, said Izon, who said he doesn’t align with a political party.

Amber Lee, an independent and one of the plaintiffs suing to keep the repeal initiative off the ballot, says the ranked voting system is giving voters greater choice.

“I think it’s worth giving this more time,” she said. “We’re not making progress in Alaska … with the way that we were doing things.”

__

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writer Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.

The special session was called for Tuesday.

“Ohio is running out of time to get Joe Biden, the sitting President of the United States, on the ballot this fall. Failing to do so is simply unacceptable. This is ridiculous. This is (an) absurd situation,” DeWine said.

The question of whether Biden will appear on the ballot has become entangled in a partisan legislative fight to keep foreign money out of state ballot campaigns, a year after cash tied to a Swiss billionaire boosted a successful effort to enshrine abortion rights in the solidly red state’s constitution.

The Democratic National Convention, where Biden is to be formally nominated, falls after Ohio’s ballot deadline of Aug. 7. The convention will be held Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

Since Ohio changed its certification deadline from 60 to 90 days ahead of the general election, state lawmakers have had to adjust the requirement twice, in 2012 and 2020, to accommodate candidates of both parties. Each change was only temporary.

This year lawmakers were unable to come up with a fix by the May 9 cutoff set by Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

DeWine said he spoke to LaRose on Thursday and he said we’re “up against a wall.” LaRose told him next Wednesday is the drop-dead deadline.

“I’ve waited. I’ve been patient. And my patience has run out,” DeWine said.

DeWine said his proclamation will allow for passing a Senate version of the bill that also bans foreign nationals from contributing to Ohio ballot measures.

The proposal has been described as a “poison pill” in the fractured Ohio House, where Republicans rely on Democratic votes for pass some legislation.

In a statement, a spokesman for Senate President Matt Huffman encouraged House leadership to allow a vote on House Bill 114.

“We agree with the Governor. It is time to protect Ohio’s elections by outlawing foreign campaign contributions, while at the same time fixing the Democratic Party’s error that kept Joe Biden off the November ballot,” the statement said.

DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said after the governor spoke that a “clean” House bill that would change the ballot deadline on a permanent basis also could be considered.

Ohio House Democratic leader Allison Russo said via the social platform X that money from foreign donors is already illegal and the real issue is dark money going to candidates.

“GOP strategy: change the rules when you can’t win,” Russo said. “They’re terrified when citizens use their voice w/ direct democracy, so now they want to completely upend citizens’ ability to fund ballot initiatives. Any talk of “foreign money” is a red herring.”

State Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters accused GOP lawmakers of politicizing the process and disenfranchising Ohioans.

“We must pass the Ohio Anti-Corruption Act, which would require dark money groups to identify their funders, disclose their spending, and strengthen the ban on foreign money,” Walters said in a statement.

“Meanwhile, Republican politicians who hold supermajorities in both chambers at the statehouse must put politics aside and pass a clean bill to put Joe Biden on the ballot,” she continued. “Despite Republicans’ political gamesmanship, we’re confident Joe Biden will be on the Ohio ballot.”

Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance, who represents Ohio, said in a statement that the calling of a special session is a “reasonable compromise” to keep out foreign money and put both major parties’ nominees on the ballot.

Vance expressed confidence that former President Donald Trump would beat Biden regardless of whether he’s on the ballot, but he said “a lot of Trump voters might sit at home if there isn’t a real presidential race, and that will really hurt our down ballot races for the Senate and Congress. We need to play chess.”

Messages seeking comment were left with state House Speaker Jason Stephens’ spokesperson and the Biden campaign.

Alabama recently changed its law to ensure Biden will appear on fall ballots. The Alabama bill offered accommodations to the president like those made four years ago for then-President Donald Trump.

The last time Ohio lawmakers were ordered back to Columbus in a such a manner was in 2004, under Republican Gov. Bob Taft, to consider campaign finance reform

The rally is scheduled for 6 p.m. Security measures were well underway early Thursday.

The Bronx rally will be Trump’s first event open to the general public as he insists he is making a play to win an overwhelmingly Democratic state that hasn’t backed a Republican for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Besides creating a spectacle of rallygoers and protesters, the rally also allows Trump to highlight what he argues are advantages on economic and immigration issues that could cut into key Democratic voting blocs.

“The strategy is to demonstrate to the voters of the Bronx and New York that this isn’t your typical presidential election, that Donald Trump is here to represent everybody and get our country back on track,” said Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, a potential Trump running mate who grew up in Brooklyn and will join him at the rally.

The Bronx Democratic Party is planning to protest Trump’s appearance with its own event at the park.

“Trump isn’t welcome in the Bronx,” they wrote in a social media advertisement.

A statement from Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson read, “We are a borough of opportunity, diversity, and persevering spirit. We are united by our values and goals, and will not be distracted or divided by shameless political stunts. Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-choice, and anti-working-class messaging doesn’t resonate with Bronxites.”

Trump’s campaign believes he can chip away at President Joe Biden’s support among Black and Hispanic voters, particularly younger men who may not follow politics closely, but are frustrated by their economic situations and drawn to Trump’s tough-guy persona.

He’s also argued the indictments he faces in New York and elsewhere make him relatable to Black voters frustrated by the criminal justice system, a statement that was harshly criticized by Biden’s allies.

The rally comes during a pause in Trump’s criminal hush money trial. Court will resume following the Memorial Day weekend with closing arguments. The jury will then decide whether Trump will become the first former president in the nation’s history to be criminally convicted and whether he will be the first major party presidential candidate to run as a convicted felon.

Several longtime figures in New York politics — both Republican and Democrat — argued there’s good reason for Trump to go to the Bronx and other majority Black and Latino communities.

Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican Party, noted that the GOP, in an upset victory, picked up a city council seat from the borough last year for the first time in 40 years. He pointed to the current political climate, with some voters pessimistic about the economy and viewing Biden as weakened.

“As chairman of the party here in New York, I’m not going to write off New York. We’re going to go for it,” he said.

Trump has often pointed to the success of former Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican who ran for governor in 2022 against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul. Zeldin ultimately lost the race by an unusually close margin.

During his campaign, Zeldin appeared in the Bronx alongside the Rev. Rubén Díaz Sr., a former state senator and city council member who had urged Trump to hold a rally in the borough and held a pro-Trump event there Saturday.

While other presidential candidates have visited and met with local leaders, Díaz commended Trump for being “the first and only president or presidential candidate who has shown respect to minority communities in the Bronx” by holding a rally.

Díaz, who remains a Democrat despite backing Trump, said he believes there are others in the borough who will also cross the aisle, pointing to concerns over an influx of migrants that has dominated headlines in New York over budget and safety concerns.

“People are fed up,” he said. “Democrats say they are there to help us … but our people are doing worse under the Democratic control.”

The Bronx was once the most Democratic borough in the city. Barack Obama won 91.2% of the borough’s vote in 2012, the highest anywhere in the state. Biden won 83.5% of the borough in 2020. Trump garnered only 16% of the vote.

The area Trump will be visiting is overwhelmingly non-white — a departure from most of his rally locations. About 65% of residents are Hispanic and 31% Black, according to U.S. Census data. About 35% live below the poverty line.

Trump will not be the first Republican presidential candidate to visit the borough. Ronald Reagan held an event in the South Bronx as he ran against Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1980, delivering a speech at a vacant lot on Charlotte Street. Reagan, according to a New York Times report from the time, likened the area to London in World War II after the German blitz and accused Carter of failing to deliver on promised revitalization efforts. Carter had visited the same spot several years earlier, vowing improvements.

Reagan’s visit was interrupted by protesters, who chanted, “You ain’t going to do nothing,” and “Go back to California.”

Adam Solis, the chairman of the Black Caucus of the New York Young Republican Club, which helped Trump’s campaign organize the event, said the visit to a park where he played growing up shows Trump cares about what he dubbed the “forgotten borough.”

“You can imagine being a Trump supporter in the Bronx. You can get ostracized sometimes,” said Solis, who still lives in the borough.

He also called on any protesters who might choose to demonstrate to remain peaceful.

“I wish any protesters the best. I hope they have fun sharing their views,” he said. “But I just hope they tread lightly. Because disrespect is not accepted in the Bronx.”

The Bronx campaign stop comes days after a Trump campaign stop in Wildwood, New Jersey that was estimated to bring in up to 100,000 attendees, according to the Associated Press.

Trump has teased a possible rally at Madison Square Garden, but nothing has been confirmed by the campaign or the venue.

The former president has been spending more time in New York City over the past two months as a result of the hush money trial against him. Closing summations in the case are expected next week.

Voters in Oregon also had their chance to weigh in. The symbolic decisions provide a few more delegates to the national conventions and a gut check on where the Democratic and Republican bases stand toward their standard-bearers as the presidential nominating season nears its end.

Even after they secured the nominations and their rivals dropped out, Biden and Trump have continued facing dissent from within their own parties. Biden has faced protest votes over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war while Trump is still seeing thousands of people voting for long-vanquished rival Nikki Haley.

That trend continued Tuesday in Kentucky with about 18% of the Democratic vote going to “uncommitted” with roughly 80% of the vote counted. In the GOP race, Haley was winning about 6%.

After Tuesday, eight presidential nominating contests will remain: Democrats in Idaho, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Virgin Islands, and both parties in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Voters in Kentucky, Oregon, Georgia and Idaho also held state primaries Tuesday to choose nominees for the U.S. House and other contests. And in California’s Central Valley, voters will select a Republican to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Republicans Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux face off in the special runoff election to finish McCarthy’s term, and will have a rematch in November for the next full two-year term.

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the prosecution of Trump in a 2020 election interference case, defeated challenger Christian Wise Smith in the Democratic primary. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, also won his election.

In Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, the progressive district attorney who took office during the social justice movement of 2020 is being challenged by a candidate vowing to be tough on crime.

The rally will be held at 6 p.m. in Crotona Park in the South Bronx.

The Bronx campaign stop comes days after a stop in Wildwood, New Jersey that was estimated to bring in up to 100,000 attendees, according to the Associated Press.

Trump has teased a possible rally at Madison Square Garden, however nothing has been confirmed by the campaign or the venue.

The former president has been spending more time in New York City over the past two months as a result of the hush money trial against him. Closing summations in the case are expected next week.

Former President Donald Trump‘s account shared a video on social media Monday that included reference to a “unified Reich” among possible developments if he were to win re-election in November, drawing criticism from the Biden campaign.

Trump’s account posted a 30-second video to his Truth Social platform on Monday afternoon which asks “what happens after Donald Trump wins?” and “what’s next for America?” NBC News reported.

The background is made up of hypothetical newspaper front pages with headlines including “BORDER IS CLOSED — 15 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS DEPORTED” and “ECONOMY BOOMS.”

Twice in the clip, slightly blurred text appears beneath the headlines that reads: “Industrial strength significantly increased … driven by the creation of a unified Reich.”

The post of the video had been deleted from Truth Social on Tuesday morning.

“Reich,” meaning realm, kingdom or empire, is often considered to be a reference to the Third Reich regime of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler that emerged in 1930s Germany — and its inclusion in the video was condemned by Democrats.

“America, stop scrolling and pay attention. Donald Trump is not playing games; he is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified reich,'” James Singer, spokesman for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, said in a statement Monday night.

“Parroting ‘Mein Kampf’ while you warn of a bloodbath if you lose is the type of unhinged behavior you get from a guy who knows that democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division, and violence,” Singer said.

Singer said in a statement Tuesday that Trump’s post “is part of a pattern of his praise for dictators and echoing antisemitic tropes. He’s a threat to our democracy and Americans must reject him and stand up for our democracy this November.”

Trump’s campaign dismissed the allegation and said the former president — who is on trial in New York — was not aware the word appeared in the video.

“This was not a campaign video, it was created by a random account online and reposted by a staffer who clearly did not see the word, while the President was in court,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign spokeswoman, said in a statement.

“The real extremist is Joe Biden who has turned his back on Israel and the Jewish people by bowing down to radical anti-semites and terrorist sympathizers in his party like Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” she added.

While Hitler did discuss the creation of an enlarged German empire in Mein Kampf, the text from the video shared on Truth Social appears to be taken from the Wikipedia page for World War I.

The site reads: “German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich.”

The unification of Germany in 1871 brought together an assortment of German-speaking kingdoms and duchies that were left independent following the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

Another sentence in the video reads: “First World War (often abbreviated as WW1 or WWI) Causes of World War I.”

Trump has used 20th-century German historical comparisons to attack his opponents: earlier this month he compared the Biden administration to the “Gestapo, ” the secret police force of Nazi Germany.

Late last year Trump said immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of America, echoing parts of Mein Kampf, but he said he was unaware Hitler had used similar language and denied the comments were racist.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the Biden administration couldn’t comment on the post specifically but added in a statement: “It is abhorrent, sickening, and disgraceful for anyone to promote content associated with Germany’s Nazi government under Adolf Hitler.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner and Lindsey Pipia contributed.

The senator, appearing on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” said, “I think you’re asking the wrong person. The Democrats are the ones that have opposed every Republican victory since 2000. Every single one.”

He added, “And you have Democrats now saying they won’t certify 2024 because Trump is an insurrectionist and ineligible to hold office. So you need to ask them.”

Rubio’s refusal to say if he would accept the results of the 2024 election is notable because he did vote to certify the presidential election for then-President-elect Joe Biden. At the time, he said, “Democracy is held together by people’s confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results.”

Moderator Kristen Welker pushed back on Rubio, reminding him that no Democratic presidential candidate — including Hillary Clinton in 2016, when she lost to Trump — refused to concede the election.

In early May, Trump himself told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he would accept the results of the presidential election in Wisconsin only “if everything’s honest.”

High-profile Trump allies have also refused to say whether they would commit to accepting the results of the upcoming presidential election, regardless of who wins.

Earlier this month, GOP Sen. Tim Scott, another potential vice presidential pick, also dodged questions about accepting the results of the upcoming election during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump,” Scott told Welker.

Rubio also addressed widespread reporting that he is on a shortlist of people whom Trump could tap to be his running mate this fall.

Rubio recently attended a closed-door donor retreat with Trump at Mar-a-Lago alongside other VP hopefuls, where the former president said Rubio was “absolutely” being considered.

“I haven’t spoken to the president. I haven’t spoken to anybody in the campaign,” Rubio told Welker.

Still, he didn’t back away from the idea that he would accept the position if offered it.

“That would be presumptuous for me,” Rubio said.

He added, “I think anyone who’s offered that job to serve this country in the second highest office — assuming everything else in your life makes sense at that moment — if you’re interested in serving the country, it’s an incredible place to serve.”

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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In recent months, the specter of immigrants voting illegally in the U.S. has erupted into a leading election-year talking point for Republicans. They argue that legislation is necessary to protect the sanctity of the vote as the country faces unprecedented levels of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections and there is no indication it’s happening anywhere in significant numbers. Yet Republican lawmakers at the federal and state levels are throwing their energy behind the issue, introducing legislation and fall ballot measures. The activity ensures the issue will remain at the forefront of voters’ minds in the months ahead.

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Republicans in Congress are pushing a bill called the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Meanwhile, Republican legislatures in at least six states have placed noncitizen voting measures on the Nov. 5 ballot, while at least two more are debating whether to do so.

“American elections are for American citizens, and we intend to keep it that way,” House Administration Committee Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin said during a hearing he hosted on the topic this past week.

Democrats on the committee lambasted their Republican colleagues for focusing on what they called a “nonissue,” arguing it was part of a strategy with former President Donald Trump to lay the groundwork for election challenges this fall.

“It appears the lesson Republicans learned from the fiasco that the former president caused in 2020 was not ‘Don’t steal an election’ — it was just ‘Start earlier,’” said New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the committee’s top Democrat. “The coup starts here. This is where it begins.”

The concern that immigrants who are not eligible to vote are illegally casting ballots has prevailed on the right for years. But it gained renewed attention earlier this year when Trump began suggesting without evidence that Democrats were encouraging illegal migration to the U.S. so they could register the newcomers to vote.

Republicans who have been vocal about voting by those who are not citizens have demurred when asked for evidence that it’s a problem. Last week, during a news conference on his federal legislation to require proof of citizenship during voter registration, House Speaker Mike Johnson couldn’t provide examples of the crime happening.

“The answer is that it’s unanswerable,” the Louisiana Republican said in response to a question about whether such people were illegally voting. “We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections, but it’s not been something that is easily provable.”

Election administration experts say it’s not only provable, but it’s been demonstrated that the number of noncitizens voting in federal elections is infinitesimal.

To be clear, there have been cases over the years of noncitizens illegally registering and even casting ballots. But states have mechanisms to catch that. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose recently found 137 suspected noncitizens on the state’s rolls — out of roughly 8 million voters — and is taking action to confirm and remove them, he announced this past week.

In 2022, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, conducted an audit of his state’s voter rolls specifically looking for noncitizens. His office found that 1,634 had attempted to register to vote over a period of 25 years, but election officials had caught all the applications and none had been able to register.

In North Carolina in 2016, an audit of elections found that 41 legal immigrants who had not yet become citizens cast ballots, out of 4.8 million total ballots cast. The votes didn’t make a difference in any of the state’s elections.

Voters must confirm under penalty of perjury that they are citizens when they register to vote. If they lie, they can face fines, imprisonment or deportation, said David Becker, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research.

On top of that, anyone registering provides their Social Security number, driver’s license or state ID, Becker said. That means they already have shown the government proof of citizenship to receive those documents, or if they are a noncitizen with a state ID or Social Security number, they have been clearly classified that way in the state’s records.

“What they’re asking for is additional proof,” Becker said of Republicans pushing Johnson’s bill. “Why should people have to go to multiple government agencies and have them ask, ’Show us your papers,’ when they’ve already shown them?”

Democrats fear adding more ID requirements could disenfranchise eligible voters who don’t have their birth certificates or Social Security cards on hand. Republicans counter that the extra step could provide another layer of security and boost voter confidence in an imperfect system in which noncitizen voters have slipped through in the past.

The national focus on noncitizen voting also has brought attention to a related, but different phenomenon: how a small number of local jurisdictions, among them San Francisco and the District of Columbia, have begun allowing immigrants who aren’t citizens to vote in some local contests, such as for school board and city council.

The number of noncitizen voters casting ballots in the towns and cities where they are allowed to do so has been minimal so far. In Winooski, Vermont, where 1,345 people cast ballots in a recent local election, just 11 were not citizens, the clerk told The Associated Press. Still, the gradually growing phenomenon has prompted some state lawmakers to introduce ballot measures that seek to stop cities from trying this in the future.

In South Carolina, voters in November will decide on a constitutional amendment that supporters say will shut the door on any noncitizens voting. The state’s constitution currently says every citizen aged 18 and over who qualifies to vote can. The amendment changes the phrasing to say “only citizens.”

Republican state Sen. Chip Campsen called it a safeguard to prevent future problems. California has similar wording to South Carolina’s current provision, and Campsen cited a California Supreme Court decision that ruled “every” didn’t prevent noncitizens from voting.

Democratic state Sen. Darrell Jackson asked Campsen during the debate last month, “Do we have that problem here in South Carolina?”

“You don’t have the problem until the problem arises,” Campsen replied.

On Friday, legislative Republicans in Missouri passed a ballot measure for November that would ban both noncitizen voting and ranked-choice voting.

“I know that scary hypotheticals have been thrown out there: ‘Well, what about St. Louis? What about Kansas City?’” said Democratic state Sen. Lauren Arthur of Kansas City. “It is not a real threat because this is already outlawed. It’s already illegal in Missouri.”

Asked by a Democrat on Thursday about instances of noncitizens voting in Missouri, Republican Rep. Alex Riley said he didn’t have “specific data or a scenario that it has happened,” but wanted to “address the concern that it could happen in the future.”

In Wisconsin, an important presidential swing state where the Republican-controlled Legislature also put a noncitizen voting measure on the ballot this fall, Democratic state Rep. Lee Snodgrass said during a hearing earlier this week that she couldn’t understand why someone who is not a legal citizen would vote.

“I’m trying to wrap my brain around what people think the motivation would be for a noncitizen to go through an enormous amount of hassle to actively commit a felony to vote in an election that’s going to end up putting them in prison or be deported,” she said.

Associated Press writers Summer Ballentine, Jeffrey Collins, and Scott Bauer contributed to this report.

Older women are the largest bloc of swing voters — and the biggest concern they have heading into the November election is their financial security, according to the AARP.

Most women cited a higher cost of living as a top issue, according to the organization’s January poll of women ages 50 and up.

Nearly half of women surveyed — 48% — said their financial circumstances fall short of what they had expected for this point in their lives. Meanwhile, 54% said they don’t think they will have enough money to retire at their desired age.

“There is a concern that America’s best days are behind us,” said Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster and principal at public opinion research and political strategy firm GBAO who worked on the AARP poll.

Older women’s concerns are not limited to their own financial circumstances.

They also worry about how their children and grandchildren are going to fare with student loans or job market challenges, as well as the effects of rising housing costs, Omero said.

Gender pay gap leads to retirement income gap

Notably, younger women share many of those same retirement concerns, according to recent research from the National Institute on Retirement Security, or NIRS.

Of the women ages 25 and over surveyed, 76% said retirement is getting more difficult. Inflation and rising health-care costs were the top two reasons cited, though respondents also pointed to debt and fewer pensions.

Women tend to have greater financial concerns about retirement compared with men, according to Tyler Bond, research director at NIRS.

“There’s still a persistent gender pay gap, which translates into a retirement income gap,” Bond said.

“In fact, the pay gap and the retirement income gap are almost exactly the same, which is what you would expect, because retirement income is basically a reflection of what you earn while working,” he said.

‘Women say they feel invisible’

Women hope lawmakers will address specific pain points.

“We’ve heard in a lot of these groups women say they feel invisible,” Omero said.

Many women said they wish elected officials could spend a day in their shoes, she said. AARP’s survey found 84% of women ages 50 and up want lawmakers to provide more support for seniors and caregivers.

The NIRS survey found 86% of women believe Congress should act now to shore up Social Security rather than waiting.

With a majority of women — 81% — worried about long-term care costs, many want the government to do more to help Americans access those services, NIRS found. Likewise, most women — 82% — believe all workers should have pensions.

Exactly how women’s concerns will influence their votes remains to be seen.

AARP’s poll found 43% of women 50 and up said they would vote for former President Donald Trump, while 46% said they would back President Joe Biden.

That support will likely fluctuate in the months heading into the November election, Omero said. Notably, women 50 and up are one of the largest and most reliable groups of voters, according to the AARP.

But there are still some nitty-gritty details to be worked out, including the formats of the events and who will moderate. Here’s what we know so far:

THE DETAILS:

Trump and Biden have agreed to two debates. The first will held at 9 pm. Eastern time on June 27 at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, in a critical battleground state. “To ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate, no audience will be present,” CNN said in a statement. To qualify, candidates must receive at least 15% in four national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards.

Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash would moderate the debate, CNN said.

The second debate will take place on Sept. 10 and will be hosted by ABC. While ABC has yet to detail where that debate will take place or the format, it set the same 15% polling threshold as CNN. Anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate that debate, the network said.

“It is my great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “Likewise, I accept the ABC News Debate against Crooked Joe on September 10th.”

Biden said he’d done the same.

“Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation,” Biden wrote on X. “I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”

THE TIMING

The first debate will play out in a jam-packed and unsettled political calendar, before either candidate becomes his party’s official nominee at the summer conventions — scheduled to begin July 15 for Republicans and Aug. 19 for Democrats.

The June 27 match-up will come after the expected conclusion of Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York, foreign trips by Biden in mid-June to France and Italy, and the end of the Supreme Court’s term. That term will include a ruling on whether Trump is immune from federal prosecution for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. The debate will also come before the expected start of two criminal trials on opposite coasts for the president’s son, Hunter.

The second debate would take place before most states begin early voting — though some overseas and military ballots may already be in the mail.

STICKING POINTS

Trump’s campaign is also pushing for more debates. In a memorandum Wednesday, senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles sent a memo to Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon saying, “we believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves.” They proposed holding one debate per month, with events in June, July, August and September, in addition to a vice presidential debate.

“Additional dates will allow voters to have maximum exposure to the records and future visions of each candidate,” they wrote. Biden’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment on the Trump team’s push for additional match-ups.

Trump has also expressed other preferences. In an interview Wednesday morning with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, he agreed the debates “should go two hours” and also said he’d prefer if the men stand instead of sit.

“A stand-up podium is important,” he said, adding he thinks Biden wants to sit. He also said he would prefer the events take place in larger venues, before a live audience.

“It’s just more exciting,” he said.

The Biden campaign outlined its own preferences in a letter Wednesday. It wants candidates’ microphones muted when they aren’t recognized to speak to promote “orderly proceeding,” and it is opposed to live studio audiences.

“The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering,” O’Malley Dillon wrote.

Biden’s camp also argued third-party candidates should be excluded. “The debates should be one-on-one, allowing voters to compare the only two candidates with any statistical chance of prevailing in the Electoral College,” O’Malley Dillon wrote, “not squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming President.”

There should also, she wrote, “be firm time limits for answers, and alternate turns to speak — so that the time is evenly divided and we have an exchange of views, not a spectacle of mutual interruption.”

DEBATE COMMISSION

The deal between the campaigns now sidelines the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group that has organized them for more than three decades. Both campaigns had expressed longstanding concerns about the commission’s operations, with Trump blaming it for microphone issues during a debate in 2016 and Biden’s campaign calling its plans “out of step with changes in the structure of our elections and the interests of voters.”

Both sides had taken particular issue with the dates the commission had announced, arguing the debates should happen earlier, before voting begins.

In a statement, the debates commission noted it had been “established in 1987 specifically to ensure that such debates reliably take place and reach the widest television, radio and streaming audience. Our 2024 sites, all locations of higher learning, are prepared to host debates on dates chosen to accommodate early voters. We will continue to be ready to execute this plan.”

WHAT ABOUT OTHER NETWORKS?

The debates will be the first televised general election match-ups to be hosted by an individual news organization. The 1960 debates, which helped show the power of the medium to influence public opinion, were hosted jointly by the leading networks of the day, ABC, CBS and NBC. The presidential debates of 1976, 1980 and 1984 were organized by the League of Women Voters, and every debate since has been hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Traditionally the debates are simulcast across all networks and other streaming outlets to reach the widest possible viewing audience. It was not yet clear whether the 2024 matchups would be shared similarly.

The Biden and Trump teams accepted the invitations from ABC and CNN after the Biden campaign proposed that the debates this year be hosted by any broadcast organization that hosted a Republican primary debate in 2016 and a Democratic primary debate in 2020. In that event, “neither campaign can assert that the sponsoring organization is obviously unacceptable: if both candidates have previously debated on their airwaves, then neither could object to such venue.”

Those criteria would eliminate Fox News, which did not host a Democratic primary debate in 2020, and NBC News, which did not host a GOP one in 2016 — though its corporate affiliates CNBC and Telemundo were co-hosts of one debate each that year.

Trump has said he accepted a debate invitation in October from Fox News, though Biden’s team dismissed it as “playing games.”

HOW WILL THEY PREPARE

Both Biden and Trump are expected to engage in intensive preparation sessions before the debates. Former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain, who now works at Airbnb, told the AP he will use vacation time to help Biden get ready to face off with Trump. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped Trump prepare for previous debates, seems unlikely to reprise the role, having suffered a falling out with the presumptive GOP nominee.

WHAT ABOUT THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES?

It is unclear whether any third party candidates will qualify for the debates, but both CNN and ABC’s criteria appear to pose an challenge for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He railed against the plan on X on Wednesday, accusing Trump and Biden of “colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want.

“They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win,” he wrote. “Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.”

In addition to their polling requirements, both CNN and ABC said that in order to qualify, a candidate’s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to qualify that person to reach 270 electoral college votes.

So far, Kennedy has qualified for the general election ballot in three states — California, Michigan and Utah, according to AP Elections Research. He is listed as an independent or minor party candidate in eight more states, but hasn’t yet qualified for the ballot in them. They are Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina. Those 11 states have a combined 123 electoral college votes, meaning he would need to get on the ballot in additional states in order to qualify.

The quick agreement on the timetable followed the Democrat’s announcement that he would not participate in fall presidential debates sponsored by the nonpartisan commission that has organized them for more than three decades. Biden’s campaign instead proposed that media outlets directly organize the debates between the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees.

The debate is so unusually early on the political calendar that neither Biden nor Trump will have formally accepted his party’s nomination.

Hours later, Biden said he had accepted an invitation from CNN, adding, “Over to you, Donald.” Trump, who had insisted he would debate Biden anytime and anyplace, said on Truth Social he’d be there, too, adding, “Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!” Soon after that, they agreed to the second debate on ABC.

“Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation,” Biden wrote on X, working in a jab about the perks of incumbency. “I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”

The swiftness with which the match-ups came together reflects how each of the two unpopular candidates thinks he can get the better of his opponent in a head-to-head showdown. Trump and his team are convinced the debates will exacerbate voters’ concerns about Biden’s age and competence, while Biden’s team believes Trump’s often-incendiary rhetoric will remind voters of why they voted him out of the White House four years ago.

The presidential debates, always a critical moment on the political calendar, could be particularly important in a year when voters are underwhelmed with their choices and have expressed concerns about the candidates’ advanced ages — Biden is 81 and Trump 77.

Sprightly on social media, the rivals traded barbs — each claiming victory the last time they faced off in 2020.

“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, since then he hasn’t shown up for a debate,” Biden said in a post on X. “Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal.”

Trump, for his part, said Biden was the “WORST debater I have ever faced – He can’t put two sentences together!”

The June debate is likely to cap a busy and unsettled stretch, following the likely conclusion of Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York, foreign trips by Biden to France and Italy, the end of the Supreme Court’s term, and the expected start of two criminal trials for the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

CNN said that its debate would be held at 9 p.m. ET in its Atlanta studios with no audience present in a break from recent precedent. Moderators will be anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, CNN said. ABC did not offer details on where its event would be held. Disagreements about moderators and rules were some of the questions that prompted the formation of the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1987.

The two campaigns and television networks had held weeks of informal talks on ways to circumvent the commission’s grip on presidential debates following years of complaints and perceived slights, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke about internal discussions on condition of anonymity.

Biden’s campaign had proposed excluding third-party candidates, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from the debates outright. Under the debate commission’s rules, Kennedy or other third-party candidates could qualify if they secured ballot access sufficient to claim 270 Electoral Votes and polled at 15% or higher in a selection of national surveys.

Both CNN and ABC announced the same qualification threshold, saying candidates will need to reach at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet their standards.

In response, Kennedy accused Biden and Trump of “trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win.” He said, “Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.”

The debates will be the first televised general election match-ups to be hosted by individual networks. The 1960 debates, which helped show the power of the medium to influence public opinion, were hosted jointly by the leading networks of the day. Before the commission was formed in 1987, the presidential debates of 1976, 1980 and 1984 were organized by the League of Women Voters.

Plans for a vice presidential debate have yet to be announced.

Trump has been pushing for more and earlier debates, arguing voters should be able to see the two men face off well before early voting begins in September. He has even proposed a debate outside the Manhattan courthouse where he is currently on trial. He also has been taunting Biden with an empty lectern at some of his rallies.

In a memorandum to Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon on Wednesday, Trump senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles challenged Biden to agree to at least two additional debates, suggesting one be held each month, with events in June, July, August and September, in addition to a vice presidential debate.

“Additional dates will allow voters to have maximum exposure to the records and future visions of each candidate,” they wrote.

Trump later posted on Truth Social that he had agreed to a third debate, this one hosted by Fox.

“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that I hereby accept debating Crooked Joe Biden on FoxNews. The date will be Wednesday, October 2nd. The Hosts will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Thank you, DJT!” he wrote.

O’Malley Dillon responded with a statement accusing Trump of having “a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all.”

“No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up,” she wrote.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Wednesday morning, Trump had raised his own doubts about whether Biden would show, and offered his own suggestions. He said the debates “should go two hours” with both men standing, and he also pushed for larger venues.

“It’s just more exciting,” he said.

Biden’s campaign has long held a grudge against the nonpartisan commission, accusing it of failing to evenly apply its rules during the 2020 Biden-Trump matchups — most notably when it didn’t enforce its COVID-19 testing rules on Trump and his entourage.

O’Malley Dillon on Wednesday sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates to say that Biden’s campaign objected to its proposed debate dates in the fall, which would come after some Americans begin to vote, repeating a complaint also voiced by the Trump campaign. She also voiced frustrations over past rule violations and the commission’s insistence on holding the debates before a live audience.

“The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors,” she wrote.

There also was little love lost for the commission from Trump, who objected to technical issues at his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was upset when a 2020 debate with Biden was canceled after the Republican came down with COVID-19. The Republican National Committee had already promised not to work with the commission on the 2024 contests.

The Trump campaign issued a statement on May 1 that said of the debate schedule offered by the commission: “This is unacceptable.”

The commission said in a Wednesday statement, “The American public deserves substantive debates from the leading candidates for president and vice president.” It said its mission is “to ensure that such debates reliably take place and reach the widest television, radio and streaming audience.”

Former Gov. Larry Hogan claimed the Republican nomination in what will be a marquee race in Maryland against Angela Alsobrooks, a top local official who could become the fourth Black woman in U.S. history to serve in the Senate.

Meanwhile, another popular Republican, Gov. Jim Justice, won the Senate nomination in deep-red West Virginia, becoming the overwhelming favorite in the race that represents the GOP’s best pickup opportunity in the nation.

In both states, which share a border but feature antithetical politics, the Republican nominees represent a serious challenge for Democrats in the general election as they cling to a 51-49 Senate majority and defend seats in other states that former President Donald Trump won four years ago.

At the same time, Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden sought to project strength in low-stakes presidential primaries. And further down the ballot, two people who were on opposite sides of the Jan. 6 insurrection lost their U.S. House bids — a former Capitol Police officer running in Maryland and a former West Virginia state lawmaker who participated in the riot.

In all, three states hosted statewide primary elections Tuesday — Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia — as Republicans and Democrats picked their nominees for a slate of November elections that will decide the presidency and control of Congress.

A TRUMP CRITIC GRABS MARYLAND’S GOP NOMINATION

In Maryland, Hogan gives Republicans a legitimate chance at picking up a Senate seat in the deep-blue state for the first time in more than four decades.

Hogan overcame his years-long criticism of Trump, a position that put him at odds with many Republican primary voters but will undoubtedly help him in the general election this fall. Maryland voters gave Biden a 33-point victory over Trump four years ago.

On the other side in the Senate contest, Democratic voters nominated Alsobrooks. The 53-year-old African American county executive had been endorsed by many of the state’s top officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Steny Hoyer.

Alsobrooks prevailed after a contentious and expensive primary against U.S. Rep. David Trone, a liquor store magnate who had invested more than $61 million into his unsuccessful bid.

Race was an issue in the Democratic primary and may be in the general election in the months ahead. Alsobrooks is trying to become the first Black senator from a state in which roughly one in three residents identifies as African American.

On the social media site X, Hogan congratulated Alsobrooks and said, “Voters have a clear and stark choice: more of the dysfunctional partisan status quo or real independent and bipartisan leadership.”

Alsobrooks, also posting on X, promised to “defeat Larry Hogan, keep Maryland blue, and keep our Senate under Democratic control.”

THE WEST VIRGINIA BATTLE TO REPLACE MANCHIN

Justice won his primary against U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney. With Manchin gone, the seat is almost guaranteed to turn red come November.

The Trump-endorsed Justice, a former billionaire with a folksy personality, is wildly popular in the state. He also earned Trump’s endorsement. A former Democrat, Justice switched to the Republican Party in 2017, announcing the change at a Trump rally.

Despite his connection to the former Republican president, Justice doesn’t pander to Trump as much as most statewide Republican officials in the state. And he largely avoids focusing on some of the GOP’s favorite culture war issues, such as transgender rights.

Mooney had tried to win over conservatives by labeling Justice a “RINO” — which stands for “Republican in name only” — who would support Democratic policies. Justice did support Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, saying West Virginia couldn’t afford to turn away the money offered in the bill.

At a polling place in West Virginia’s capital city, voter Steve Ervin said his votes Tuesday were directly related to Trump.

“I really did an exhaustive study of the sample ballot of who I believe supported Trump and Trump supported them,” said Ervin, who works in the state’s unemployment office. “That’s what I made my whole decision on.”

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee in the 2018 Senate race against Manchin, won the nomination for West Virginia governor.

TESTS OF STRENGTH IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to claim the presidential nominations at their respective national conventions this summer. And they added to their total Tuesday with wins in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia.

Yet voters on both sides hoped to register a significant protest vote Tuesday that would demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the Biden-Trump rematch.

Maryland progressives especially unhappy with the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas had encouraged voters to select “uncommitted to any presidential candidate” instead. Results coming in Tuesday night suggested the “uncommitted” vote was running behind the margins of similar movements in Michigan and Minnesota.

There was no uncommitted option in West Virginia or Nebraska.

Everett Bellamy, a Democrat who voted early in Annapolis, said he voted “uncommitted” instead of Biden as a protest against the killing of women and children and noncombatants in Gaza.

“I wanted to send a message,” Bellamy, 74, said after leaving an early voting center.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican critics cannot choose “uncommitted,” but they can choose his former GOP rival Nikki Haley, who will appear on the ballot in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia despite formally suspending her campaign more than two months ago.

Derek Faux, an independent voter from Charleston, W.V., said he supported Haley, and in other Republican races, he said he voted for the candidates he believed were least like Trump.

“I would rather see moderate, reasonable Republicans than some of the other folks,” said Faux, a librarian.

TWO SIDES OF THE INSURRECTION

Tuesday’s elections also included two candidates who were intimately involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In Maryland, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn was among nearly two dozen Democrats running in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. The 40-year-old Democrat lost to State Sen. Sarah Elfreth.

In West Virginia, a former member of the House of Delegates, Derrick Evans, lost his bid to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Carol Miller in the 1st Congressional District. The 39-year-old Evans served a three-month jail sentence after livestreaming himself participating in the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

OTHER KEY RACES

In Nebraska, Republican Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts both won their primaries, one of the rare occasions when both senators in a state were on the ballot at the same time. And in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon fended off a challenge from his right flank.

In North Carolina, voters finalized their pick of the Trump-endorsed Brad Knott in what had become a one-person Republican primary in the state’s 13th Congressional District

Blasting the Democratic president “a total moron,” Trump before a crowd of tens of thousands repeatedly characterized the cases against him as politically motivated and timed to harm his ability to campaign.

“He’s a fool. He’s not a smart man,” Trump said of Biden. “I talk about him differently now because now the gloves are off.”

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, drew what his team called a “mega crowd” to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood, 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting silently through his felony hush money trial.

Lisa Fagan, spokesperson for the city of Wildwood, told The Associated Press that she estimated a crowd of between 80,000 and 100,000 attendees, based off her own observations on the scene Saturday, having seen “dozens” of other events in the same space.

Trump was joined on stage by several high-level endorsers including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who is still listed as a registered sex offender after pleading guilty in New York in 2011 to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute.

The beachfront gathering, described by Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., as the largest political gathering in state history, was designed to serve as a show of force at a critical moment for Trump, who is facing dozens of felony charges in four separate criminal cases with the election less than six months away.

Hours before he was scheduled to take the stage, thousands of Trump loyalists donning “Never Surrender” T-shirts and red “Make America Great Again” hats crowded onto the sand between the boardwalk and carnival rides to greet the former Republican president.

“The everyday American people are 100% behind him,” said Doreen O’Neill, a 62-year-old nurse from Philadelphia.

“They have to cheat and smear him and humiliate him in that courtroom every single day,” O’Neill said. “This country is going to go insane if they steal the election again.”

Trump’s extraordinary legal woes, which include three other unrelated criminal cases, have emerged as a central issue in the campaign.

Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials in New York of using the legal system to block his return to the White House. Prosecutors allege the former president broke the law to conceal an affair with a porn actor that would have hurt his first presidential bid.

The hush money case was filed by local prosecutors in Manhattan who do not work for the Justice Department or any White House office. The Justice Department has said the White House has had no involvement in the two criminal cases against Trump brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

On Saturday, Trump posited that even those whom he accuses of politically motivated prosecutions didn’t bring every case they could have, pointing to the boosts his campaign has sustained with each wave of charges.

“I heard they were going to do a couple of other things and they said from Washington … ‘we’re indicting him into the White House,’” Trump said. “They said, ‘Don’t do it.’”

While Trump seized on his legal woes Saturday, a judge’s gag order — and the threat of jail — limit Trump’s ability to comment publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the New York trial, which is expected to consume much of the month. The judge in the case already has fined Trump $9,000 for violating the order and warned that jail could follow if he doesn’t comply.

The order doesn’t include references to Judge Juan M. Merchan, whom Trump called “highly conflicted” or District Attorney Alvin Bragg, both of whom Trump said are “doing the bidding for crooked Joe Biden.”

Trump’s responsibilities as a defendant have limited his ability to win over voters on the campaign trail.

He spent last week’s off-day from court in the general election battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan. And he was campaigning with tens of thousands of voters Saturday in New Jersey, a reliably Democratic state. Parts of New Jersey have deep-red enclaves and the southern shoreline in particular draws tourists and summer homeowners from neighboring Pennsylvania, a key swing state.

Biden, meanwhile, opened his weekend with a series of fundraising events on the West Coast.

He avoided Trump’s legal challenges — as he has done consistently — while addressing donors in Seattle. Instead, the Democratic president focused on Trump’s recent interview with Time magazine in which the Republican former president said states should be left to determine whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor their pregnancies.

Saturday’s visit to the New Jersey Shore resort wasn’t Trump’s first.

While president, Trump held a rally there in January 2020 to thank Van Drew, the New Jersey congressman who had just left the Democratic Party for the GOP as a rebuke for the former president’s first impeachment.

Trump drew a crowd at the time that lined the streets, filled bars and supported numerous vendors in what is usually a sleepy city in the winter. This time, the summer season is around the corner for the resort known for its wide beaches and boardwalk games and shops.

Wildwood is in New Jersey’s 2nd District, which Van Drew has represented for three terms and covers all or part of six counties in southern New Jersey. It went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 after earlier backing Barack Obama.

Trump is set to return to the courtroom next week, when key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer-turned-foe, is expected to take the witness stand. Last week, he was visibly angry at times as he was forced to sit through testimony from former porn actor Stormy Daniels, who described a sexual encounter with the former president in shocking detail.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. The charges stem from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were deemed legal expenses in company records. Prosecutors say those payments largely were reimbursements to Cohen, Trump’s attorney, who paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet.

The prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week. It’s unclear if Trump himself will take the stand when the defense presents its case.

Back on the Jersey Shore, 65-year-old Pat Day said she felt some urgency to see Trump in person on Saturday.

“We want to see Trump before they take him out,” said Day, who was visiting from the Florida Keys. “I’m worried. They’re going to do everything they can so he doesn’t get elected again.”

___

Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.

“At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump,” Scott, a Republican, said the first time he was directly asked whether he would commit to accepting the election results on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Asked again by moderator Kristen Welker to answer “yes or no?” to the original question, Scott simply said, “That is my statement.”

Pressed a third time to answer the question, Scott said, “I look forward to President Trump being the 47th president — the American people will make the decision.”

Earlier this month, Trump himself told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he would accept the results of the presidential election in Wisconsin only “if everything’s honest.”

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“If everything’s honest, I’d gladly accept the results,” he said, adding, “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”

Scott ran for president last year, challenging Trump for the Republican nomination. He dropped out in November and eventually endorsed the former president.

Now, he’s widely considered to be on the shortlist for Trump’s vice presidential pick.

But following the 2020 presidential election, when Trump questioned the integrity of the election and baselessly alleged that voter fraud took place in states across the country, Scott offered a different tone.

Ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, congressional session to certify the presidential election results, Scott said in a statement, “The President’s legal team exercised its right to access the courts by initiating suits in state and federal courts in numerous states. Some of these lawsuits have even been presided over and adjudicated by conservative judges nominated by President Trump. Thus far, no justice, judge or fact finder has found evidence indicating the election results in those states should be overturned.”

He added that “as I read the Constitution, there is no constitutionally viable means for the Congress to overturn an election wherein the states have certified and sent their Electors” and later voted to certify the results of the presidential election.

Even later on the campaign trail, Scott disagreed with voters who claimed the 2020 election was stolen.

“I do not believe the election was stolen. I do believe that states created a new system, mail-in ballots, that did not have signature verification,” Scott said during a campaign event in June in Davenport, Iowa.

After an audience member asked questions about “cheating” in the election, Scott added, “There was cheating, but was the election stolen? There’s a difference. I think every election there’s cheating.”

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem implied that President Joe Biden‘s dog, Commander, should meet the same ill fate as her own 14-month-old dog Cricket, who she shot due to its aggressive behavior, as she revealed in her upcoming memoir.

“Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog?” Noem said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “That’s the question that the president should be held accountable to.”

The Biden administration announced in October that Commander had been relocated off White House grounds after various incidents where he had bitten or otherwise attacked U.S. Secret Service agents.

Noem’s Sunday comment comes as she faces considerable blowback from both Democrats and Republicans for anecdotes in her upcoming memoir about decisions to personally put down various family farm animals, including Cricket and an unnamed goat.

As she vies to become Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, some, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have posited that the controversial memoir snippets have tanked her chances.

In the days since Noem’s memoir anecdotes went public, the South Dakota governor has been doing damage control to save her VP bid.

On Sunday, Noem doubled down on her defense to put down Cricket, claiming that the dog had been attacking her children and that the backlash she has received is politically motivated.

“This has been a story that my political opponents have tried to use against me for years,” Noem said. “They’re doing the same thing to me, that they do to Donald Trump every day.”

The meeting was described as “nice” and “friendly” by one of the sources, who added that DeSantis plans to help raise money for Trump. A separate source said the meeting was mutually agreed upon and arranged by Steven Witkoff, the chairman of a real estate company, who is a mutual contact of the two men.

However, a Trump campaign official told NBC News that DeSantis reached out to Trump’s team through Witkoff two weeks ago to set up a meeting to “bury the hatchet” and discuss fundraising.

The meeting, which was first reported by The Washington Post, took place in Florida. DeSantis was golfing at Shell Bay Club, a golf club near Miami, where Trump joined him for breakfast.

DeSantis told donors and supporters during a private retreat in April that he planned to help raise money for Trump’s campaign, NBC News first reported.

Just months ago, DeSantis slammed Trump during the bitter Republican primary contest, referring to him as a candidate running on personal issues.

“If he’s running for personal retribution, that is not going to lead to what we need as a country,” DeSantis in December in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“You got to be running for the American people and their issues, not about your own personal issues, and that is a distinction between us,” he continued.

Separately, DeSantis has said that “the swamp was not drained” during Trump’s term. He has also criticized Trump over his stance on abortion, telling a radio show that “all pro-lifers should know that he’s preparing to sell you out.”

After he suspended his campaign just days before the New Hampshire primary, DeSantis endorsed Trump, arguing that “we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

Trump has not yet selected a running mate, but DeSantis has long said he would not seek the vice presidency.

“I don’t want to be VP. I don’t want to be in the Cabinet. I don’t want a TV show,” DeSantis said in January, before he dropped out. “I’m in it to win it.”

He put the message in starker terms the previous month, saying, “I can tell you under any circumstance, I will not accept” the vice presidential nomination.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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Santos, who was running as an independent candidate for the 1st Congressional District in New York, said he was withdrawing from the race in a post on the social media platform X.

The announcement came after the disgraced former congressman’s campaign committee reported no fundraising or expenditures in March, raising speculation that his campaign had failed to get off the ground.

Santos last month launched a campaign to challenge Republican Rep. Nick LaLota in the GOP primary for the eastern Long Island congressional district, which is a different district than the one he previously represented. Weeks later, Santos said he was leaving the Republican Party and would instead run for the seat as an independent.

“Although Nick and I don’t have the same voting record and I remain critical of his abysmal record, I don’t want to split the ticket and be responsible for handing the house to Dems,” Santos wrote on X, adding, “Staying in this race all but guarantees a victory for the Dems in the race.”

Santos was expelled from the House in December following a damaging ethics committee report that determined there was “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking and that he “cannot be trusted.” He was just the sixth member expelled by colleagues in the chamber’s history.

The former congressman has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that include deceiving Congress about his wealth, stealing from his campaign and obtaining unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve. He has a trial tentatively scheduled for later this year.

In his post on X, Santos did not rule out seeking office in the future.

“It’s only goodbye for now,” he wrote, “I’ll be back.”

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Trump leads Biden by 2 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup, 46% to 44%, in the new NBC News poll

Yet when the ballot is expanded to five named candidates, Biden is the one with a 2-point advantage: Biden 39%, Trump 37%, Kennedy 13%, Jill Stein 3% and Cornel West 2%.

The big reason why is that the poll finds a greater share of Trump voters in the head-to-head matchup backing Kennedy in the expanded ballot. Fifteen percent of respondents who picked Trump the first time pick Kennedy in the five-way ballot, compared with 7% of those who initially picked Biden.

Also, Republican voters view Kennedy much more favorably (40% positive, 15% negative) than Democratic voters do (16% positive, 53% negative).

“At this stage, [Kennedy’s] appeal looks to be more with Trump than Biden voters,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt, who conducted the NBC News poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

This finding, however, contrasts with the conventional political wisdom — as well as the results of other national polls — suggesting that a bigger third-party vote hurts Biden more.

The NBC News poll results on Kennedy’s impact are “different than other surveys,” said McInturff, the GOP pollster. “So there’s always two possibilities: One, it’s an outlier. … Or two, we’re going to be seeing more of this, and our survey is a harbinger of what’s to come.”

The Biden campaign has actively tried to peel support away from Kennedy. Most recently, Biden held an event Thursday with members of the Kennedy family who are endorsing the president over their relative.

Overall, the party is paying much closer attention to Kennedy than it has to past third-party candidates, mobilizing new super PACs and an arm of the Democratic National Committee focused on reducing the pull of his candidacy.

The NBC News poll was conducted April 12-16 of 1,000 registered voters nationwide — 891 contacted via cell phone — and the poll has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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But what does the choice represent for ordinary voters and the economic and cultural issues they care about? A rematch between the Democratic incumbent and his Republican predecessor may feel uninspiring to many voters, but the policy stakes are enormous for tens of millions of Americans — and the world.

Here are seven big issues at stake in the 2024 election.

Abortion

The contrast: Biden favors federal abortion protections; Trump opposes them. Trump supported nationwide restrictions on abortion as president but now downplays the need for a federal ban, as Republicans are divided over the issue. Biden does not support federal limits.

Biden has championed the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill to protect abortion rights in all 50 states under federal law and prohibit medically unnecessary hurdles to accessing the procedure. He has asked voters to send him a Democratic Congress that supports legal abortion to achieve that.

Trump has boasted that he “broke Roe v. Wade” by picking three of the five Supreme Court justices who overturned it, delivering on a four-decade goal of the GOP. More recently, Trump has openly fretted that the backlash may cost him and his party the election. Last week, Trump said the issue should be left to states, a shift from his support for nationwide restrictions when he was president. His new stance has drawn pushback from GOP allies, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, and anti-abortion-rights advocates, who say that he is wrong and that Republicans should not be deterred from their long-standing goal of enacting some nationwide abortion limits.

Some Republicans downplay the prospects of federal abortion restrictions’ passing Congress, even if they win full control. Biden and his allies are telling voters to look at the GOP’s long history of championing federal restrictions and not their recent rhetoric.

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Immigration

The contrast: Trump has promised a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration and tougher executive actions; Biden is asking Congress to give him more tools to manage an overwhelmed border and create new legal pathways to immigrate to the U.S.

Trump has called existing border laws an existential threat to the U.S., saying migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and bringing new “languages.” His campaign website says: “President Trump will shut down Biden’s border disaster. He will again end catch-and-release, restore Remain in Mexico, and eliminate asylum fraud. In cooperative states, President Trump will deputize the National Guard and local law enforcement to assist with rapidly removing illegal alien gang members and criminals.”

After having rescinded some of Trump’s policies, Biden has recently shifted to support stricter immigration laws as the system remains overwhelmed. He championed a bipartisan bill to raise the bar for gaining asylum, grant more U.S. resources to process asylum claims and turn away migrants who do not qualify, and empower the president to temporarily shut down the border if migration levels hit certain triggers. (Republicans blocked the bill in the Senate amid lobbying by Trump, who wants to use the border as an election issue.) Biden has also endorsed the U.S. Citizenship Act, which would grant a pathway to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally if they pass background checks and pay their taxes.

Fundamentally, Trump has aligned with forces who want less immigration into the country, while Biden has embraced the belief that immigrants make the U.S. better.

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Health care and prescription drugs

The contrast: Biden wants to extend Affordable Care Act provisions and empower Medicare to negotiate more prescription drugs; Trump has aggressively criticized the ACA but not offered a health care plan.

Biden, who was vice president when the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, sees it as a cherished achievement to protect and strengthen. The law, also known as “Obamacare,” which has extended coverage to 45 million people through subsidies, insurance mandates and a Medicaid expansion, continues to face conservative opposition.

Separately, Biden has touted a provision in his party-line Inflation Reduction Act that empowers Medicare to negotiate lower prices for 10 prescription drugs. He said he wants to boost that to 50 if he is re-elected, with the goal of $200 billion in savings.

Trump spent his four years as president fighting unsuccessfully to repeal and unravel the law — through legislation and executive action and endorsing lawsuits to wipe it out. In November, Trump called for revisiting plans to “terminate” the ACA. He has recently sought to downplay that and insists he only wants to improve the law. But he has not offered a health care plan. Many of his GOP allies in Congress still favor repealing or undoing the ACA, including a budget by the Republican Study Committee, which boasts about 80% of the House GOP conference as members, including Speaker Mike Johnson, of Louisiana.

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Taxes

The contrast: Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire at the end of next year, and he has called for extending them; Biden has called for raising taxes on families earning over $400,000 to fund various priorities.

A series of Trump tax cuts, which Republicans passed on a party-line basis in 2017, expire at the end of 2025. Congress and the winner of the election will decide what happens to them.

In a recent private speech to wealthy donors, Trump said his policies include “extending the Trump tax cuts” if he is elected, according to a Trump campaign official. That would preserve lower rates across the income spectrum, with the biggest benefits for top earners.

Biden has attacked that law as a giveaway to the wealthiest Americans, vowing to make “big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share.” He has backed a corporate tax rate hike from 21% to 28% and said that “nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes.” Biden is also calling for a $3,600-per-child tax cut for families, an $800 average tax break for “front-line workers” and a 25% minimum tax on billionaires, according to a newly released campaign plank.

The expiration of the Trump tax cuts will restore the unlimited federal deduction for state and local taxes, which Republicans had capped at $10,000 in the 2017 law. Republicans broadly support preserving the cap, with some exceptions, while most Democrats want to lift it.

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Judges and the Supreme Court

The contrast: Their track records tell a clear story. Trump has picked young conservative judges to serve on the federal bench, while Biden has picked liberals with a focus on professional and personal diversity.

One of the clearest contrasts is what kinds of judges Trump and Biden would pick for lifetime appointments on the federal courts. A simple way for voters to think about it is whether they prefer new judges with the conservative views of Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court pick, or with the liberal views of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden’s (so far only) high court pick.

As president, Trump nominated young conservative judges who will serve for generations. Biden has focused on finding judges with diverse backgrounds and résumés, including more civil rights lawyers and public defenders.

Perhaps the biggest question is whether a Supreme Court vacancy will open up in the next four years. The presidential election winner and the party that controls the Senate would fill it.

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Trade

The contrast: Trump is pushing a 10% across-the-board tariff on imports; Biden’s White House opposes that, saying it would raise inflation.

Trump, long a skeptic of U.S. trade deals, has proposed to impose a 10% tariff on all imported goods if he returns to the White House. He recently told Fox News that it could be 60% — or potentially “more than that” — on imports of Chinese goods.

Biden opposes that idea. In a memo over the weekend, the White House slammed the idea of “across-the-board tariffs that would raise taxes and prices by $1,500 per American family,” without naming Trump; it referred to an estimate by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, that Trump’s 10% tax on imports could cost an average American household $1,500 per year.

Biden, instead, has sought to boost domestic manufacturing with major federal investments in semiconductors and electric vehicles.

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Foreign policy and NATO

The contrast: Biden favors Ukraine aid, while Trump is skeptical of it; Biden supports NATO and a traditional view of American power, while Trump has criticized NATO and voiced some isolationist views.

The clearest example of the foreign policy differences between the two concerns the fate of Ukraine, which is running low on ammunition and says it needs U.S. assistance to continue holding off Russia’s aggression. Biden is an ardent proponent of helping Ukraine, while Trump has poured cold water on U.S. aid to Ukraine and successfully pressured House Republicans to block it since they took the majority in January 2023.

And that points to a deeper divide: Biden is an outspoken supporter of the NATO alliance as a bulwark against adversaries like Russia and China and of preserving the post-World War II order. Trump has dialed up his criticisms of NATO and aligned with a growing isolationist wing in the U.S. that wants to be less involved in global affairs. Trump recently said that as president, he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to member countries who are “delinquent” in their dues.

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Hosted by hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson, the event will benefit Trump’s campaign, his Save America PAC, the Republican National Committee and state chapters of the GOP under a joint-fundraising agreement.

“Saturday’s event signifies the GOP’s finance team is all back home,” said one of the sources, who plans to attend the fundraiser. “Should produce a record haul.”

Trump also held a call with donors and fundraisers on Friday, in which he said he expected to double the amount Democrats raised at the recent Democratic event, according to one of the other sources, who was on the call.

It was not immediately clear whether all of the committed money would be collected by Saturday night.

Since announcing his campaign to win back the White House shortly after the 2022 midterm elections, Trump has struggled to keep his treasury stocked — in part because of lackluster fundraising and in part because much of his election money has been diverted to defending him against criminal charges in four separate cases.

But once-reluctant Republican donors have returned to the fold in the weeks since he locked down the party’s nomination. Saturday’s fundraising extravaganza will include several high-dollar donors who had kept their distance from Trump.

Last week, Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton appeared at what Democrats have billed as a uniquely profitable fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Like Trump, Biden was raising both for his campaign and for allied entities that will spend on his behalf. The Democratic event pulled in $26 million. 

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As Donald Trump seeks the presidency for a third time, he is being vigorously opposed by a vocal contingent of former officials who are stridently warning against his return to power and offering dire predictions for the country and the rule of law if his campaign succeeds.

It’s a striking chorus of detractors, one without precedent in the modern era, coming from those who witnessed first-hand his conduct in office and the turmoil that followed.

Sarah Matthews, a former Trump aide who testified before the House Jan. 6 committee and is among those warning about the threat he poses, said it’s “mind-boggling” how many members of his senior staff have denounced him.

“These are folks who saw him up close and personal and saw his leadership style,” Matthews said.

“The American people should listen to what these folks are saying because it should be alarming that the people that Trump hired to work for him a first term are saying that he’s unfit to serve for a second term.”

Yet the critics remain a distinct minority. Republican lawmakers and officials across the party have endorsed Trump’s bid — some begrudgingly, others with fervor and enthusiasm. Many aides and Cabinet officials who served under Trump are onboard for another term, something Trump’s campaign is quick to highlight.

“The majority of the people who served in President Trump’s cabinet and in his administration, like the majority of Americans, have overwhelmingly endorsed his candidacy to beat Crooked Joe Biden and take back the White House,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.

Still, the Biden campaign has trumpeted the criticism of former Trump officials in statements and social media posts, hoping to convince at least some Republican voters — including those who backed other candidates during the GOP primary — that they cannot support his candidacy.

“Those who worked with Donald Trump at the most senior levels of his administration believe he is too dangerous, too selfish and too extreme to ever lead our country again — we agree,” said Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa.

In many ways, the schism among former Trump officials is an extension of his time in the White House. Friction was constant as Trump’s demands ran into resistance from some officials and aides who refused requests that they found misguided, unrealistic and, at times, flatly illegal. Firings were frequent. Many quit.

Staff upheaval was particularly intense in the chaotic weeks after the 2020 election as Trump worked to overturn his election loss to Biden. Trump summoned supporters to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, as his falsehoods about a stolen election became the rallying cry for supporters who violently breached the U.S. Capitol. Many people serving in the administration quit in protest, including Matthews.

Trump’s attempt to remain in office included a bitter pressure campaign against Pence, who as vice president was tasked with presiding over the count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6. Trump was adamant that Pence should prevent Biden from becoming president, something he had no power to do. Pence had to flee the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 as rioters stormed the building to chants of “Hang Mike Pence!”

Pence recently said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse Trump because of Jan. 6 and other issues, despite being proud of what they achieved together.

And Pence is not alone.

Esper, who was fired by Trump days after the 2020 election, clashed with the then-president over several issues, including Trump’s push to deploy military troops to respond to civil unrest after the killing of George Floyd by police in 2020.

In a recent interview with HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Esper repeated a warning that Trump is “a threat to democracy” and added, “I think there’s a lot to be concerned about.”

“There’s no way I’ll vote for Trump, but every day that Trump does something crazy, the door to voting for Biden opens a little bit more, and that’s where I’m at,” Esper said.

Among Trump’s most vocal critics are former aides who worked closely with him in the White House, particularly a trio who gained prominence testifying about the Jan. 6 attack and Trump’s push to overturn the election.

The group includes Matthews, former Trump White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin and Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. They have given a series of interviews in recent months opposing their former boss.

“Fundamentally, a second Trump term could mean the end of American democracy as we know it, and I don’t say that lightly,” Griffin told ABC in December.

John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, had his own long falling-out with Trump. Kelly, in a lengthy October statement to CNN, described Trump as “a person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators” and “has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”

Olivia Troye, a former Pence adviser who left the White House in 2020, and former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who resigned Jan. 6, are both outspoken critics who said they didn’t vote for Trump in 2020.

Even Bill Barr, Trump’s former attorney general who has not ruled out voting for him again, has referred to Trump as “a consummate narcissist” who “constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk and the conservative and Republican agenda at risk.”

Still, the ranks of former Trump officials opposing his bid are greatly outnumbered by those who are supportive.

Linda McMahon, who headed the Small Business Administration under Trump, is co-chairing a major fundraiser for the former president on Saturday in Florida, along with former Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

McMahon is also chair of the board of The America First Policy Institute, which is packed with supportive former Trump officials and has been described as an “administration in waiting” for a second Trump term.

The institute is headed by Brooke Rollins, Trump’s former domestic policy chief, and counts Pence’s national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg among its chairs, along with former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Trump’s U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, and former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow.

Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has campaigned for Trump, as has former Housing Secretary Ben Carson, who called him “a friend of America.”

Trump’s also got the backing of former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, former Interior Secretary and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, and Russell Vought, who ran Trump’s Office of Management and Budget.

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Vought said in a post on X that Trump is “the only person I trust to take a wrecking ball to the Deep State.”

Trump supporters are also quick to dismiss critics in the party.

Carmen McVane, who attended Trump’s rally Tuesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said those who speak negatively against Trump or refuse to endorse are RINOs, or Republicans In Name Only, and will only help Biden and Democrats.

“There’s a lot of RINOs who don’t do what they’re supposed to do,” McVane said. “It’s time for everyone to back who we have and go full force ahead.”

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Green Bay, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

“No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House,” No Labels CEO and co-founder Nancy Jacobson said in a statement. “No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down.”

Jacobson said the group will “remain engaged over the next year during what is likely to be the most divisive presidential election of our lifetimes. We will promote dialogue around major policy challenges and call out both sides when they speak and act in bad faith.”

The Wall Street Journal was first to report No Labels’ move.

The group was spurned by at least a dozen candidates during its recruitment efforts, from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on the Republican side to Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on the Democratic side, NBC News reported.

No Labels had also openly suggested that it was interested in former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who shut down any idea of running on a third-party ticket in an interview in early March, soon before she ended her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

And the organization had a tragic setback last week, when former Sen. Joe Lieberman, the founding chairman of No Labels, died unexpectedly after a fall. Lieberman, a longtime Democrat who became an independent in his final years in the Senate, was playing a major role in the group’s candidate recruiting efforts.

According to the third-party group, No Labels had gained ballot access in 21 states before ending its longshot bid for the White House.

With a deep well of donor money, No Labels initially looked like it could be a force in the 2024 presidential race — if not to win, then certainly to affect the outcome. Irritated Democrats worked throughout 2023 and 2024 to organize opposition to No Labels, concerned that its effort to put forward a ticket would splinter President Joe Biden’s coalition against former President Donald Trump.

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Biden and Trump easily won primaries in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin, adding to their delegate hauls for their party conventions this summer.

Their victories, while hardly surprising, nevertheless offer clues about enthusiasm among base voters for the upcoming 2020 rematch that has left a majority of Americans underwhelmed.

In particular, the tallies in Wisconsin, a pivotal November battleground, will give hints about the share of Republicans who still aren’t on board with Trump and how many Democrats are disillusioned with Biden. Trump campaigned Tuesday in Wisconsin and Michigan, two Midwest battlegrounds.

“Donald Trump is the first person I can remember who actually tried to keep all of the promises that he made during the campaign,” said Scott Lindemann, a 62-year-old contractor in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who voted for the former president in the GOP primary. “I was very impressed with that.”

All four states voting Tuesday had multiple candidates on the ballot, and three of them also had an option to vote for “uncommitted” or “uninstructed delegate.” Biden has faced opposition from activists encouraging Democrats to vote against Biden to send a message of disapproval for his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.

“Uncommitted” in Rhode Island and Connecticut was getting a similar share of the vote as protest campaigns in Minnesota and Michigan, which got 19% and 13% respectively.

In New York, 70-year-old Steve Wheatley, a registered Republican, said he wishes there were more candidates to choose from. He said he voted for Nikki Haley even though “she has no shot” because of the lack of options.

“We need younger candidates with fresh ideas to run for president,” said Wheatley, a resident of Athens, a small town in the Hudson Valley. “I prefer a Democrat but our choices are thin. Look at what Biden has done so far with the economy.”

Theresa Laabs, a 55-year-old cashier in Kenosha, said her family is feeling the squeeze from higher food and gasoline prices, but she voted for Biden in the Democratic primary because she feels like he’s working to alleviate inflation.

“I understand it’s the economy now, and I’m hoping that Joe will keep working even harder in the next four years to try and bring these things down and make it easier for the working family,” Laabs said.

Trump and Biden turned their attention to the general election weeks ago after Haley dropped out of the GOP contest. Biden visited all the top battlegrounds last month after his State of the Union speech.

Biden and the Democratic National Committee have outpaced Trump and the Republicans in fundraising. Biden claimed the largest single-event fundraising record last week when he took in $26 million at a star-studded New York event with big names from the entertainment world teamed up with the president and his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Trump is looking to one-up his rival with a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, this weekend that he hopes will bring in $33 million.

With the presidential candidates locking up their parties’ nominations, turnout was slow in Rhode Island, where only 4% of eligible voters had cast ballots by 5 p.m., a figure that included Tuesday’s in-person votes as well as mail-in and early votes.

It was slow across the border in Connecticut as well, where early voting was held for the first time in state history. Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said turnout was only 1% to 2% in some communities by 11 a.m., while it was 4% in Stamford, one of the state’s larger cities. “What we have been hearing on the ground from people over the last few weeks is that this isn’t a competitive primary,” she said about the low numbers.

Biden and Trump are both expected to easily win primaries in Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin and add to their delegate hauls for their party conventions this summer. The decisions will nevertheless offer clues about enthusiasm among base voters for the upcoming 2020 rematch that has left a majority of Americans underwhelmed.

Not sure where to vote? NY voters can find their polling places here. Find your polling place in Connecticut here.

Track results

A key battleground state

In particular, the tallies in Wisconsin, a pivotal November battleground, will give hints about the share of Republicans who still aren’t on board with Trump and how many Democrats are disillusioned with Biden. Trump was scheduled to campaign Tuesday in Wisconsin and Michigan, two Midwest battlegrounds.

All four states have multiple candidates on the ballot, and three of them also have an option to vote for “uncommitted” or “uninstructed delegate.” Biden has faced opposition from activists encouraging Democrats to vote against Biden to send a message of disapproval for his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Wisconsin voters will also decide the fate of two Republican-backed statewide ballot measures that will shape how elections in the state are run and funded. Mississippi voters will decide a runoff between two Republicans vying to take on longtime Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is favored to hold on to the strongly Democratic seat in November.

Trump and Biden turned their attention to the general election weeks ago after Nikki Haley dropped out of the GOP contest. Biden visited all the top battlegrounds last month after his State of the Union speech.

Biden and the Democratic National Committee have outpaced Trump and the Republicans in fundraising. Biden claimed the largest single-event fundraising record last week when he took in $26 million at a star-studded New York event last week with big names from the entertainment world teamed up with the president and his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

Trump is looking to one-up his rival with a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, this weekend that he hopes will bring in $33 million.

The 20-second video, which Trump indicated was taken Thursday in Long Island, New York, shows a truck emblazoned with “Trump 2024” and a large picture depicting Biden tied up and lying on his side.

Trump was in Long Island Thursday for the wake of fallen NYPD officer Jonathan Diller.

When reached for comment on the image in the video, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “That picture was on the back of a pick up truck that was traveling down the highway.” Cheung also accused “Democrats and crazed lunatics” of calling for violence against Trump and his family, arguing that “they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him.”

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Cheung pointed to comments by Biden in 2018, before he declared his candidacy, when he said that if he and Trump were in high school he’d “take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him” if he heard him demeaning women.

Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler slammed Trump for posting the video.

“This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,'” Tyler said in a statement. “Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6.”

The White House referred questions about the video to the campaign.

Trump has previously used violent imagery and rhetoric, both in his 2024 presidential campaign and before.

On March 16, he vowed that there would be a “bloodbath” if he was not re-elected, while speaking about the economy. Last year, before his numerous indictments, Trump warned about “potential death and destruction” if he were to be charged in the Manhattan district attorney’s hush money case against him.

He also shared an article on Truth Social that had an image of him with a baseball bat near Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s head. The post was deleted.

More recently, Trump used his Truth Social platform to go after Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money case, as well as the judge’s daughter after being hit with a partial gag order.

Trump faces four criminal indictments for charges related to allegations of election interference, mishandling classified documents and falsifying business records related to hush money payments. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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“We respectfully call upon you and your campaign to cease using images of our father to associate yourself with him and suggest your campaign’s goals are compatible,” said the letter signed by Chávez’s eldest son, Fernando Chávez.

“It is our sincere conviction that this association is untrue and deceptive,” he added.

The letter said that the family would “pursue all legal action available” if Kennedy failed to halt his campaign’s use of the United Farm Workers co-founder’s name and imagery.

When reached for comment, Kennedy campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear said: “RFK Jr.’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was a good friend of César Chávez and a staunch supporter of farmworkers throughout his life. RFK Jr. has carried on that legacy and has spent more than 40 years fighting against the poisoning of workers and consumers.”

On Friday, ahead of César Chávez Day, the Chávez family formally endorsed President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. One of César Chávez’s granddaughters, Julie Rodriguez Chavez, serves as Biden’s 2024 campaign manager.

Dolores Huerta, Chavez’s partner in founding the UFW, has also remained a Biden ally.

In 1968, Kennedy’s father, former Attorney General Robert Kennedy Sr., flew to California to join Chavez after he had engaged in a water-only fast for 25 days. Kennedy Sr., at the time running for the Democratic presidential nomination, lent considerable political backing to the farm labor movement’s nonviolent efforts, which included a multiyear strike of the California grape industry. His relationship with Chavez was a key marker for the Democratic Party’s embrace of the farmworkers’ labor rights movement. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

Kennedy Jr. is holding an event this weekend in Los Angeles that his campaign said will “celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez, a good friend of RFK and RFK, Jr.” The invitation for the event includes a photo of Kennedy Sr. and Chávez.

In July 2023, at a conference for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Kennedy commented on his family’s relationship with Chavez.

“My father’s close, and probably most important political alliance, which was César Chávez, who helped him win the California primary during the last day of his life and remained a very, very close friend of mine for most of my adult life,” Kennedy said.

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A North Texas school teacher and U.S. Army veteran has legally changed his name to Literally Anybody Else and announced he is running for U.S. president.

Else, formerly known as Dustin Ebey, said he is deeply unhappy with 2024 presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump so he legally changed his name in January to make a point.

“America wants something different. We want something better. We deserve something better,” said Else.

He lives in North Richland Hills and teaches seventh-grade math.

Else said he bought the domain LiterallyAnybodyElse.com early last year and began designing T-shirts with the name. He admitted it all began as a joke but said he got serious when he realized Biden and Trump would be back on the ballot.

“I didn’t change my name when it was a joke. I would not have changed my name. My father-in-law puts it nicely that that juice was not worth the squeeze,” said Else.

Else knows he faces near-impossible odds and getting on the ballot would be difficult.

He needs a certain amount of signatures from non-primary voters by May 13 to even get his quirky name on the ballot. In Texas, an independent candidate needs a whopping 113,151 signatures of registered voters who did not vote in the presidential primary of either party, per state law.

So, Else is encouraging voters to write in Literally Anybody Else.

Else campaigned before a Dallas Stars game and is considering hosting a campaign event this month. Other than that, he is relying on word of mouth.

Else hopes to soon hire an assistant to help field calls from media and supporters.

“Literally Anybody Else isn’t just a person,” Else wrote on his website:

“For too long have Americans been a victim of its political parties putting party loyalty over governance. Together lets send the message to Washington and say, “You will represent the people or be replaced.” America should not be stuck choosing between the “King of Debt” (his self-declaration) and an 81-year old. Literally Anybody Else isn’t a just a person, it’s a rally cry.“

Shanahan, 38, is a California lawyer and philanthropist who’s never held elected office. She leads Bia-Echo Foundation, an organization she founded to direct money toward issues including women’s reproductive science, criminal justice reform and environmental causes.

Kennedy, a former Democrat, made the announcement in Oakland, California, where Shanahan was raised in an impoverished family.

“Nicole and I both left the Democratic Party,” he said. “Our values didn’t change. The Democratic Party did.”

Kennedy’s campaign has spooked Democrats, who are fighting third-party options that could draw support from President Joe Biden and help former President Donald Trump. But allies for both Biden and Trump attacked Kennedy and Shanahan on Tuesday, reflecting the uncertainty about how Americans might respond to an independent ticket that has little chance of winning Electoral College votes but could draw votes across the spectrum.

Without the backing of a party, Kennedy faces an arduous task to get on the ballot, with varying rules across the 50 states. He’s picking a running mate now because about half of the states require him to designate one before he can apply for ballot access.

Kennedy has secured access to the ballot in Utah. He and an allied super PAC, American Values 2024, say they’ve collected enough signatures to qualify in several other states, including swing states Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, but election officials there have not yet signed off.

In Nevada, Democratic Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said in a March 7 letter to independent candidates that they must nominate a vice presidential candidate before collecting signatures. The letter came days after Kennedy’s campaign announced he’d collected enough signatures in the state.

Kennedy acknowledged the hurdles he faces and urged Americans to “take a risk” and vote for him, saying the biggest obstacle to his campaign is the belief that he can’t win.

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“If Nicole and I can get Americans to refuse to vote from fear, we’re going to be in the White House in November,” he said.

In a nearly 30-minute speech introducing herself to Kennedy supporters, Shanahan echoed the critique at the heart of Kennedy’s campaign — that both major parties, the media and the U.S. government are beholden to greedy profiteers. She also embraced his discredited anti-vaccine message.

“It wasn’t until I met Bobby and people supporting him that I felt any hope in the outcome of this election,” Shanahan said.

Formerly married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Shanahan is deeply enmeshed in the Silicon Valley technology culture that Kennedy frequently critiques.

But he said her connections would help her confront the tech industry’s power and influence, and her knowledge of artificial intelligence could steer the government to nurture transformative technologies.

Outside the performing arts venue where Kennedy announced his pick, broken-down cars, discarded bicycles, tents and all manner of household goods took up the sidewalk and a park, a visual reminder of the housing crisis that has plagued California.

Dawn Mitchell, a 52-year-old retired Army reservist and U.S. Postal Service worker from Chesapeake, Virginia, said she was vacationing in Los Angeles when she heard Kennedy would be appearing in Oakland and decided to make the six-hour drive to hear him and Shanahan.

“I didn’t really know her before, but just listening to her and listening to her passion about helping children and the chronic disease epidemic and regenerative farming, I’m pretty impressed by her,” she said.

Speakers who entertained the crowd before Kennedy took the stage included Angela Stanton-King, a woman pardoned by then-President Donald Trump for her role in a car theft ring that led to a 2004 federal conspiracy conviction and two years in prison; Metta World Peace, the NBA all-star player formerly known as Ron Artest; and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford Medical School professor who questioned the efficacy of lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and was part of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential launch event last year.

The Democratic National Committee is gearing up to take on Kennedy and other third-party options, including No Labels, a well-funded group working to recruit a centrist ticket. The effort is overseen by veteran strategist Mary Beth Cahill, whose resume includes chief of staff to the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, another of RFK Jr.’s uncles.

Some members of his family have publicly criticized his views. Dozens of Kennedy family members sent a message when they posed with Biden at a St. Patrick’s Day reception at the White House in a photo his sister Kerry Kennedy posted to social media.

“He’s a spoiler. He’s tried to coast on his family legacy and the goodwill they have in the African American community,” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis said of Kennedy on a conference call with reporters organized by the DNC. “But the Kennedy family has denounced this lame attempt and they’ve quite frankly stood with President Biden.”

Republicans, likewise, worry Kennedy’s anti-establishment bent and skepticism about the response to COVID-19 could entice voters who might otherwise vote for Trump.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a far-left radical that supports reparations, backs the Green New Deal, and wants to ban fracking,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. “It’s no surprise he would pick a Biden donor leftist as his running mate.”

Kennedy is a descendant of a storied Democratic family that includes his father, Robert F. Kennedy, who was a U.S. senator, attorney general and presidential candidate, and his uncle former President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy was a teenager when his father, known as RFK, was assassinated during his own presidential campaign in 1968. RFK Jr. built a reputation of his own as an activist, author and lawyer who fought for environmental causes such as clean water.

Along the way, his activism has veered into conspiracies and contradicted scientific consensus, most infamously on vaccines.

An anti-vaccine group Kennedy led has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

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Another Haley primary supporter acknowledges that he was probably always a “closet Trump fan” and will vote for the former president again in November.

The former U.N. ambassador’s base was never big enough to seriously challenge Trump before he clinched a third straight Republican nomination. But in what’s shaping up to be a tight rematch between Trump and Biden, the apparent splintering of Haley’s voters and donors could hurt Trump’s general election chances, particularly in battleground states full of suburban voters who remain dubious of a Trump return to the White House.

For now, interviews with Haley’s supporters suggest they could go in a variety of directions — some backing Trump, some going to Biden and others seeking third-party options or avoiding making a decision about the presidential race yet.

Haley has not spoken publicly since leaving the race and urging Trump to reach out to all Republicans. She has not endorsed Trump and suggested she may not at all.

“She said it’s up to him to earn the support of those who supported her, and he’s got to earn it,” said Eric Tanenblatt, a longtime GOP donor who was Haley’s Georgia campaign’s co-chairman. “Right now, I’m definitely not there. It tells me there are things that are still up in the air among other key Haley donors waiting for a sign.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Glenn Swanson caucused for Haley after seeing her campaign in his hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa. At the time, the retired architect said he was open to a Trump alternative. Now, he’s coming back to the candidate he supported in both 2016 and 2020, despite his concerns about the four felony indictments and other civil cases facing Trump.

“For sure I’m going to vote for Trump,” Swanson said in an interview. “In a sense I was kind of a closet Trump fan all along, but I really wanted to see if somebody else would emerge to get away from some of the drama.”

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John Wynstra, a database administrator who attended that same event, had been deciding between Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before choosing to caucus for her. Wynstra said he’s strategically supporting Trump and the party’s platform — as a stance primarily against Biden — although he seemingly left the door open to possibly supporting a third-party candidate like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I will vote against Joe Biden and the Democrats,” Wynstra said this week. “If Kennedy were viable and if his positions were palatable, I would consider him.”

In Haley’s home state of South Carolina, high school teacher Michael Burgess said that save an unlikely independent run by Haley or a moderate like former Rep. Liz Cheney, he would be supporting Biden and criticized Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“I will reluctantly vote Biden,” Burgess said. “We can survive bad policy, but we cannot survive the destruction of the Constitution at the hands of a morally bankrupt dictator lover in Trump who, supported by his congressional MAGA minions, would do just that.”

Like many who were drawn to Haley, Tanenblatt, who was her Georgia campaign’s co-chairman, became disenchanted with Trump for what he called “inflammatory rhetoric,” chiefly in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the Capitol.

But he also says Trump’s opposition to military aid to Ukraine is a fundamental policy difference. Tanenblatt has talked individually with former Haley supporters weighing a role with No Labels, the third-party group that is moving forward with attempting a unity ticket of opposing party presidential and vice-presidential nominees.

By and large, Haley’s donors have paused, with key bundlers noting they have not heard from Trump’s team as well as their reluctance to make any decisions.

“I really think there’s a period of recalibrating for a number of us who were very involved in Nikki’s campaign. This was a calling, something bigger than any one of us,” said Simone Levinson, a Florida-based Haley fundraiser who hosted events for her in New York and Florida.

Those donors could be helpful to Trump were they to come to the former president’s side.

For now, Trump and national Republicans are lagging far behind Biden and national Democrats in fundraising, with Trump’s campaign and allied groups holding $37 million cash on hand at the end of February compared to the $155 million in Democratic coffers.

In one sign of her influence going forward, Haley ended last month with $11.5 million, just days before she suspended her campaign. That’s slightly more than the Republican National Committee at $11.3 million.

Biden will appear in the Democratic primary in both states. Republicans will vote only in Louisiana as the Missouri GOP already held caucuses on March 2.

None of the races will offer suspense. Biden and Trump have already clinched their party nominations and beaten their major competitors. But the primary races are still closely watched by insiders for turnout and signs of protest voters.

For Biden, some liberals are registering their anger with Israel’s war against Hamas following the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack. More than 30,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children, have been reported killed by Gaza authorities since Israel launched its offensive. A protest movement launched by Arab American communities in Michigan has spread to several other states.

Trump is his party’s dominant figure and has locked up a third straight Republican nomination. But he faces dissent from people worried about the immense legal jeopardy he faces or critical of his White House term, which ended shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection mounted by his supporters and fueled by his false theories of election fraud.

Saturday’s primary will be the Missouri Democratic Party’s first party-run presidential contest since a new law took effect in August 2022. Louisiana’s primaries, meanwhile, come almost four years after the state was the first to postpone its primaries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.