McConnell says he will not endorse any candidate to replace him as Senate Republican leader
Speaking to NBC News, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he would not be making an endorsement in the race to succeed him. When asked about the proposal by Sen. John Cornyn, a candidate for Republican leader, to limit how long a member can serve as the GOP leader, he called the proposal "totally inappropriate".
The battle is on for Nikki Haley’s supporters
Nikki Haley’s campaign is over, but the fight to win over her supporters has just begun.
With former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden essentially set in stone as their parties’ respective presidential nominees, the Haley voting bloc — those who previously cast ballots for Trump and those who previously cast ballots for Biden — will now have to come to terms with a choice many wished they wouldn’t have to make.
And Trump and Biden’s initial pitches to these voters couldn’t sound more different.
How does the length of this presidential primary compare to recent elections?
With the news that Haley is preparing to drop out, it appears that this cycle is among the earliest the general election field has been set in recent history, but not the earliest.
Here’s a look at the dates by when the two party nominees have been effectively set since the 2000 election:
2020
April 8: Bernie Sanders dropped out, Biden the “apparent” nominee
Trump incumbent, no serious challenge
2016
May 4: NBC News projects Trump as the “presumptive nominee” as top competitors drop out
June 6: NBC News projects Hillary Clinton as the presumptive Democratic nominee
2012
April 10/25: Rick Santorum drops out on the 10th, leaving Romney the last major candidate left. The RNC names Romney presumptive nominee, per LA Times’ Mike Memoli’s contemporaneous reporting.
2008
March 4: McCain declared the presumptive nominee by multiple outlets, visits the White House the following day to receive the endorsement of President Bush, who refers to him as “the nominee of the Republican Party.”
June 3: NBC News projects Barack Obama as the presumptive nominee
2004
March 2/3: John Kerry is seen as the apparent nominee after his Super Tuesday victories on the 2nd and John Edwards dropped out on the 3rd.
2000
March 9: Bill Bradley dropped out, leaving Al Gore the final major candidate standing
March 9: John McCain dropped out the same day. While Alan Keyes was technically still running, he was not seen as a serious threat to George Bush winning the nomination.
Trump allies on the RNC want to help pay his legal bills
A growing number of Republican National Committee members believe its campaign arm should help pay mounting legal bills for former President Donald Trump, a move that could strain the party’s ability to financially support other candidates in the 2024 election.
RNC Committeeman Solomon Yue, who is from Oregon, told CNBC he believes “more than a majority” of members are in favor of helping offset the bills from Trump’s lawyers in four pending criminal cases, and at least three other civil cases.
“I support the RNC paying President Trump’s legal bills,” Yue said.
Supreme Court to hear Trump's presidential immunity case April 25
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Trump’s presidential immunity case on April 25, the court announced Wednesday. The announcement comes after the court said last week that it will decide the issue of whether Trump can claim immunity over the federal election interference charges against him.
Even if Trump loses at the high court, a trial might not start until well into election season and perhaps even after Election Day in November.
These are the Republican senators who haven't endorsed Trump
Now that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has the support of 37 of the 49 Republican senators. Here are the GOP senators who have not formally backed him yet:
- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa
- Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.
- Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.
- Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
- Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah
- Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
- Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
- Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine
- Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.
- Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.
Dean Phillips ends presidential campaign
Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota has suspended his campaign for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, ending his long-shot bid for the White House.
“I’m going to suspend my campaign and I will be, right now, endorsing President Biden because the choices are so clear,” he said in a Minnesota radio interview on WCCO’s "The Chad Hartman Show."
Phillips, 55, launched his campaign in October, saying he had to run against the leader of his party because he argued Biden would lose to former President Donald Trump in the general election in November.
“I will not sit still, I will not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying we’re going to be facing an emergency next November,” Phillips, who is not running for a fourth term, said in an interview with CBS News last fall.
Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press” soon after, Phillips said, “Right now, if this election was held today, President Biden would lose, and it is an existential threat to the future of the United States of America. That will not happen under my watch.”
Sen. Mark Kelly endorses Rep. Ruben Gallego for Senate after Sinema announces retirement
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., endorsed Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego for Senate after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat turned independent, announced Tuesday she would not be running for re-election.
“I’ve worked very closely with Ruben," Kelly said. "He’s a veteran on Armed Services Committee. I’m on the Armed Services Committee. We have a lot of military installations in Arizona. Really smart guy, brings people together. And the other option is somebody who divides people,” Kelly said in an interview, referring to Republican Kari Lake.
“This is an individual that doesn’t stand up for democracy, wants to take away people’s rights, including the right of a woman to have an abortion. That doesn’t go over well in our state,” Kelly said.
NBC’s Hallie Jackson and Steve Kornacki join "TODAY" to break down the results on Super Tuesday after Donald Trump dominated the results.
DNC echoes Biden's calls to draw Haley's supporters to his campaign
The Democratic National Committee released a statement Wednesday calling for Haley's supporters to join Biden campaign after her exit from the presidential race.
"Trump has made it clear that he does not want Nikki Haley’s supporters — and her supporters know Trump failed the American people and that he would go even further to rip away our rights and tear down our democracy if given the chance," DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.
"For them, there is only one candidate left in this race who’s proven he has what it takes to beat Donald Trump: Joe Biden," Harrison added.