Here's what's happening in the 2024 presidential race
- Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont today became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race. Earlier in the day, two more House Democrats and prominent party donor George Clooney said Biden should step aside.
- NBC News anchor Lester Holt will sit down with Biden on Monday night for an exclusive one-on-one interview in Austin, Texas.
- Former President Donald Trump has been teasing his potential pick for a running mate, saying he will announce it sometime this week or at next week's Republican National Convention.
Barack Obama spotted at USA v. Canada basketball game
Former President Barack Obama is at tonight's Team USA v. Canada basketball game, which is taking place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.
Yesterday, Harris spoke with the team at practice.
Gretchen Whitmer: It wouldn't hurt for Biden to take a cognitive test
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in an interview tonight that it wouldn't hurt for Biden to take a cognitive test as many of his critics have urged him to do.
“I don’t think that it'd hurt, to be honest,” Whitmer, a Democrat, said on CNN when she was asked whether Biden should take a cognitive test and challenge Trump to do the same.
Whitmer went on to praise Biden, saying that in spite of his debate performance he shows up and fights for the American people.
"We can't lose sight of how high these states are. We have a field, and unless one person — Joe Biden — makes an alternative decision, this is the field, and we've got to go," she said.
Rep. Jared Golden won't commit to vote for Biden for now
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, said in an interview that he had unanswered questions about Biden's health and needed answers before he could vote for him.
“I’m asking the same questions that I know millions and millions of Americans are asking themselves, which is ‘What is the physical and mental state of health of the president of the United States?’” Golden told Maine Public Broadcasting. “And I will not vote for someone if I don’t think they are physically or mentally equipped to lead this nation. And I don't know the answer to that question at this time.”
Golden predicted in an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News last week that Trump will win the election.
A Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling will allow the expanded use of ballot drop boxes. NBC News correspondent Shaq Brewster joins "Meet the Press NOW" to explain what it means for the elections in November and shares what he’s hearing from officials in Milwaukee, the host city for the Republican National Convention.
Biden toasts NATO alliance during White House dinner
Biden delivered brief remarks praising NATO at tonight's dinner at the White House.
"We are neighbors because we all share common beliefs in dignity, equality, democracy, freedom, and we’re all neighbors because we’re there for one another," he said.
"To NATO and to our neighborhood of nations," Biden added later, toasting the alliance. "May we continue to grow stronger and closer in all the years ahead.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg echoed Biden's remarks in a toast, as well.
JD Vance mocks Kamala Harris at National Conservatism Conference
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, one of the finalists to be Trump’s running mate, excoriated increased immigration into the U.S., mocked Vice President Kamala Harris and praised leaders at a conference today in Washington, D.C.
Vance, addressing the National Conservatism Conference, opened by joking that he had expected to be mobbed by reporters — armed with questions about being Trump's running mate — at the Capitol on Monday.
"When I got to the Capitol, I sort of, in a bit of hubris, expected all the reporters to swarm me and ask me a bunch of questions about you probably can guess," he said. "And they were totally uninterested, because there's nothing the media loves more than a good death watch."
Vance pivoted to deriding the idea of Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee.
"Be careful what they wish for, of course," he said. "Because the prize at the end of the rainbow would be Kamala Harris. So talk about being between a rock and a hard place."
Vance delivered the closing address at the three-day conference, a forum for right-wing intellectuals, influencers and elected officials to offer unvarnished thoughts on the kinds of hard-line immigration policies they would like to see attempted in a second Trump administration, as well as to offer culture war battle plans and a reframed economic agenda.
"This really is the place of intellectual leadership in the American Conservative Movement," Vance said.
He said immigration "has made our societies poorer, less safe, less prosperous and less advanced."
"Now, I remember getting some argument with some loser on Twitter a year or so ago about whether immigration raised housing prices," he said. "And of course, the argument is yeah, maybe immigrants take up some more demand for housing, but they build all the houses. That's not true, by the way. In Pennsylvania, Ohio, you'll see a lot of very native-born citizens who still build houses."
Biden rode the perception of electability to victory in 2020. But now it may be his undoing.
Biden’s superpower inside the Democratic Party has been the belief he can beat Trump — a belief that helped him prevail in the crowded 2020 primary campaign. But electability is quickly becoming his potential kryptonite as members of his party worry he’s poised to lose re-election and bring down everyone else with him.
“Live by the electability, die by the electability,” said Seth Masket, the director of the Center on American Politics at Denver University and author of a book about recent Democratic presidential primary campaign.
Several Democrats held their fire after Biden’s disastrous debate performance, waiting to see how the criticism would play out in the polls. As the numbers have trickled in, the picture is complicated — meaning it neither quieted nor supercharged the calls for him to set aside.
First Democratic senator calls for Biden to drop re-election bid
Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont today became the first Senate Democrat to call for Biden to bow out of the race.
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Welch emphasized his respect for Biden, but he said that "for the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race."
"We have asked President Biden to do so much for so many for so long," Welch wrote. "It has required unmatched selflessness and courage. We need him to put us first, as he has done before. I urge him to do it now."
Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer says Biden should drop out
Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, a senior Democrat and the dean of his state's delegation, called on Biden to end his re-election bid.
“While this is a decision for the president and the first lady, I hope they will come to the conclusion that I and others have: President Biden should not be the Democratic presidential nominee," Blumenauer said in a statement today. "It is a painful and difficult conclusion but there is no question in my mind that we will all be better served if the president steps aside as the Democratic nominee and manages a transition under his terms."
Blumenauer is the ninth House Democrat to publicly call on the president to leave the race.
Gavin Newsom reiterates he wouldn't challenge Kamala Harris if Biden drops out
At a news conference about wildfire response, California Gov. Gavin Newsom today reiterated that he would not campaign against Harris if Biden were to drop out of the race.
Asked whether he stood by his previous comments on the issue, he said, "Of course, yes."
Newsom, a prominent Biden campaign surrogate, said in a "Meet the Press" interview last year that if Biden did not run, "the vice president is naturally the one lined up."
Asked during that interview whether he could imagine running against Harris, he responded, "Of course not."