Campaign Report
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Campaign Report
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Democrats’ third-party worries grow
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As Democrats stare down the likelihood of President Biden taking on former President Trump again, concerns are growing that a third-party candidate could act as a spoiler for the party in 2024.
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Cornel West, a philosopher, Ivy League academic and leftist, recently announced his presidential run with the Green Party, raising the stakes for Democrats in an already precarious election.
As The Hill’s Hanna Trudo reports, West’s challenge as a third-party candidate is stirring up unpleasant flashbacks to Hilary Clinton’s loss in 2016. Many in Clinton’s orbit blamed Green Party nominee Jill Stein as a factor in her loss to Trump.
“In 2016, the Green Party played an outsized role in tipping the election to Donald Trump,” wrote David Axelrod, who served as former President Obama’s chief strategist, on Twitter last weekend. “Now, with Cornel West as their likely nominee, they could easily do it again. Risky business.”
In response to West’s bid, Biden’s allies are calling for unity ahead of what could be an unpredictable fight against the twice-impeached former president.
“This is not the time in order to experiment. This is not the time to play around on the margins,” warned DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison, a close Biden confidant, over the weekend.
West is not the only third-party challenge Democrats may face.
No Labels, an organization advocating for a third-party candidate, is hosting Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) at its New Hampshire town hall next Monday. The senator’s appearance as a keynote speaker adds to growing speculation that he will make a third-party run.
Manchin is up for reelection next year and while he has yet to announce his 2024 plans, he has not ruled out a presidential bid.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, we’re Madeleine Simon and Amee LaTour. Each week we track the key stories you need to know to stay ahead of the 2024 election and who will set the agenda in Washington.
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Key election stories and other recent campaign coverage:
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A super PAC supporting Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination is offering donors the chance to have a year of college tuition covered if they donate $1 to his campaign. “AI Francis Suarez here. I’ll cut to the chase. SOS America PAC is giving away a free year of college. Seriously. You can enter now for a chance to win a free year of college,” an artificial intelligence …
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A New York court on Thursday ruled in favor of Democrats’ efforts to get their congressional map redrawn after the party lost a handful of seats in the Empire State in the November midterms — losses that followed a previous bout of redistricting. In June 2022, New York voters brought a lawsuit requesting the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) “fulfill their constitutional duty” to redraw congressional …
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Rep. Ruben Gallego’s (D-Ariz.) campaign announced Thursday that he brought in $3.1 million in the second quarter of fundraising for this year in the race for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) Senate seat. The campaign said Gallego received more than 105,000 contributions with 58,533 donors giving in the second quarter. The average donation was $29, and 98 percent of the donations received were for $100 or less. The …
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
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- 93 days until Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary
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117 days until Kentucky and Mississippi’s gubernatorial generals
- 480 days until the 2024 general election
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2024 Republicans flock to Iowa
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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will host six of the 11 Republican presidential candidates at the Family Leadership Summit on Friday – kicking off a jam-packed summer of campaign events for the early primary state.
The forum will feature one-on-one conversations between Carlson and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Pence, Sen Tim Scott (S.C.), former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Former President Trump is notably absent.
But he won’t be away from the state for long. On Tuesday, he’ll be taking part in a town hall in the Hawkeye State with Fox News host Sean Hannity. Then, he and DeSantis are set to share the stage later this month, headlining the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner.
A number of Republican presidential candidates are also expected to attend the Iowa State Fair beginning Aug. 10.
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McBride looks to become first trans Congress member
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© Associated Press/Paul Sancya
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State Sen. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who’s running to be the first openly transgender member of Congress if she wins her race for Delaware’s House seat, emphasized that she’s “a multidimensional human being” in an interview with Daily Kos’s Downballot podcast.
“[T]he most formative experience in my life is not my gender identity,” but rather “serving as a caregiver to my husband,” McBride said.
McBride’s late husband, Andy Cray, was diagnosed with cancer before they were married. She says they were lucky Cray had access to health care and they both had “access to flexibility with our jobs that allowed us to focus on the full-time job of trying to get Andy better without having to sacrifice our income.”
McBride said such access shouldn’t be “a matter of luck” but “the law of the land.” In the state Senate, she worked to pass the Healthy Delaware Families Act, which Gov. John Carney (D) signed into law last year.
While it’s not the main focus of her campaign, McBride said it’s necessary to have transgender representation in Congress.
She said recent anti-trans policies are “part of a longstanding, right-wing, reactionary strategy to divide and conquer, to find a scapegoat … and to distract people from what is actually making their life harder[.]”
Filling the “knowledge gap” about transgender people among voters, McBride said, “will help to create the sort of emotional and intellectual foundation for voters to just totally reject this type of politics.”
She said having transgender representation in Congress is a “foundation” and “not a destination.” While it wouldn’t solve everything, McBride said that “in the absence of an impacted community being at the table, it becomes exceptionally easy to go after them. And at the end of the day, it shouldn’t be easy.”
McBride has already made history once, when she became the first openly transgender state senator in the country.
The Cook Political Report rates Delaware’s U.S. House seat as ”solid Democratic.” Incumbent Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D) is running for the U.S. Senate seat, from which Sen. Tom Carper (D) is retiring.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Both New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have reached over 40,000 donors for their respective campaigns – the minimum number of donors deemed necessary in order to qualify for the first GOP presidential debate next month. “I’m glad to be able to tell people tonight, Anderson, that last night, we went past 40,000 unique donors in just 35 days,” Christie told CNN’s Anderson Cooper …
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Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) presidential campaign announced Wednesday that he raised $6.1 million in the second quarter of fundraising for this year. The campaign noted more than 53,000 unique donors have contributed to his campaign, and he’s received more than 75,000 contributions. Scott has met the 40,000 donor threshold needed to qualify for the first GOP debate in Milwaukee next month, though he will also need …
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Local and state headlines regarding campaigns and elections:
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Iowa caucus presidential campaigning to ramp up with busy July (Des Moines Register)
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Ruben Gallego’s Senate campaign brings in $3.1 million, largely from small-dollar donors (The Arizona Republic)
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Why Colorado is a hotspot for third political parties (Axios)
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Election news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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DeSantis Hits Trump for Skipping Iowa Event and Refusing to Commit to Debate (The New York Times)
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The US House majority is in play next year after a weak GOP midterm showing and recent court ruling (Associated Press)
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Meta cut election teams months before Threads launch, raising concerns for 2024 (CNN)
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Key stories on The Hill right now:
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Former President Trump could face charges under at least three statutes in connection with his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election, according to a review of the case by legal experts. The analysis, offered in a model prosecution memo akin to what is typically prepared by prosecutors ahead of bringing charges, determines … Read more
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President Biden said Thursday there is “no possibility” of Russian President Vladimir Putin winning the war in Ukraine while adding he’s “already lost” the conflict as Biden capped a trip to Lithuania and Finland as a show of strength against Russian aggression. Biden, in a joint press conference with Finnish … Read more
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Opinions related to campaigns and elections submitted to The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you next time!
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