Biden launches first anti-Trump ad, hitting former president's labor record ahead of Michigan visit
From CNN's Kristen Holmes
On the day of the second presidential GOP debate, President Joe Biden’s campaign is out with a new ad slamming Donald Trump’s record with autoworkers ahead of the former president’s trip to the battleground state of Michigan, underscoring how critical working-class voters will be in the upcoming presidential election in 2024.
The 30-second ad is the campaign’s first to directly attack Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary race. It will air nationally on cable and on television in Michigan. It will also run on Fox Business ahead of Wednesday’s debate.
Titled “Delivers,” the ad shows pictures of Trump golfing as a narrator claims Trump “passed tax breaks for his rich friends while auto makers shuttered their plants and Michigan lost manufacturing jobs.”
“Manufacturing is coming back to Michigan because Joe Biden doesn’t just talk, he delivers,” the ad continues.
The ad is being released a day after Biden joined a picket line of auto workers in Michigan. It's part of a $25 million television and digital ad campaign in battleground states, first reported by CNN last month.
“More empty promises in Michigan or anywhere else can’t erase Donald Trump’s egregious failures and broken promises to America’s workers,” said Kevin Munoz, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign spokesperson. “He can’t hide his anti-labor, anti-jobs record from the countless American workers he’s let down. This election will be a choice between a real advocate for working Americans and a rerun of billionaire Donald Trump’s broken promises to the middle class.”
Biden is increasingly looking past the Republican primary to focus on Trump as his 2024 challenger, including during remarks behind closed doors to donors. In the past week, he has accused Trump of trying to destroy democracy in fundraiser remarks, a sentiment he's expected to take public in the coming days.
CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.
25 min ago
The race for second place in the GOP primary is open again as DeSantis falters
From CNN's Daniel Strauss and Jeff Zeleny
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is seen at a campaign rally in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 26. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/FILE
A furious scramble for second place is underway in the crowded Republican primary contest, with candidates vying for an opportunity to directly take on front-runner Donald Trump. The position, once held by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, now appears to be more of a free-for-all.
Since the 2024 presidential race began, the second-place spot in GOP primary polling has been a coveted one. The conventional wisdom was that for candidates not named Trump, one of their earliest objectives would be to become the consensus alternative to the former president. Before and in the early days of DeSantis’ campaign, it seemed like he would be that candidate. The Florida governor enjoyed a robust campaign war chest and early polling showed him trailing only Trump, albeit by a wide margin.
But more recently, DeSantis’s star has begun to fade. He was more muted compared with other rivals at last month’s first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, and he’s now polling at similar levels to several other non-Trump contenders. A new CNN/University of New Hampshire poll of likely GOP primary voters in the Granite State found a close contest for second place between entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and DeSantis.
Ahead of the second GOP debate, Haley has been gaining ground with Republican moderates, according to surveys in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and is increasingly trying to distinguish herself on both fiscal and foreign policy.
“We need a leader who will stand up to Democrats and Republicans,” the former governor said last Friday as she unveiled her economic policy in an address at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. “Republicans talk a big game, but they’re nearly as reckless as the Democrats on spending.”
Her strong showing at the Milwaukee debate, particularly the exchanges with Ramaswamy, gained her the admiration of voters like Tom Boyer, who came to see her speak Friday.
“I appreciated what she said and agreed with her wholeheartedly,” Boyer told CNN. “I like the fact that she’s in favor of supporting Ukraine, and some of her Republican opponents are not. I like her economic plan. I like her reasoning.”
These are the 7 GOP candidates that are set to participate in tonight's debate
From CNN's Eric Bradner
Top row: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy. Bottom row: Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum. Getty Images
The 2024 GOP presidential debate stage is shrinking after the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced late Monday that seven candidates are set to participate in the second debate – down one from their first clash.
The following candidates met the RNC’s heightened polling and fundraising standards for Wednesday’s debate:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who appeared in the first Republican presidential primary debate, did not. Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, is skipping the event.
The debate, which will air at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday and hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, is taking place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
New polls released over the weekend from NBC News and The Washington Post/ABC News found Trump with a clear nationwide lead in the GOP primary. NBC showed the former president with 59% support, ahead of DeSantis at 16%, Haley at 7%, Pence and Christie at 4% each, Scott at 3% and Ramaswamy at 2%. The Post/ABC poll put Trump’s support at 54% support to DeSantis’ 15%, with Haley receiving 7%, Pence 6%, Scott 4%, and Christie and Ramaswamy at 3% each.
To qualify for the second debate, GOP candidates had to register at least 3% in two national polls or one national poll and two polls from separate early voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. Those polls had to be released at least 48 hours prior to the debate and meet the RNC’s standards. Candidates were also required to have a minimum of 50,000 unique donors, with at least 200 donors in 20 states or territories. Debate participants will also need to sign a pledge committing to supporting the eventual Republican nominee.
48 min ago
What to watch: The shadow of Reagan
From CNN's Eric Bradner, Gregory Krieg and Jeff Zeleny
Wednesday’s debate is taking place at an iconic venue – the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
The 40th president’s library played host to GOP presidential debates in 2008, 2012 and 2016. And in former President Donald Trump’s absence, several candidates could seek to use the soaring backdrop of the majestic library to tap into the Gipper’s glow.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has been familiarizing herself with some of Reagan’s great lines.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who struggled to break through with his optimistic message amid the fireworks of the first debate, sent supporters a fundraising email in which he drew explicit comparisons to Reagan. Its opening line – “America is at a time for choosing” – recalled Reagan’s 1964 speech on behalf of GOP candidate Barry Goldwater that launched the onetime actor into the national spotlight.
What’s not clear is whether invoking Reagan still has an effect on voters in a party that has abandoned many of his principles in recent years.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who for decades has spoken about how Reagan steered him toward conservatism, stood by his 2016 comparison of Trump to Reagan in a recent interview with CNN.
“Many people believed when he chose me, someone that had been in the conservative movement since the days of Ronald Reagan, it was evidence of the sincerity of his purpose,” he said.
But Pence also insisted the former president has strayed from those principles since then. He has urged the party to steer away from populist “imitators.”
Republican presidential candidates are preparing to face off tonight at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in the second primary debate of the 2024 campaign. It will air on Fox Business and Univision at 9 p.m. ET.
Seven candidates will take the stage: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
To qualify, the candidates had to sign a pledge backing the eventual Republican nominee and meet certain donor and polling thresholds.
Former President Donald Trump, the current GOP front-runner, will skip the debate again and instead deliver a primetime speech to former and current union members in Detroit.
On the day of the second presidential GOP debate, President Joe Biden’s campaign is out with a new ad slamming Donald Trump’s record with autoworkers ahead of the former president’s trip to the battleground state of Michigan, underscoring how critical working-class voters will be in the upcoming presidential election in 2024.
The 30-second ad is the campaign’s first to directly attack Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary race. It will air nationally on cable and on television in Michigan. It will also run on Fox Business ahead of Wednesday’s debate.
Titled “Delivers,” the ad shows pictures of Trump golfing as a narrator claims Trump “passed tax breaks for his rich friends while auto makers shuttered their plants and Michigan lost manufacturing jobs.”
“Manufacturing is coming back to Michigan because Joe Biden doesn’t just talk, he delivers,” the ad continues.
The ad is being released a day after Biden joined a picket line of auto workers in Michigan. It's part of a $25 million television and digital ad campaign in battleground states, first reported by CNN last month.
“More empty promises in Michigan or anywhere else can’t erase Donald Trump’s egregious failures and broken promises to America’s workers,” said Kevin Munoz, Biden-Harris 2024 campaign spokesperson. “He can’t hide his anti-labor, anti-jobs record from the countless American workers he’s let down. This election will be a choice between a real advocate for working Americans and a rerun of billionaire Donald Trump’s broken promises to the middle class.”
Biden is increasingly looking past the Republican primary to focus on Trump as his 2024 challenger, including during remarks behind closed doors to donors. In the past week, he has accused Trump of trying to destroy democracy in fundraiser remarks, a sentiment he's expected to take public in the coming days.
CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is seen at a campaign rally in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 26. Brandon Bell/Getty Images/FILE
A furious scramble for second place is underway in the crowded Republican primary contest, with candidates vying for an opportunity to directly take on front-runner Donald Trump. The position, once held by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, now appears to be more of a free-for-all.
Since the 2024 presidential race began, the second-place spot in GOP primary polling has been a coveted one. The conventional wisdom was that for candidates not named Trump, one of their earliest objectives would be to become the consensus alternative to the former president. Before and in the early days of DeSantis’ campaign, it seemed like he would be that candidate. The Florida governor enjoyed a robust campaign war chest and early polling showed him trailing only Trump, albeit by a wide margin.
But more recently, DeSantis’s star has begun to fade. He was more muted compared with other rivals at last month’s first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, and he’s now polling at similar levels to several other non-Trump contenders. A new CNN/University of New Hampshire poll of likely GOP primary voters in the Granite State found a close contest for second place between entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and DeSantis.
Ahead of the second GOP debate, Haley has been gaining ground with Republican moderates, according to surveys in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and is increasingly trying to distinguish herself on both fiscal and foreign policy.
“We need a leader who will stand up to Democrats and Republicans,” the former governor said last Friday as she unveiled her economic policy in an address at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. “Republicans talk a big game, but they’re nearly as reckless as the Democrats on spending.”
Her strong showing at the Milwaukee debate, particularly the exchanges with Ramaswamy, gained her the admiration of voters like Tom Boyer, who came to see her speak Friday.
“I appreciated what she said and agreed with her wholeheartedly,” Boyer told CNN. “I like the fact that she’s in favor of supporting Ukraine, and some of her Republican opponents are not. I like her economic plan. I like her reasoning.”
Top row: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy. Bottom row: Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum. Getty Images
The 2024 GOP presidential debate stage is shrinking after the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced late Monday that seven candidates are set to participate in the second debate – down one from their first clash.
The following candidates met the RNC’s heightened polling and fundraising standards for Wednesday’s debate:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who appeared in the first Republican presidential primary debate, did not. Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, is skipping the event.
The debate, which will air at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday and hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, is taking place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
New polls released over the weekend from NBC News and The Washington Post/ABC News found Trump with a clear nationwide lead in the GOP primary. NBC showed the former president with 59% support, ahead of DeSantis at 16%, Haley at 7%, Pence and Christie at 4% each, Scott at 3% and Ramaswamy at 2%. The Post/ABC poll put Trump’s support at 54% support to DeSantis’ 15%, with Haley receiving 7%, Pence 6%, Scott 4%, and Christie and Ramaswamy at 3% each.
To qualify for the second debate, GOP candidates had to register at least 3% in two national polls or one national poll and two polls from separate early voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. Those polls had to be released at least 48 hours prior to the debate and meet the RNC’s standards. Candidates were also required to have a minimum of 50,000 unique donors, with at least 200 donors in 20 states or territories. Debate participants will also need to sign a pledge committing to supporting the eventual Republican nominee.
Wednesday’s debate is taking place at an iconic venue – the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
The 40th president’s library played host to GOP presidential debates in 2008, 2012 and 2016. And in former President Donald Trump’s absence, several candidates could seek to use the soaring backdrop of the majestic library to tap into the Gipper’s glow.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has been familiarizing herself with some of Reagan’s great lines.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who struggled to break through with his optimistic message amid the fireworks of the first debate, sent supporters a fundraising email in which he drew explicit comparisons to Reagan. Its opening line – “America is at a time for choosing” – recalled Reagan’s 1964 speech on behalf of GOP candidate Barry Goldwater that launched the onetime actor into the national spotlight.
What’s not clear is whether invoking Reagan still has an effect on voters in a party that has abandoned many of his principles in recent years.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who for decades has spoken about how Reagan steered him toward conservatism, stood by his 2016 comparison of Trump to Reagan in a recent interview with CNN.
“Many people believed when he chose me, someone that had been in the conservative movement since the days of Ronald Reagan, it was evidence of the sincerity of his purpose,” he said.
But Pence also insisted the former president has strayed from those principles since then. He has urged the party to steer away from populist “imitators.”
