Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott are competing to fill the non-Trump lane in the GOP presidential primary as Scott shows signs of rising and DeSantis’s campaign hits some bumps.

The Hill’s Julia Manchester and Caroline Vakil report that while Scott has not yet emerged as the clear alternative to Trump, his campaign has seen some bright spots along the way. The senator has seen some traction in some early state polls and has attracted interest from donors.

When asked whether he thought Scott was a threat to DeSantis, Republican strategist Ford O’Connell said “absolutely.”

“Tim Scott rising speaks more to Ron DeSantis underachieving expectations,” he added.

Scott offered his most pointed criticism of DeSantis last week when he was asked about Florida’s new standards for teaching Black history, including language in the curriculum that says students should be taught that enslaved people “developed skills” that benefited them under the system of American slavery.

DeSantis responded to Scott’s criticism: “D.C. Republicans all too often accept false narratives, accept lies that are perpetrated by the left.”

And on Monday, Scott touted a 15-week federal ban on abortion after the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List attacked DeSantis after he declined to say whether he would back a federal abortion ban in a recent interview. The group called DeSantis’s position on abortion “unacceptable,” several months after he signed a six-week ban in Florida into law.

In a statement to The Hill, the DeSantis campaign maintained the primary is still a two person race.

“No matter how much the media and D.C. elites try to destroy Ron DeSantis, they can’t change the fact that this is a two-man race for the nomination,” said Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign. “Ron DeSantis is ready to prove the doubters wrong yet again and our campaign is prepared to execute on his vision for the Great American Comeback as we transition into the next phase of winning this primary and beating Joe Biden.”

Political activist Cornel West’s Green Party run for president is causing concern among progressives that his candidacy could act as a spoiler for President Biden’s reelection prospects.

West has sought to attack the Republican and Democratic establishment during his candidacy so far, but progressives largely have consolidated their support behind Biden.

Hanna Trudo and Mychael Schnell report that while these progressives did not feel the need to share concerns about West’s candidacy when he launched his bid under the People’s Party in June, they have become more vocal since he switched to run for the Green Party nomination.

“I think just right now, given the Electoral College, it’s very difficult to square the very real threat of a Republican presidency … [with] the risk of giving up the very small margin of electoral votes needed to ensure that President Biden wins,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told The Hill last week.

West is respected among many members of the progressive movement, having worked as a top surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign. But Ocasio-Cortez and other liberals like Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) have formally endorsed Biden.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a CPC member, argued that the stakes are too high in the 2024 election for a third-party candidate that could take votes away from Biden, especially if Trump is the GOP nominee.

“I think everybody, including the most progressive elements of our country, need to protect our democracy by stopping Donald Trump and supporting Joe Biden,” he said.