Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (L) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy shake hands after the fourth Republican presidential primary debate at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on December 6, 2023. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
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The Big Story
DeSantis, Ramaswamy take CNN stage
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are back in front of a network news audience this week, this time for CNN’s town halls.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking the stage on CNN Tuesday in Des Moines with anchor Jake Tapper, while Vivek Ramaswamy’s town hall will be moderated by anchor Abby Phillip Wednesday evening.
The events are another opportunity for both candidates to appeal to a broad audience, but as Iowa-based Republican strategist David Kochel told The Hill’s Julia Manchester last week, Iowa caucusgoers are also likely to tune into these national events with the candidates.
“It is quite possible that a majority of Iowans will still not have completely made up their minds by that time,” Kochel said, referring to the Jan. 15 caucuses.
Tapper and Phillip will likely press the two candidates on hot button issues like abortion, the Israel-Hamas War and former President Trump himself.
How DeSantis and Ramaswamy broach the issue of Trump could be key given CNN’s past criticism of the former president. Both candidates are seeking to appeal to Trump’s base and a more populist part of the GOP primary electorate, making the potential dynamic at the town halls a bit of a tightrope for the candidates.
At the same time, DeSantis and Ramaswamy could take the opportunity to push back on the network and its questioning, given CNN’s past coverage of Trump and his allegations of bias against him.
Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, we’re Julia Manchester and Elizabeth Crisp. 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.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) fiercely rejected the idea that former President Trump, the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner, would pick rival Nikki Haley to serve as his running mate in the general election. “MAGA would revolt if Nikki Haley were to even be given an internship in Trump’s next administration,” Greene wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, referring to supporters of Trump’s Make America …
Shaye Moss said her life was “flipped upside down” when she became an epicenter of baseless accusations of mass election fraud in Georgia, taking the stand on Tuesday as a witness in her defamation case against longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. “I’m just this whole new messed up person,” she said. After the 2020 election, Giuliani accused Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, of committing election fraud against former …
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert debated Monday night whether former President Trump was an “aberration” in the Republican Party. While on her book tour promoting her book “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning,” Cheney and Colbert disagreed about the former president’s role in the GOP and how the party came to the point of electing him in 2016 and has the potential of doing so …
The conservative women’s group Maggie’s List has named Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer (R) and New York Rep. Claudia Tenney (R) its congressional co-chairs this cycle, marking the first time the group has had two people hold the position.
“As we approach the 2024 election cycle, we are thrilled to welcome Senator Fischer and Congresswoman Tenney as our congressional chairs,” said Sandra Mortham, the group’s chair and a former Florida secretary of state. “Both Fischer and Tenney demonstrate a strong commitment to our core values of fiscal responsibility, limited government and strong national security.
“Further, we believe their leadership will help propel our endorsed candidates to victory during these important and historic times,” she continued.
On The Trail
Trump maintains strong lead in GOP nomination fight
In Iowa, which will be the first test for GOP candidates on Jan. 15, Trump’s support among likely caucus goers has topped 51 percent, a poll from NBC News showed Monday. DeSantis and Haley trailed with 19 and 16 percent, respectively.
Trump needled Haley on Tuesday, while also touting his own strength in the polls.
“Where’s the Nikki Surge?” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “I hear about it from the Fake News Media, but don’t see it in the Polls, or on the Ground.”
On the national stage, a poll from The Wall Street Journal released over the weekend showed Trump at 59 percent support among likely Republican voters, while Haley and DeSantis trailed at 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
The same poll showed Trump leads Biden 47 percent to 43 percent.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new Fight Like Hell PAC rolled out its first slate of endorsements on Tuesday.
Rep. Hillary Scholten (MI-03)
Rep. Lauren Underwood (IL-14)
Rep. Susan Wild (PA-07)
Rep. Chris DeLuzio (PA-17)
Rep. Jahana Hayes (CT-05)
Rep. Emilia Sykes (OH-13)
Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-04)
Rep. Angie Craig (MN-02)
A number of the endorsed candidates are facing potential uphill reelection bids, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates Wild and Sykes’s respective districts as “toss-ups,” while DeLuzio and Hayes’s respective districts are considered “lean Democratic.” The election forecaster rated Scholten and Craig’s districts as “likely Democrat.”
A majority of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers say high-profile endorsements for presidential candidates do not affect their voting decisions, according to a new survey. A new poll from Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom, released Monday, found that 54 percent of Republican caucusgoers in the key early-voting state said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ (R) endorsement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the primary does not make a difference …
One in 5 Black voters say they would vote for “someone else” rather than President Biden or former President Trump in the 2024 presidential election, a new poll finds. The GenForward survey, first reported by Politico and later provided to The Hill, could signal trouble for Biden as he seeks a second term. Black voters made up a crucial block in his 2020 election, with 92 percent casting their ballots for the Democrat, according …
Ukraine’s war-time leader Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to salvage Ukraine aid talks ahead of the winter holiday recess. He faces an uphill climb. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Tuesday afternoon that a deal before Christmas was “practically impossible,” … Read more
House Democrats are scrambling to overcome the deep divisions on Israel policy that have splintered the caucus and strained relations between even chummy veteran lawmakers. Republicans aren’t making it easy. In the last week alone, GOP leaders have staged hearings on antisemitism, pushed pro-Israel votes to the floor and hosted … Read more
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