The latest on the 2024 campaign | CNN Politics (2024)

One House Republican incumbent in Utah is projected to defeat his challengerwho had bested him at a nominating convention earlier this spring.

Party conventions tend to be dominated by party hard-liners while primaries attract a broader swath of the GOP electorate.

Here’s a look at how the incumbent fared Tuesday:

Utah’s 1st District

Rep. Blake Moore, a member of House Republican leadership, will easily turn back a primary challenger in his northern Utah district, CNN projects.

Moore, who serves as vice chair of the House GOP Conference, is projected to defeat electrician Paul Miller, who won his spot on the ballot by defeating Moore at a party nominating convention in April.

Moore had already qualified for the ballot by turning in enough signatures.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at Temple University in Philadelphia on June 22.

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has been preparing for the upcoming CNN presidential debate “for my whole life.”

Trump said he has a great bench to choose his running mate from and said he’d be making a decision “fairly soon.”

Trump again said he’d like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be on the debate stage but said he thought Kennedy “seems to be fading fast.”

Westchester County Executive George Latimer told CNN’s Abby Phillip in an interview Tuesday night that he defeated Rep. Jamaal Bowman because his opponent was more concerned about his national profile and lost touch with his district.

“I won because I worked hard and I have a record of delivering for the people who live in this area, in this community. I may not be a national figure in the years to come, I just want to be a good representative of this district and I think that’s what they voted for tonight,” he added.

Latimer was asked what his victory over a member of the House “squad” says about the power of the progressive left and New York politics.

Utah Rep. John Curtis will win the state’s Republican Senate primary, CNN projects, overcoming a challenger backed by Donald Trump in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Mitt Romney.

Curtis, 64, is projected to win a four-way primary that included Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, who had the backing of the former president and the state Republican Party. Curtis will be heavily favored in the November general election in the deep-red state that last elected a Democrat to the US Senate in 1970.

Jamaal Bowman speaks during a primary election night watch party on Tuesday.

New York Rep.Jamaal Bowmanthanked his supporters after losing the state’s 16th Congressional District primary to Westchester County Executive George Latimer on Tuesday evening.

Bowman’s lossmarks the first defeat for a member of the House “squad” of progressive lawmakers. He wasfirstelected in 2020.

Bowman said he will continue to fight “the evils of capitalism, militarism and racism.”

Bowman also thanked the power of the Muslim community Tuesday for helping with his campaign, “surrounding me this entire race, with protection, with love, with gratitude and they helped us raise more money than ever before.”

“We will continue to fight for a free Palestine,” Bowman added. “And god help us, god help us build a better world where everyone understands when we say free Palestine, it is not antisemitic.”

More context: The result in New York’s 16th Congressional District is also a victory for pro-Israel groups, which backed Latimer with historic levels of spending during the campaign. According to ad tracking firm AdImpact, the race was the most expensive House primary on record.

Bowman, 48, a former middle school principal in the Bronx, was first elected in 2020 after unseating longtime Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, a pro-Israel hawk, in the primary. That race, much like this one, centered on accusations that the incumbent had lost touch with the diverse, but heavily segregated district, which spans parts of Bronx and Westchester counties.

CNN’s Gregory Krieg contributed reporting to this post.

Former President Donald Trump walks offstage after speaking at a campaign rally at the Liacouras Center on June 22 in Philadelphia.

Former President Donald Trump launched his bid to reclaim the White House in November 2022, aiming to become only the second commander in chief to win two nonconsecutive terms. Trump continues to deny the outcome of the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden and promotes baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud.

He was twice impeached by the US House of Representatives, including for his role in inciting the deadly January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol following his electoral defeat.

In May 2024, Trump was found guilty of all charges at his New York hush money criminal trial. He also faces charges in three other cases, including over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.

Here are some more key facts about Trump:

Age: 77, born in Queens, New York

Party: Republican

Past experience: Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Before launching his successful 2016 presidential bid, Trump was a real estate developer, businessman and a reality television star as host of “The Apprentice.” He has five children and is married to Melania Trump.

Key campaign promises: If he wins another term, Trump has said he would overhaul key factions of the federal government and slash social safety net programs. He has also vowed retribution against his political opponents and has said he would appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” Biden and his family.

See Trump’s campaign promises so far.

With Republicans clinging to a narrow majority in the US House, control of the chamber next year could come down to just a handful of races in November’s elections.

Several of those races are taking place in New York – a decidedly Democratic state where Republicans flipped four House seats in the 2022 midterms, helping them secure their slim majority.

Here’s a look at some of Tuesday’s primary results in New York that either Democrats or Republicans are targeting this fall:

New York’s 22nd District:

State Sen. John Mannion will win the Democratic nomination in New York’s 22ndCongressional District, CNN projects, setting up what is likely to be a closely watched fall battle with Republican incumbent Brandon Williams.

The lines for the Central New York district became more favorable to Democrats following the adoption of a new congressional map earlier this year – Joe Biden would have carried it by 11 points in 2020.

New York’s 1st District:

Former CNN political analyst John Avlon will win the Democratic nomination, CNN projects, setting up a November contest with freshman GOP Rep. Nick LaLota.

Avlon, a veteran pundit and columnist who previously ran The Daily Beast, benefited from nearly $1.7 million in outside spending — all of it delivered by the centrist Welcome PAC. His opponent, retired chemistry professor Nancy Goroff, was the losing nominee for the seat in 2020.

LaLota was unopposed for the Republican nomination. FormerGOPRep. George Santos briefly joined the race to challenge LaLota, a harsh and frequent critic of the scandal-tarredex-lawmaker.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer stressed the importance of inclusion and unity in a speech to his supporters Tuesday night, a short time after CNN projected he would win the fiercely contested Democratic primary against House “squad” member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman.

“We have tried to govern inclusively in this district, “ Latimer said, adding it’s a template he wants to bring to Washington, DC, if he wins in November.

“The only way this country rises is if we all rise, all of us, together,” he said.

Just two days away from CNN’s presidential debate, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Tuesday night that former President Donald Trump is “in a great mood and a great place” and that he’s “looking forward to the vision that he’s going to cast for the country on Thursday night.”

When asked whether he’s worried Republicans have set the bar low for Biden, Johnson noted that he didn’t have any “personal animus” towards the president and said, ”I’ve just acknowledged what everyone sees.”

“We expect that he’ll do what he did at the State of the Union. He had a lot of energy that night. So that’s the Joe Biden I expect to see. The question is: can he stay for 90 minutes on that stage and go toe to toe with President Trump, who, you know, goes to rallies and talks for two hours on end without any break and any notes,” the Republican said.

Voting is wrapping up in Utah.

We are watching GOP primary challengers to 2nd district Rep. Celeste Maloy, who is seeking her first full term after winning a special election last year, and to Gov. Spencer Cox.

In the GOP Senate primary to replace retiring incumbent Mitt Romney, Trent Staggs will hope an endorsement from Donald Trump can help him upset Rep. John Curtis.

The battlefield for control of the US House is dotted with competitive districts across the country. But the overwhelming majority of House seats lean decisively in one party’s favor and are not expected to be competitive in November.

Several of them are open seats, with the incumbents either retiring or seeking higher office. One such race took place in Colorado’s 4th District, where the resignation of Rep. Ken Buck led to Rep. Lauren Boebert opting to succeed him in a seat that is more Republican than the one she currently represents.

Here’s a look at the outcomes of other open races for safe seats that were on the ballot Tuesday:

South Carolina’s 3rd District: Sheri Biggs, a nurse practitioner and lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, defeating an opponent who had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

Biggs, who was backed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, moves on to the general election as the heavy favorite to succeed retiring Rep. Jeff Duncan in the deep-red seat.

Biggs finished second to Trump-backed pastor Mark Burns in the first round of the primary two weeks ago. But the result triggered a runoff after neither candidate took more than 50% of the vote.

Colorado’s 5th District: Jeff Crank, a real estate investor and former talk radio host, will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, defeating state GOP chair Dave Williams, who had the backing of Trump.

Crank, who benefited heavily from outside spending, had the endorsement of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the outgoing 5th District congressman, Doug Lamborn, in his bid for the deep-red seat anchored in Colorado Springs.

Since launching his campaign for Congress, Williams has faced calls to step down from his post as chairman of the Colorado GOP, including after the state party sent out emails and social media posts attacking Pride Month,Colorado Politics reported.

Utah’s 3rd District

State Sen. Mike Kennedy will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, putting him on track to succeed GOP Rep. John Curtis next year.

Curtis is vacating the deep-red seat in Eastern Utah to run for Senate.

Kennedy, who is projected to win a five-way primary, had the endorsement of Utah’s senior senator, Mike Lee. He won his spot on the ballot by winning a party nominating convention in April. Kennedy ran for US Senate in 2018, when he defeated Mitt Romney at the state nominating convention before getting trounced in the Republican primary.

With Republicans clinging to a narrow majority in the US House, control of the chamber next year could come down to just a handful of races in this November’s elections.

One of them is the fight over a swing district in the Denver area that was decided by less than a point in 2022. Democrats are also targeting a seat in Colorado’s Western Slope, which the Republican incumbent Lauren Boebert is vacating in favor of a safer district in the eastern part of the state.

Here’s a look at Tuesday’s primary results in the two districts:

Colorado’s 8th District:State Rep. Gabe Evans will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, setting up a fall battle against Democratic incumbent Yadira Caraveo.

Evans had the backing of former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, and benefited from spending by Americans for Prosperity Action, the influential network associated with billionaire Charles Koch.

Caraveo, a freshman lawmaker, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Colorado’s 3rd District:Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd will win the Republican nomination, CNN projects, in a blow to Democratic efforts to elevate a more conservative opponent in the primary.

Hurd will next take on former Aspen City Council Member Adam Frisch in the race to succeed Boebert, who is running in the more conservative 4th District this year. Frisch, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, lost to Boebert in 2022 by less than 600 votes.

Frisch and his Democratic allies ran ads tying former state Rep. Ron Hanks, who marched with protesters to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, to Trump. The ads were meant to boost Hanks, who was dwarfed by Hurd in fundraising and whom Democrats saw as a potentially weaker general election opponent.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that backs House Republicans, criticized Democrats for meddling and attacked Hanks, accusing him of abandoning Trump for saying the former president wasn’t his first choice in 2016. Hanks said that he ran for the state legislature as a “warrior” for Trump.

President Joe Biden takes the stage at a campaign rally at Girard College on May 29, in Philadelphia.

President Joe Biden launched his reelection campaign in April 2023, describing the contest between him and former President Donald Trump as a stark choice for voters between the continuation of democracy in America and its possible destruction.

He is the oldest president to ever hold office and would be 86 at the end of a second term. He is married to Jill Biden and has two living children, Hunter and Ashley. His first wife and a daughter died in a car crash in 1972 and his son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.

Here are some more key facts about Biden:

Age: 81, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Party: Democrat

Past experience: Biden earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a law degree from Syracuse University. He had a brief career in law and local public office before being elected to the US Senate in 1972, a position he held until being sworn in as vice president under President Barack Obama in 2009.

Key campaign promises: Biden has pitched his second term as a continuation of his first - “let’s finish this job” was a common refrain in his reelection announcement and in subsequent speeches — and is vowing to defend rights such as abortion protections that some Republicans have threatened to erode. If reelected, Biden has said he would also protect America’s image on the world stage, preserve democracy at home and deliver on climate benchmarks.

See Biden’s campaign promises so far.

New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman will lose his Democratic primary to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, CNN projects, marking the first defeat for a member of the House “Squad” of progressive lawmakers.

The result in New York’s 16th Congressional District is also a victory for pro-Israel groups, which backed Latimer with historic levels of spending during the campaign. According to ad tracking firm AdImpact, the race was the most expensive House primary on record.

Bowman, 48, a former middle school principal in the Bronx, was first elected in 2020 after unseating longtime Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, a pro-Israel hawk, in the primary. That race, much like this one, centered on accusations that the incumbent had lost touch with the diverse, but heavily segregated district, which spans parts of Bronx and Westchester counties.

Latimer, 70, a Democratic political fixture for decades, argued that Bowman’s vocal opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza and his combative political style were out of step with the electorate, which includes a significant Jewish population in Westchester.

The primary drew more ad spending than any other House race so far this cycle.

Rep. Lauren Boebert will win the Republican primary in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, CNN projects, after fleeing a stiff challenge in the district she has represented for two terms.

Boebert, a MAGA firebrand who barely won reelection to the 3rdDistrict in Colorado’s Western Slope in 2022, announced in January that she would run for the open 4th District seat being vacated by Republican Ken Buck in the eastern part of the state.

Buck, a fifth-term lawmaker and House Freedom Caucus member, resigned in March after lambasting his fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill for parroting former President Donald Trump’s lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

His resignation triggered a special election to fill the remaining months of his term – though Boebert opted not to run in that election, which also took place Tuesday.

Republican Greg Lopez, the former mayor of Parker, will defeat Democrat Trisha Calvarese in the special election, CNN projects, and will serve through January. Lopez did not run in the regular primary, which drew six Republicans, including Boebert.

New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman was not the only House incumbent facing a primary challenge Tuesday in a seat seen as safe for either party.

Several of his Empire State colleagues, including fellow “squad” member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, drew primary opponents.

Here’s a look at how these incumbents fared:

New York’s 14th District: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will win the Democratic nomination, CNN projects, putting the popular progressive on track to win reelection in the deep-blue Bronx and Queens district.

Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the so-called squad of House progressives, is projected to defeat retired Wall Street executive Marty Dolan, a moderate who campaigned heavily on immigration and crime in New York City. But unlike other challengers to squad members,Dolan drew little outside support and wasdwarfed in fundraisingby the congresswoman.

Ocasio-Cortez entered the political stratosphere in 2018 when shestunned longtime Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary. Since then, she has leveraged her popularity with younger voters and on social media to advocate for progressive issues.

New York’s 10th District: Rep. Dan Goldman will win the Democratic nomination, CNN projects, dispatching a pair of challengers in his bid for a second term.

Goldman’s victory Tuesday is a decidedly easier one than his last primary win two years ago, when he scraped through a crowded Democratic contest for the newly drawn Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn district.

Goldman,, first entered the national spotlight during Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial when he served as Democrats’ lead counsel.

New York’s 24th District

Rep. Claudia Tenney will survive herRepublican primary, CNN projects, defeating a challenger who argued shewas too moderate for the district.

Attorney and businessman Mario Fratto was challenging Tenney for herupstate New York seat for the second time after taking 40% against her in the 2022 primary.

Tenney ran as a conservative and pointed to her endorsement from former President Donald Trump. She asked Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to pardon Trump earlier this month, after the former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts for falsified business records in his hush money case.

Tenney will be heavily favored to win a fourth nonconsecutive term in November in a district that Trump would have carried by 20 points in 2020.

##Primaries##

Polls in Colorado and New York are closing, marking the end of voting in today’s non-presidential primaries as well as a special election in Colorado’s 4th congressional district to fill the seat vacated by former GOP Rep. Ken Buck in March.

In New York: The headline race is in New York’s 16th district, where progressive Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman is facing a serious challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

This will be the first primary the state holds under its new congressional map, which was enacted in February and could give Democrats a modest advantage in a couple key House races this fall.The Empire State held its presidential primaries on April 2. Both primaries had already concluded by that point and Donald Trump and Joe Biden won the contests overwhelmingly.

In Colorado: Buck’s resignation kicked off two separate elections: one to elect who will serve the rest of Buck’s term in Congress, and the other for the full next term. The Republican nominee in the special general election is Greg Lopez, a businessman and former mayor of Parker, Colorado. He is facing off against Trisha Calvarese, a former AFL- CIO speechwriter and political operative, who is also running for the full term. The 4th district, which covers the eastern portion of Colorado, is solidly Republican and is expected to remain the GOP column come November.Lopez isn’t running in the Republican primary for the next term. That’s where we see fierce competition.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, who won reelection in 2022 by 546 votes in the 3rd district, was facing another close race. After Buck announced that he would resign, Boebert decided to pack up and run in the 4th district, which is much friendlier territory for Republicans. The controversial conservative is the highest profile candidate in the race to replace Buck, but she has had to weather allegations of carpetbagging from her opponents. However, she did secure the top ballot line in the GOP nominating convention with 41% of the vote and has Donald Trump’s endorsement.

The state held its presidential primaries on Super Tuesday. President Joe Biden won about 83% of the Democratic vote, while former president Donald Trump won about 64% on the Republican side.

Just two days away from facing off against Donald Trump at Thursday night’s presidential debate, President Joe Biden is trying to be prepared on every front — including knowing exactly what he will see once he takes the podium inside CNN’s Atlanta studio.

Biden watched a video that was taken by a staff member during a walkthrough of the studio, which allowed him to see the view from his position behind the podium, one senior adviser involved in debate prep tells CNN.

After winning a coin flip, the Biden campaign chose to select the right podium position, which means the president will be on the right side of the television screen for viewers; Trump will be on the left side.

As CNN reported earlier, formal mock debates also began yesterday at Camp David for the Biden team, with the goal of giving Biden the full experience of facing off against Trump on Thursday night.

There were some developments in two of Donald Trump’s four federal cases this week.

Here’s the latest:

Hush money case: The judge in the hush money trial has lifted portions of the gag order restricting what the former president can say about witnesses in the trial, such as Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, two days before Trump will square off against President Joe Biden at theCNN presidential debate.

Trump, however, cannot discuss any prosecutor, court staffer or their family members,according to a court order on Tuesday from Judge Juan Merchan that rolls back parts of the gag order imposed before the trial began.That aspect of the gag order remains in effect at least until his sentencing on July 11. The new order also lifts the bar on public statements about jurors but notes disclosure of any personally identifying information of any juror is still prohibited.

At Thursday’s debate, where Trump’s conviction is sure to be raised, the former president will now be able to discuss the witnesses who testified against him as well as the makeup of the Democratic-leaning jury pool in Manhattan.

Trump said it’s “unfair” that he’s still under a gag order. “The whole thing is ridiculous. And now they lift just a piece of the gag order, not all of it. No, the gag order has to be lifted in its entirety,” Trump said on Newsmax

Mar-a-Lago documents case: FederalJudge Aileen Cannonsaid Tuesday she had “a hard time seeing” any problems with the warrant the FBI obtained to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in the summer of 2022.

Trump’s attorney Emil Bove argued the warrant was overly broad and unjustly allowed agents to search the entire Mar-a-Lago premises. Cannon, however, said the language in the warrant, which a magistrate judge signed off on, seems to have been sufficient.

Trump and his co-defendants, personal aide Walt Nauta andMar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, are facing charges of mishandling sensitive or classified materials and of obstruction in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.All three have pleadednot guilty.

The post was updated with Trump’s reaction to the gag order.

CNN’s Holmes Lybrand,Katelyn Polantz,Denise Royal,Hannah Rabinowitz,Lauren del ValleandJeremy Herb contributed to this report.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman watches Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speak during a Get Out the Vote campaign event at Hartley Park on June 24, in Mount Vernon, New York.

The bidto unseat Rep.Jamaal Bowman in New York’s 16th District is one of the most expensive races on record, according to an updated spending numbers from ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

Polls are set to close in the state at 9 p.m. ET.

The race has drawn a total of more than $25 million in ad spending as of Tuesday morning, driven primarily by a super PAC aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs committee that is aiming to unseat incumbent Bowman and boost his challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

The super PAC, United Democracy Project, has blitzed the race with nearly $15 million worth of ad spending — more than half the total spent on ads in the race, and more than the super PAC has spent on any other race so far this cycle.

And the competitive primary has exposed deep fissures in the Democratic party, highlighting divisions between establishment and progressive wings on a range of issues, including the ongoing war in Gaza.

Bowman, a member of the progressive “Squad” of House Democrats, has been an outspoken critic of Israel and sought to push the Biden administration left on key legislative efforts. That friction has been the impetus behind a wave of attack ads from United Democracy Project.

The high-profile race has also drawn millions in ad spending from several other outside groups and both candidates, and flooded New York airwaves with waves of sharp attack ads.

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, and other Georgia Democrats on Tuesday touted the Biden administration’s record on supporting Black-owned and small businesses as they offered a sharp contrast between the Trump administration ahead of the first presidential debate in Atlanta on Thursday.

“The choice for Georgians and for the American public could not be clearer this November. There has never been a starker contrast in the history of presidential elections, on integrity, on values, and on competence,” he added.

Mayor Dickens praised the current administration’s economic record, arguing “small business owners are able to thrive because of the Biden-Harris economic plan.”

“When you think about Trump and his MAGA allies, they slashed taxes for the ultra-wealthy, did not think about our small businesses and our families that are in need,” Dickens said. “We have to draw that contrast of who’s looking out for who? And so when you think about the Biden-Harris administration, they’re thinking about small businesses and local communities and families that can be supported.”

The Georgia leaders urged voters to head to the polls in November as they highlighted what is at stake.

“Voters have a choice between the former president who refused to acknowledge that he lost and raised a violent mob to overrun and attack the Capitol,” Ossoff said. “And the President (Biden) who passed the most significant infrastructure plan since the Eisenhower administration, who passed manufacturing incentives that are driving billions of dollars of private capital and promising tens of thousands of new jobs here in the state of Georgia, and whose record on small businesses is record breaking in terms of new business formation.”

##Catch Up##

Former President Donald Trump leaves a rally at Festival Park on June 18, in Racine, Wisconsin.

BeingDonald Trump’svice president didn’t end well for Mike Pence — but there’s no sign his painful split from the ex-president over his anti-constitutional demands is scaring off any of the hopefuls keen to slip into his shoes.

The presumptive GOP nominee’ssearch for a new number twois expected to culminate with a dramatic unveiling at the Republican National Convention, likely choreographed to engineer a TV ratings bump.

At various points, the list of possible contenders has included:

Trump shattered all conventions about the business of running for president and serving in the Oval Office. And putting potential running mates through a televised audition process is no exception. The old school playbook, in which possible nominees feign a lack of interest in the post to maximize their chances of getting it, is antithetical to Trump’s way of operating.

Possible picks trying to catch Trump’s eye go on television, knowing he’s probably watching, and sprinkle compliments, talk up his chances of winning, amplify his voter fraud conspiracy theories and slam his criminal conviction. Some have made clear that they wouldn’t have done what Pence did on January 6, 2021, when he concluded that he did not have the power to change the outcome of the 2020 election in Congress.

The almost total adoption of Trump’s mantras suggests that the experience of the last Republican vice president — who was hunted with calls of “Hang Mike Pence” by members of the Trump mob that attacked the Capitol — is not giving them much pause. This is despite history suggesting that, at some point in their potential mandate, a possible President Trump might ask them to do something that tests their consciences, the law or the Constitution.

Read more analysis about Trump’s potential vice president picks.

It’s 7 p.m. ET, and polls are closing in South Carolina’s primary runoffs.

Only one of South Carolina’s congressional primaries went to a runoff, but in the 3rd district Republican primary, Trump-endorsed pastor Mark Burns faces Sheri Biggs, a nurse practitioner endorsed by Gov. Henry McMaster.

There are only two days left until PresidentJoe Bidenand his predecessor, former PresidentDonald Trump face off in the first in-person debate of the 2024 campaign.

The historic debate takes place Thursday at 9 p.m. ET and will be moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

Both teams have spent the past weeks working to fine-tune their message on a wide array of issues, from the economy to foreign affairs to their rival’s fitness for office. And each has found themselves distracted in some way: Trump by thecriminal trialthat consumed his springand Biden by a stretch of intensive overseas travel and apainful legal sagafor his family.

Yet the similarities mostly end there. How each man is preparing for the debate is ultimately a microcosm of their differences as candidates, and each will enter the CNN studio with divergent objectives.

Here’s how the candidates are preparing:

Biden’s plans:

Trump’s plans

CNN’s MJ Lee, Alayna Treene, Kayla Tausche and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrapped up a two-day swing through Wisconsin on Tuesday, campaigning for President Joe Biden’s record on abortion rights around the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court.

Warren also slammed congressional Republicans for resisting codifying abortion access and blocking bills protecting access federally to contraception and in vitro fertilization.

She also alluded to Project 2025, an initiative driven by the conservative Heritage Foundation to help lay out an agenda for a second Trump presidency. “Project 2025 lays out how if Donald Trump gets to the White House — even if they can’t get the House and the Senate — if Donald Trump’s in the White House, how he can ban abortion nationwide across this country,” she said.

“I’m here today to say, Wisconsin, you have got to elect Joe Biden to the White House,” she continued, before laying out ways the Biden administration has protected access to reproductive healthcare.

Warren urged Wisconsin voters to help give Democrats at least a “skinny little majority” in the House and 50 votes in the Senate, in addition to reelecting Biden to make “Roe vs. Wade the law in America.”

Patrick Jones, Shasta County supervisor and gun shop owner, displays a Sig Sauer Pistol on February 24, 2024 in Redding in Northern Califonia's Shasta County.

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the most comprehensive gun-reform legislation in nearly 30 years.

The law, passed shortly after a White supremacist massacred 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, allocated more than $750 million to help states implement crisis-intervention programs, closed certain loopholes in existing gun-control legislation and required more thorough reviews for people aged 18 to 21 who wanted to buy firearms.

Biden has said he wants to go further.

He made a similar promise whilerunning in 2020but has not been able to get Congress’ support.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has said he would undo the work that Biden has done related to gun control.

The former president also promised in the speech that the government would not infringe on citizens’ Second Amendment rights and that he would push Congress to pass a concealed carry reciprocity.

Read more about Biden and Trump’s campaign promises.

##Catch Up##

Several non-presidential primaries are taking place today in New York, Colorado and Utah. Colorado is also holding a special general election in the 4th congressional district. There will also be primary runoffs in South Carolina.

The headline race is in New York’s 16th district, where progressive Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman is facing a serious challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

In Colorado’s Republican-leaning 4th district, controversial GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert is switching from the more competitive 3rd district after winning in 2022 by fewer than 550 votes, and she’ll need to defeat five other Republican hopefuls to win the nomination. Former GOP Rep. Ken Buck resigned from the 4th district seat in March, so there’s a special election to replace him, but GOP nominee Greg Lopez isn’t seeking the full term.

In Utah, we are tracking GOP primary challengers to 2nd district Rep. Celeste Maloy, who is seeking her first full term after winning a special election last year, and to Gov. Spencer Cox. In the GOP Senate primary to replace retiring incumbent Mitt Romney, Trent Staggs will hope a Trump endorsement can help him upset Rep. John Curtis.

Only one of South Carolina’s congressional primaries went to a runoff, but in the 3rd district Republican primary, Trump-endorsed pastor Mark Burns faces Sheri Biggs, a nurse practitioner endorsed by Gov. Henry McMaster.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a voter rally at the Hangar at Stanley Marketplacein Aurora, Colorado on May 19.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday plans for a live-streamed rebuttal of CNN’s presidential debate on Thursday between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Ina social media post Tuesday, Kennedy directed supporters to follow the debate “as it is supposed to be” by tuning into a live broadcast on his account on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, or atTheRealDebate.com.

The website features a clock counting down to Thursday evening teasing a “live broadcast powered by X.”

Kennedy did not meet the polling criteria or the ballot access criteria to qualify for CNN’s presidential debate.

Top Trump campaign officials on Tuesday sought to raise expectations for President Joe Biden at the CNN presidential debate this week and argued that the incumbent would be “ready to go” as he has a long history of what they described as “successfully” participating in debates.

Their comments echo recent remarks from Trump arguing Biden would be a “worthy debater” — which stands in stark contrast to Trump’s regular claims that Biden is mentally unfit to be president and “can’tputtwo sentences together.”

Biden is expected to be joined by more than a dozen of his top aides at Camp David this week as he prepares to face off against Trump on Thursday.

Miller said the Trump campaign would be “identifying and getting the fact checked, these details to you in real time as the debate is going on.”

Leaders attend the opening high-level session of the 2023 NATO Summit on July 11, 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump have espoused vastly different viewpoints about America’s role on the world stage, with Biden focused on bolstering alliances with countries in Europe and Trump preaching a more isolationist policy stance, especially on Ukraine.

Biden has said he will continue to repair relationships that have faltered under Trump’s control — and uphold American commitments to NATO and Ukraine.

Trump, meanwhile, has said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO-member countries who don’t fulfill certain funding obligations.

In some of his first actions as president, Biden worked to return the United States to the presence it held on the world stage before Trump became president.

As president, Trump denigrated alliances like NATO and withdrew the United States from crucial international agreements, including the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accords.

The former president has also previously pledged to end the war in Ukraine, though he’s offered no details on how he would do so.

In addition, Trump has said he would restore his “wonderful” travel ban on individuals from several majority-Muslim countries to“keep radical Islamic terrorists out of our country”after Bidenoverturnedthe ban in 2021.

Read more about Biden and Trump’s stances.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 22.

Former PresidentDonald Trumpwill get the final wordwhen he debatesPresidentJoe Bidenon Thursday, after a coin flip to determine podium placement and the order of closing statements.

The coin landed on the Biden campaign’s pick — tails — which meant his campaign got to choose whether it wanted to select the president’s podium position or the order of closing statements.

Biden’s campaign chose to select the right podium position, which means the Democratic president will be on the right side of television viewers’ screens and his Republican rival will be on viewers’ left.

Trump’s campaign then chose for the former president to deliver the last closing statement, which means Biden will go first at the conclusion of the debate.

Biden and Trump are set to make history Thursday in the first presidential debate between an incumbent and a former president. It will also be the first debate since 2020 featuring either Biden, who did not face a serious challenge for the Democratic nomination, or Trump, who skipped those held during the Republican primary race.

For Trump, delivering the final closing statement in CNN’s debate is a notable difference from his New York criminal trial and conviction last month. He seethed during the hush money case that his lawyer wouldn’t get the last word — even though prosecutors delivering the final remarks in a trial is common practice.

New York is holding non-presidential primaries on Tuesday. This will be the first primary the state holds under its new congressional map, which was enacted in February and could give Democrats a modest advantage in a couple key House races this fall.

The race to watch: New York’s 16th district where incumbent Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman faces a serious challenger in Westchester County Executive George Latimer.This race underscores the ideological divisions within the Democratic party.

The incumbent has been no stranger to controversy since he took office – he was censured by the House of Representatives after he pulled a fire alarm on September 30 while he was on his way to vote for a stopgap measure to fund the government when there was no emergency. He was charged by the DC attorney general over the incident and subsequently pleaded guilty.

Latimer, 70, is a prominent local politician in Westchester County who launched his campaign criticizing Bowman for his vote against the bipartisan infrastructure law and a resolution that condemned Hamas. Latimer has support from the United Democracy Project, the super PAC arm of AIPAC, the influential pro-Israel lobby.

Bowman has been a vocal critic of Israel since the war began on October 7. While progressives like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have rallied behind Bowman, Latimer has also gotten support from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

The 16th district includes a small portion of the northern Bronx and the southern part of Westchester County. The district is likely to remain in the Democratic column in November.

Banners hang on Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion ahead of CNN’s Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Monday, June 24.

A historic showdown betweenPresident Joe Bidenandformer President Donald Trumpis set for Thursday on CNN when the presumptive major party nomineesmeet for their first debatethis election cycle.

The debate will be the earliest such event in US history. Televised presidential debates between general election candidates have always started in September or early October, going back to the first one between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.

Here’s how towatch the debate:

When and where will the debate take place? The 90-minute debate will take place on Thursday, June 27, at 9 p.m. ET at the network’s Atlanta studios.

Who is moderating? CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the event.

Where and how can I watch it? The CNN Presidential Debate will airlive on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español, and via streaming on Max for subscribers and without a cable loginonCNN.com. CNN will make the debate available to simulcast on additional broadcast and cable news networks.

You can also followCNN’s live debate coverage onCNN.com, which will include analysis and fact checking.

In preparation for Thursday’s 90-minute primetime presidential debate, President Joe Biden is helming a podium for practice runs of “varying length” at Camp David, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The team’s rehearsals are part of “long working days,” with some of Biden’s senior staff staying in cabins overnight at Camp David and other local advisers commuting back and forth.

The goal of the agenda crafted by aides is to refine both the substance and stamina required of the event, the source said.

The mock debates began Monday, the fourth day Biden and a range of advisers huddled at the rural, mountainside retreat, where they break for three meals a day in a group-style setting.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a Cesar Chavez Day event at Union Station on March 30 in Los Angeles, California.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign announced Tuesday it submitted signatures to qualify for the ballot in Illinois.

Kennedy’s campaign said in a statement it submitted 63,000 signatures in Illinois on Monday, the state’s deadline for independent candidates to file ballot access petitions.State lawrequires independent presidential candidates submit 25,000 valid signatures to qualify for the state’s ballot.

The Illinois State Board of Elections will review the Kennedy campaign’s petition before making a determination on its validity.

Kennedy is currently on the ballot in seven states: Michigan, California, Utah, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Delaware, Tennessee.

The Biden-Harris campaign is holding a summer donor retreat in Atlanta that will coincide with Thursday’s presidential debate, according to an invitation sent by the Biden Victory Fund and viewed by CNN.

The two-day event for the Democrats’ National Finance Committee will take place June 27 and 28. It will feature updates on fundraising and campaign strategy, as well as watch parties for the debate, the invitation says.

The Biden-Harris campaign last convened the National Finance Committee in New York in late March, in conjunction with a high-dollar fundraiser featuring Biden and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The event netted $25 million for the campaign, which raised $90 million in March and a record $187 million in the first quarter that established a sizable cash advantage over the GOP.

That advantage began to narrow in the second quarter,with former President Donald Trump’s fundraising gaining momentum during a five-week criminal trial over hush money payments that culminated in a felony conviction of the former president. In April and May, Republicans out-raised Democrats, with a surge in donations after that conviction.

This week’s retreat marks the first time the campaign is convening top donors for a strategy session since Trump erased Biden’s financial edge.

The Biden Victory Fund did not respond to a request for comment.

Former President Donald Trump said in a recent interview he thought it was “very hard to prepare” for the upcoming CNN presidential debate. “I think debating is an attitude more than anything else,” he said.

Trump reflected on his past debate performances in 2020 with President Joe Biden and said he thought he was “very aggressive” in their first debate.

“The second one, I was different, and I got great marks on the second one. It was a little unfair because, in the second one, a lot of votes had already been cast. So I’m probably going to look at the scene at the time. It’s like a fight. It depends on what the situation is,” he added.

Trump said he thought it was easier to have an audience for the debate. Thursday’s debate will not have a studio audience.

“That’s the other thing,” Trump said. “You have no audience to read. To me, the audience is easier because it’s telling you what is going on, indirectly, with applause or not applause. This room is a sterile, dead room, which is I guess what they want.”

After skipping every GOP presidential primary debate, Trump said he thought there was an “obligation” to participate in a general election debate.“With a Republican and Democrat, almost no matter what the [standing in the polls] may be, I feel like you have an obligation,” Trump said.

President Joe Biden gestures as he boards Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, June 20, on his way to Camp David in Maryland.

President Joe Biden and his advisers have started formal run-throughs of mock debates at Camp David, a source with knowledge tells CNN.

As part of the practice, which began on Monday, the president is using a podium, the source said. Biden’s aides are also standing in for Donald Trump, as well as CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, who will be moderating Thursday night’s presidential face-off.

The source declined to say which advisers are playing the roles of Trump, Tapper and Bash. But CNN’s Kayla Tausche has reported that Biden’s lawyer Bob Bauer was likely to reprise the role of Trump, which he played in 2020 debate prep sessions.

Aides to Biden have described the mock run-throughs as an integral part of the debate preparations process for the president, particularly when readying to go up against as unpredictable an opponent as Trump.

Bauer said on CNN last week that there is a balance to playing Trump in this setting between“trying to approximate the experience” of facing off against the ex-president, but also not letting “theatrics” become a distraction.

“You want to find some balance between recreating the experience and not attempting to, if you will, audition for ‘Saturday Night Live,’” he said.

Debate preparations for the Biden team were expected to initially begin with the president and his aides poring through binders full of potential questions and answers that could come up at the debate, before ultimately moving onto the mock debates.

The American people deserve a debate that showcases the stark differences between President Joe Biden’s vision for America versus Donald Trump’s, Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar and Biden campaign co-chair told CNN.

Escobar also called Trump “unhinged” and said it is virtually impossible to fact-check him in real-time. “This is a person, who, as he breathes, he lies,” she said. Escobar added that it is highly likely that Biden will able to break through that craziness because we’ve seen him do it before.

Asked about if she has any concerns about Biden’s ability to stay on message during the 90 minute debate, Escobar said: “I don’t. I have seen the president in action. The American people saw the president in action when he did deliver a really fantastic State of the Union Address.”

##Debate##

Colorado is holding non-presidential primaries today, as well as a special election in the 4th congressional district to fill the seat vacated by former GOP Rep. Ken Buck in March.

Remember: Buck’s resignation kicked off two separate elections: one to elect who will serve the rest of Buck’s term in Congress, and the other for the full next term. Both are key races to watch.

The Republican nominee in the special general election is Greg Lopez, a businessman and former mayor of Parker, Colorado. He is facing off against Trisha Calvarese, a former AFL- CIO speechwriter and political operative, who is also running for the full term. The 4th district, which covers the eastern portion of Colorado, is solidly Republican and is expected to remain the GOP column come November.

Lopez isn’t running in the Republican primary for the next term. That’s where we see fierce competition.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, who won reelection in 2022 by 546 votes in the 3rd district, was facing another close race. After Buck announced that he would resign, Boebert decided to pack up and run in the 4th district, which is much friendlier territory for Republicans. The controversial conservative is the highest profile candidate in the race to replace Buck, but she has had to weather allegations of carpetbagging from her opponents. However, she did secure the top ballot line in the GOP nominating convention with 41% of the vote and has Donald Trump’s endorsement.

Presidential debatescrystalize a quadrennial dilemma for a country contemplating a new political direction. But they’re usually defined more by trivial personality quirks, zeitgeist moments and gaffes than high-level ideological arguments.

Al Gore’s melodramatic sighs, George H.W. Bush’sunwise glance at his watch, a day’s growth onRichard Nixon’s chinand Donald Trump’sbulk looming over Hillary Clintonremain iconic years after the policy clashes in those debates have been forgotten.

And while Thursday night’s debate hosted by CNN between President Joe Biden and ex-President Trump could also turn on a theatrical flurry between two men who openly despise one another, the policy meat of a presidential debate has rarely been so important as in this neck-and-neck White House race.

The country is confronting a perilous moment, internally estranged over politics and culture and as multiple foreign policy crises deepen. America faces a choice in November that will lead, like in Robert Frost’s poem, down one of two divergent roads from which there may be no coming back.

A charged political backdrop to a vital debate: Trump’s attempt to regain the White House, less than four years after he attempted to steal the last election, poses a potentially existential question for the democratic system. The former president’s conservative backers are, meanwhile, proposing an evisceration of the bureaucracy and the politicization of judicial and intelligence leadership posts to reconcile the goals of a GOP candidate sporting one criminal conviction, three other indictments and a thirst for revenge.

At the same time, and despite a roaring jobs market, millions of Americans are worn down by high prices and the cost of borrowing. The legacy of a once-in-a-generation pandemic robbed the country of a sense of economic security that Biden promised to restore four years ago but that remains elusive for many.

Former President Donald Trump gestures during a campaign event in Philadelphia on June 22.

Former Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin predicted that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden will show up to Thursday’s debate “alert” and “serious,” and said he expects “substantive” discussions of the issues despite chaotic previous debates between the two presidential candidates in 2020.

“I want to see that back and forth fleshing out,” Zeldin, who is supporting Trump in November, told CNN.

The former congressman reflected on heated political rhetoric this election cycle as someone who has been personally affected by it in the past.During his campaign for New York governor in 2022, Zeldin was attacked by a man wielding a weapon who told him: “You’re done.”

“I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been targeted with some type of death threat that you don’t put out a press release,” Zeldin said.“When you are a leader, there are people who follow you and the key is that you need to be leading these people rather than get followed by them. … I think rhetoric is important,” he added.

Asked if Trump is living up to a rhetoric that prevents political violence, Zeldin declined to definitively say yes or no.

“There’s a lot that I would say — as far as President Trump, what he has said, stuff that President Biden has said, that is not maybe what my particular style is,” the former congressman said.

The former congressman continued, “Ultimately, I think that a lot of Americans also look for people to step up, to be strong, to be forceful. … My preference is for that positive, uplifting message.”

Traders could be forgiven for breaking out their champagne glasses, even though 2024 isn’t halfway done yet.

US stocks have leaped from all-time high to all-time high this year: the S&P 500 has surpassed its own record a staggering 31 times since January. That equates to a new all-time high about every four trading days.

Investors have shrugged off elevated interest and inflation rates, a chaotic political and global environment and general economic uncertainty to give markets the best start to an election year on record.

What’s happening:Presidential election years are typically good for stocks.

The S&P 500 alone has generatedan average returnof 7% during presidential election years since 1952, according to LPL Financial. If you limit that to election years in which the incumbent president is running for reelection, the average jumps to 12.2%.

This year, the index has already far surpassed those average gains. The S&P 500 is 14.6% higher year-to-date — the best start to an election year on record, according to Goldman Sachs — and up nearly 31% from its October 2023 lowat 4,117 points.

So why is this election cycle different from all the others that have gone before?

Gains are typically higher when incumbent presidents run for reelection, most likely because investors crave stability. And this election is the first since 1892 that the nominees of both major parties have occupied the White House, notes Ed Clissold, chief US strategist at Ned Davis Research.

If one incumbent running for office reduces uncertainty, then two incumbentsreallyreduces uncertainty. That could pull the typical year-end election relief rally forward, said Clissold.

Read more about the impact of presidential elections on markets.

Megyn Kelly speaks in Aventura, Florida, in August 2023.

Donald Trump’sallies in right-wing media have a problem ahead ofCNN’spresidential debate: They’ve set the bar too low forPresident Joe Biden.

For years, and particularly over the last few months,MAGA Mediahas portrayed Biden as a senile, mentally incapacitated elderly man who cannot remember what he had for breakfast, let alone run the federal government. That might sound like an exaggeration to those who don’t tune in toFox Newsor listen to talk radio, but it has been a real and constant theme in the right-wing media universe.

To support the narrative, these outlets and personalities have seized on Biden’s verbal gaffes (while ignoring Trump’s) and presented out-of-context video clips to their large audiences — a deceptive, but effective strategy that the Biden campaign has struggled to meaningfully rebut.

Enter Thursday’s high-stakes political showdown. The debate, which will be one of the most-watched moments of the 2024 presidential campaign cycle, will allow audiences from coast-to-coast the opportunity to watch an unfiltered Biden go head-to-head with Trump for some 90 minutes. While the two will undoubtedly tangle over a host of issues, the stage also will afford Biden a unique opportunity to puncture the narrative he lacks the mental fitness to be commander-in-chief.

That’s a worry for right-wing media figures, which risk seeing their bogus narrative about Biden being ripped up in real time. As right-wing personalityMegyn Kellyeven put it Monday, Biden will come out great if he manages to simply “not die” during the face-off with Trump.

“The stakes could not be lower for a Joe Biden performance,” Kelly observed.

Read Darcy’s full analysis ahead of Thursday’s historical presidential debate.

Banners hang outside of CNN’s Atlanta headquarters ahead of CNN’s Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Monday, June 24.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are gearing up for a historic showdown Thursday for CNN’s presidential debate.

The event will make history as the first debate between a sitting president and a former president. It will also be the first debate since 2020 featuring either Biden, who did not face a serious challenge for the Democratic nomination, or Trump, who skipped those held during the Republican primary race.

The debate could be a defining moment in a presidential race that took shape earlier than usual and features two universally known candidates.

A key departure from the two Biden-Trump debates of 2020, both of which were hosted by universities, is that the clash will have no studio audience. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will host the 90-minute debate in Atlanta. Both candidates have accepted the network’s invitation and agreed to accept the rules and format of the debate, as outlined in letters sent to the campaigns by the network in May.

The debate qualification window closed at 12:00:01 a.m. ET last Thursday, with Biden and Trump meeting the constitutional, ballot qualification and polling thresholds set by the network.

In order to qualify for participation:

Biden and Trump were the only candidates to meet those requirements.

President Joe Bidenandformer President Donald Trumpdiffer on many important issues that will likely provoke intense arguments when they meet fortheir firstdebateThursday, on CNN. Yet more lasting than the substance of any of these confrontations may be the conclusions voters draw from them about each man’s ability to lead the nation over the next four years.

Presidential debateshave usually mattered more for revealing the candidates’ character and competence than for illuminating the policy disagreements between them. That may be especially true this year as both Biden and Trump arrive on the Atlanta debate stage facing fundamental questions about their fitness for the job.

Biden is confronting widespread doubts about whether he has the physical and mental capacity to handle the presidency today, much less through a possible second four-year term. Trump’s biggest challenge is character: While retrospective assessments of his presidency have been improving, many voters remain unconvinced he possesses the ethics, commitment to the rule of law or moral compass they expect in a president.

For either man, the debate could assuage or intensify these concerns. A halting or tentative performance from Biden could harden the doubts of voters who consider him too old or weak for the job. In turn, a hectoring or volatile performance from Trump – like the one he delivered in 2020’s first debate between the two men – would reinforce voter concerns that returning the former president to the Oval Office risks perpetual chaos and conflict.

Read the full analysis ahead of CNN’s presidential debate.

President Joe Biden arrives to speak about his Investing in America agenda at the Wilmington Convention Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, on May 2.

President Joe Biden will remain at Camp David where he has been hunkered down with staff preparing for his debate against Donald Trump until Thursday when he will fly to Atlanta for the debate.

After the debate, he will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he will participate in a campaign event Friday before traveling to New York. There, he will participate in an official event as well as a campaign reception.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is planning a rally in Virginia on Friday.

On Saturday, Biden will participate in campaign receptions in New York and New Jersey before returning to Camp David where he will remain until Tuesday.

The first lady will be traveling with him throughout the week.

Several top Democrats have issued stark warnings to President Joe Biden’s camp, urging them to spend more time going directly after former President Donald Trump and less time – if any – pointing to the president’s policy record.

The reason is simple: Talking about Biden’s policy achievements is not resonating with voters.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations with the campaign, four sourcesclose to the White Housesaid they’veurged the Biden camp to go on offenseon the economy, using the time on the debate stage to challenge Trump’s cozy relationship with corporate America and the inflationary nature of his proposed policies.Biden and Trump will square off in the first presidential debate on Thursday on CNN.

Read more about what some advisers want the Biden team to focus on ahead of this week’s presidential debate.

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

One is secluding himself at a mountainside retreat with a tight circle of advisers, poring over briefing binders, honing attack lines and bracing for personal smears. The other is workshopping responses and retorts with vice presidential hopefuls, sharpening policy lines while working to rein in his bombastic rhetoric.

In some ways, aides toPresident Joe Bidenand formerPresident DonaldTrumpdescribe similar goals heading intoThursday’s presidential debate: painting their opponent as presiding over disorder and wholly unfit for office.

For two men who have been circling each other rhetorically for the past four years, the debate hosted by CNNin Atlanta amounts to a moment ofhigh consequence. Both candidates are aware of the stakes, officials in both campaigns say, as they huddle with their teams to prepare attacks, form rebuttals and frame thechoiceof November’s election.

Both teams have spent the past weeks working to fine-tune their message on a wide array of issues, from the economy to foreign affairs to their rival’s fitness for office. And each has found themselves distracted in some way: Trump by thecriminal trialthat consumed his springand Biden by a stretch of intensive overseas travel and apainful legal sagafor his family.

Yet the similarities mostly end there. How each man is preparing for the debate is ultimately a microcosm of their differences as candidates, and each will enter the CNN studio with divergent objectives.

Read more about Biden and Trump’s debate preparations.

Banners hang outside of CNN’s Atlanta headquarters ahead of CNN’s Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Monday, June 24.

Thursday’s CNN debate will be hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta and will mark the first in-person showdown of the 2024 campaign between PresidentJoe Bidenand his predecessor, former PresidentDonald Trump.

Both candidates accepted the network’s invitation and agreed to accept the rules and format of the debate, as outlined in letters sent to the campaigns by the network in May.

The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, according to the network, and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time.

Biden and Trump were the only candidates to meet the constitutional, ballot qualification and polling thresholds set by the network to participate.

Here are more details of the parameters for the event:

Read more about the rules and how candidates qualified.

CNN’s Eric Bradner contributed reporting to this post.

Donald Trump is juggling a busy court and campaign schedule as he defends himself inseveral criminal caseswhile also vying for a second term in the White House.

The trial start date in Trump’sclassified documentscase in Florida had been set for late May, but the judge overseeing that case said onMay 7 that the trial is “indefinitely postponed.” The Florida judge held two hearings on Monday related to the case and is set to hold another hearing Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the jury in Trump’s New York hush money trial found the former president guilty on all 34 felony counts in May. The chargesstemfrom his alleged falsification of business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his 2016 presidential campaign.

Judge Juan Merchan set a sentencing hearing for July 11, a week before the Republican National Convention.