LIVE Updated 10 minutes ago

Live Election Updates: Top Democrats, Swallowing

Fears, Remain Behind Biden
House and Senate Democratic leaders indicated they were unwilling — for now — to push
the president aside. Mr. Biden spoke at a NATO summit in Washington, while Vice
President Kamala Harris was at a rally in Las Vegas. Donald Trump is campaigning in
Florida later.

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Updated 26 minutes ago

Catie Edmondson, Maya C. Miller, Robert Jimison, Annie Karni and Chris Cameron

Hereʼs the latest.

Top congressional Democrats on Tuesday indicated that they were unwilling — at
least for now — to try to push aside President Biden despite grave concerns about
his age, mental acuity and ability to win re-election.

Both in public and behind closed doors, House and Senate Democrats from across
the political spectrum have raised fears about Mr. Biden’s viability as a candidate.
But no Democratic leader on Capitol Hill was willing to ask the president to
withdraw.

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10 minutes ago
Michael Gold Reporting from Doral, Fla.

Donald J. Trump will spend a significant part of his speech at his rally tonight attacking
Vice President Kamala Harris, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks provided by
his campaign. As some Democrats call for President Biden to step off the ticket, Harris
would be the most likely replacement, and the Trump campaign has been increasingly
taking aim at her since the debate.
 11 minutes ago
Simon J. Levien Reporting from Doral, Fla.

What can only be described as a golf-cart motorcade departed the main building of
Trump’s Doral resort heading to the rally venue across the golf course. Several hundred
rallygoers got on their feet and raised their cameras in anticipation. Trump is set to speak
soon.

45 minutes ago
Michael Gold Reporting from Doral, Fla.

Donald J. Trump, who has for months relished the feverish speculation over whom he
might choose as his running mate, just sent a fund-raising email before he takes the stage
at a rally in Doral, Fla., in which he said he “might even introduce the next VP.” The
campaign’s fund-raising emails often exaggerate, so it is hard to know how to evaluate the
claim.

1 hour ago
Michael Gold Reporting from Doral, Fla.

At the Trump rally in Doral, Fla., Representative Byron Donalds of Florida noted with
glee the chaos that has engulfed House Democrats since the debate, then accused them of
having “lied to the American people about Joe Biden’s ability” to be president.

2 hours ago
Michael Gold Reporting from Doral, Fla.

Senator Marco Rubio, one of the top contenders to be Trump’s running mate, spent some
time in his speech at Trump’s rally in Doral, Fla., attacking Vice President Kamala Harris
as “a real life verified left winger” and mocking her laugh. Being able to hold one’s own
against the vice president in a potential debate is seen as a prerequisite for Trump’s
partner on the ticket.

2 hours ago
Michael D. Shear

If President Biden’s critics were expecting him to make a big stumble during the brief
NATO speech, they were disappointed. Reading from a teleprompter, the president was
more forceful and clear than he was during the Atlanta debate. That may be of little
reassurance to some, however, who are still looking for evidence that he can handle high-
pressure, unscripted moments. This was not one of them.

2 hours ago
David E. Sanger Reporting on the Biden administration

At the end of his remarks, Biden called the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, to
the stage, noting he has extended his service at the head of the alliance time and again.
Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the
United States.

2 hours ago
David E. Sanger Reporting on the Biden administration

Biden is speaking forcefully, and has made few errors. It is a subject he knows well, and a
cause he feels deeply. He returned to his statement that America has “a sacred
obligation,’’ and quoted Ronald Reagan, “if you are not at peace, we are not at peace.”

Doug Mills/The New York Times

 2 hours ago
David E. Sanger Reporting on the Biden administration

As expected, Biden announced new air defenses for Ukraine, saying the country would
receive “hundreds of interceptors” to protect cities against the kind of missile attacks that
collapsed a children’s hospital earlier this week. He said Putin’s forces have seen 350,000
killed and injured. He predicted the war would end with Ukraine staying a “free and
independent country,’’ but made no mention of what its borders might look like.

2 hours ago
David E. Sanger Reporting on the Biden administration

Biden declared that Article V of the NATO treaty, which commits members of the alliance
to defend fellow members, remained the core of the alliance — separating himself from
former President Donald Trump, whom he never mentioned. He repeated his vow to
“defend every inch” of NATO on land, in space and cyberspace, and said Vladimir V. Putin
“won’t stop in Ukraine."

2 hours ago
David E. Sanger Reporting on the Biden administration

President Biden took the stage of the NATO celebration, no hint of raspiness in his voice
and no mention of his political peril, declaring that the alliance that rebuilt Europe and
held together in the Cold War was “more powerful than ever.”

3 hours ago
Kellen Browning Reporting from Las Vegas

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke for about 15 minutes in Las Vegas. She revved up the
crowd with her forceful condemnation of a future Trump administration and stuck to the
script, backing President Biden. Plenty of Nevadans here said they remained all-in on a
Biden-Harris ticket, though others in attendance expressed doubts about Biden’s age and
whether he could win in November.

3 hours ago
Kellen Browning Reporting from Las Vegas

Vice President Kamala Harris is keeping the focus on Donald Trump, criticizing Project
2025 and charging the news media with not covering topics like the Supreme Court’s
recent ruling on presidential immunity “to the extent they should.”

3 hours ago
Kellen Browning Reporting from Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, Vice President Kamala Harris just alluded briefly to President Biden’s
struggles, while continuing to support him. “We always knew this election would be
tough, and the past few days have been a reminder that running for President of the
United States is never easy,” she said. “But the one thing we know about our president,
Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter.”

3 hours ago
Zolan Kanno-Youngs Reporting from Las Vegas

“And when you get knocked down,” Harris tells the crowd, “you get back up.”
Someone in the crowd yelled back enthusiastically: “Yes, we all know.”

3 hours ago
David E. Sanger Reporting on the Biden administration

President Biden has opened the NATO summit, appearing on the stage of the Mellon
Auditorium, where the NATO treaty was signed in 1949, standing among three dozen
other leaders. The ceremonies opened with black-and-white film clips of the Cold War, of
Soviet invasions, and the voices of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, a deliberate
effort to make the case that the world’s largest and most powerful alliance has been a
bipartisan project.
 Doug Mills/The New York Times

3 hours ago
Kellen Browning Reporting from Las Vegas

Vice President Kamala Harris just took the stage at a campaign event in Las Vegas, her
sixth visit to the battleground state of Nevada this year. The crowd greeted her with brief
chants of “Four more years.”

3 hours ago
Simon J. Levien Reporting from Doral, Fla.

At the Trump rally in Florida that will get underway later tonight, John DiCaprio said he
wanted President Biden to stay in the race. “I hope he doesn’t” drop out, said DiCaprio,
who is 60 and lives in Babcock Ranch, Fla. “That’ll be the most likely easy Trump win.”

3 hours ago
Theodore Schleifer
How much money Trump’s running mate can raise has been a not-so-subtle part of the
veepstakes. And now, vice-presidential contenders are scheduling pro-Trump fundraising
events for even after the convention. Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, a potential
finalist for the No. 2 slot, and his wife, Kathryn, are hosting Trump for a fundraising
dinner in Big Sky, Mont., on Aug. 9, according to a copy of the invite obtained by The New
York Times. By then, Burgum should know whether he’s the presumptive G.O.P. nominee
for vice president or merely a governor.

3 hours ago
Kenneth Vogel Reporting on the intersection of money, politics and influence

President Biden’s campaign, which has been slow to confirm fund-raising events, on
Tuesday alerted donors to a reception featuring him in Austin, Texas, on Monday. The
reception’s host committee includes Luci Baines Johnson, the daughter of former
President Lyndon B. Johnson, according to an invitation obtained by The New York
Times. Donations start at $3,300 per person and top out at $100,000 to host.

3 hours ago
Kenneth Vogel Reporting on the intersection of money, politics and influence

Funds go to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint committee composed of Biden’s campaign
and Democratic Party committees. Biden is expected to speak on Monday at the
Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library in Austin to commemorate the 60th
anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

3 hours ago
Neil Vigdor

A sailor who tried to access President Bidenʼs medical records was

disciplined by the Navy.
 “At no time was the president’s personal information compromised,” a Navy spokesman
said. Doug Mills/The New York Times

A Navy sailor was disciplined for trying unsuccessfully to gain unauthorized access to
President Biden’s restricted medical records earlier this year, a military official said on
Tuesday.

The attempted breach happened on Feb. 23, said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman,
who specified that the sailor involved was assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and
Training Command at Fort Belvoir in Northern Virginia.

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3 hours ago
Catie Edmondson

Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey becomes the seventh congressional

Democrat to ask Biden to withdraw his candidacy.
“When I think of my four children and all of the rights that another Trump presidency
endangers, and in light of the recent Supreme Court decision that gave inordinate power
to the president of the United States, the stakes are too high — and the threat is too real —
to stay silent,” Sherrill said in a statement. “I realize this is hard, but we have done hard
things in pursuit of democracy since the founding of this nation. It is time to do so again.”

Kenny Holston/The New York Times

4 hours ago
Zolan Kanno-Youngs Reporting from Las Vegas

Vice President Kamala Harris has arrived in Las Vegas, the start of a weeklong campaign
trip that will also take her to Texas and North Carolina. She is visiting with the United
States men's basketball team, whose coach, Steve Kerr, joined Harris on a call last month
to speak to students about gun violence prevention.

4 hours ago
Zolan Kanno-Youngs Reporting from Las Vegas

Harris took a photograph with the team, which is playing Canada on Wednesday in
an exhibition in advance of the Paris Olympics, and chatted briefly with players
Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Jrue Holiday. “Beat Canada and bring back that
gold,” Harris told the team.
 Erin Schaff/The New York Times

4 hours ago
Tim Balk

President Biden is expected to meet virtually at 8 p.m. Eastern time with Democratic
mayors of major U.S. cities, including Brandon Johnson of Chicago and Eric Adams of
New York. Johnson, a progressive, has been outspoken in backing Biden after the debate.
Adams, a centrist, has voiced support for Biden, but has avoided taking a position on
whether the president should stay in the race. “I’ve got enough stuff going on right here
in the Big Apple,” Adams told reporters on Tuesday.
 6 hours ago
Jazmine Ulloa Reporting from Washington

Nikki Haley urges her delegates to vote for Donald Trump.

Former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has encouraged her delegates to support former
President Donald J. Trump at the Republican National Convention next week in
 Milwaukee. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times

Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who was the last Republican to drop
out of the primary race against former President Donald J. Trump, said on Tuesday that
she was releasing her 97 delegates and urging them to support Mr. Trump.

“The nominating convention is a time for Republican unity,” Ms. Haley said in a
statement. “Joe Biden is not competent to serve a second term, and Kamala Harris would
be a disaster for America.”

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July 9, 2024
Ruth Igielnik

Trump leads Biden by five percentage points in Wisconsin, a new

bipartisan poll shows.
 Union Pub in Washington, D.C., showing the presidential debate last month. A new Wisconsin poll shows that
nearly every demographic group in the state said Mr. Trump won the debate. Eric Lee/The New York Times

A new bipartisan poll in Wisconsin taken after the presidential debate on June 27 has
former President Donald J. Trump up five percentage points against President Biden in
the swing state, 50 percent to 45 percent. Mr. Biden was trailing by a similar margin — six
percentage points — in a ballot that included third-party candidates, which had the
independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at 9 percent in the state.

Mr. Biden is running far behind Senator Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic incumbent, who
has the support of 50 percent of likely voters in her race against her Republican
challenger, Eric Hovde.

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 July 9, 2024
Michael Gold Reporting from Doral, Fla.

Trump returns to the campaign trail in Florida as the deadline nears

on his running mate pick.
 Former President Donald J. Trump will campaign in Doral, Fla., on Tuesday. Tom Brenner for
The New York Times

After spending much of the last week out of public view while President Biden was
besieged by Democratic doubts, former President Donald J. Trump will return to the
campaign trail on Tuesday evening with a rally at his luxury golf resort in Doral, Fla.

Mr. Trump’s rally, at the Trump National Doral Golf Club, comes as the deadline for him to
select a running mate is fast approaching. His pick will be formally nominated during the
Republican National Convention, which starts on Monday, and advisers have said Mr.
Trump will likely make his selection known before the convention begins.

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 July 9, 2024
Nicholas Fandos

New Yorkʼs Democratic Party chairman calls for the party to unite
behind Biden.
 Jay Jacobs in 2021. He urged his state’s delegates to stop “any effort or discussion to
discourage President Biden” from seeking re-election. Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

New York’s Democratic Party chairman said on Tuesday that the time had come to unite
around President Biden, warning that continued attempts to derail his nomination “have
become damaging to the party and to our prospects of winning.”

The chairman, Jay Jacobs, said he had been “both shaken and concerned” by Mr. Biden’s
debate performance last month. But he said the president’s increasingly aggressive
campaign to quell Democratic dissent convinced him that Mr. Biden had the vigor to
defeat former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.

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July 9, 2024
Rebecca Davis OʼBrien Reporting from Manchester, N.H.

Gavin Newsom will take your Biden questions (and try your
doughnuts).

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California greeting voters on Monday in Hooksett, N.H. He has been
touring politically competitive states on behalf of President Biden. Steven Senne/Associated
Press
For a few minutes on Monday afternoon, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California was just like
any other politician with national ambitions, making his way through a small crowd at a
rest stop in New Hampshire. He greeted local officials. He touched a baby. He was handed
a cinnamon sugar doughnut.

“Everyone’s hyping these up,” he said, taking a large bite. “Actual real life, no B.S., not a
politician talking. That’s next level.”

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July 9, 2024
Simon J. Levien Reporting from Doral, Fla.

He told Biden to ʻpass the torch.ʼ It cost him his role in a state
campaign.
 Clint Keaveny held a sign that read “Pass the torch, Joe” at a rally for President Biden in
Wisconsin last week. The Democratic congressional candidate he volunteers for quickly
informed him he was being let go. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

Clint Keaveny took his place in the stands behind President Biden at a rally on Friday in
Madison, Wis., and held up a sign that read, “Pass the torch, Joe.” Before the rally was
over, Mr. Keaveny had lost his role with a Democratic congressional campaign.

The event was the first in Mr. Biden’s weekend blitz of campaign events in must-win
states to rebuff critics after his halting debate performance on June 27. As the president
took the stage, in full view of cameras, Mr. Keaveny unveiled his poster, made of taped-
together printer paper and stuffed in his waistband. It had been written by Mr. Keaveny’s
mother, he said.

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 July 9, 2024
Maggie Astor

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs Biden, saying ʻhe is not leaving this

race.ʼ

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Biden on Earth Day in a Virginia park in April. She
said on Monday that she continued to support the president. Tom Brenner for The New York Times

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, one of the most prominent

progressives in the Democratic caucus, said late Monday that she stood behind President
Biden.

“I have spoken to the president over the weekend,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez told reporters
outside the Capitol. “I have spoken with him extensively. He made clear then and he has
made clear since that he is in this race. The matter is closed.”

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July 9, 2024
Kenneth P. Vogel Reporting from Washington

As rich backers retreat, Biden trumpets small donors.

 In order to continue to fund his campaign, President Biden will most likely need the support of wealthy
Democratic Party backers, but they have been among the loudest voices calling for him to end his bid for re-
election. Doug Mills/The New York Times

In a nationally broadcast interview on Monday, President Biden pushed back on rich

Democrats who want him to end his re-election campaign, saying, “I don’t care what the
millionaires think.”

Small donors, he made clear, were coming through for him.

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