Senior White House officials have defended President Joe Biden's prime-time speech Thursday in Philadelphia in which he forcefully called Donald Trump and his "Make America Great Again" movement a "threat" to the country.
The president used Independence Hall as the backdrop for a major address in which he delivered the warning, after his aides had said the speech was not about the legally embattled 45th president. "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic," Biden said Thursday.
A day later, he offered a clarification about those who still support his predecessor — but he did not back down from the alarms he sounded.
"I don't consider any Trump supporter to be a threat to the country," he told reporters after an economic event Friday. "I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, fails to condemn violence when it's used, refuses to acknowledge an election has been won, insists upon changing the way in which we rule and count votes, that is a threat to democracy."
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The former president shifted to general election mode with a rally Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the first of the fall campaign.
Hours before Trump was to speak, the crowd streamed into the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena. Doug Mastriano, the GOP's hard-line nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, was already there, as was Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga..
While Trump's endorsed picks won many Republican primaries this summer, many of the candidates he backed were inexperienced and polarizing figures now struggling in their November races. That's putting Senate control — once assumed to be a lock for Republicans — on the line.
Also this week, Biden asked Congress to provide more than $47 billion in emergency dollars that would go toward the war in Ukraine, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing monkeypox outbreak and help for recent natural disasters in Kentucky and other states.
Both parties will be seeking to avoid a government shutdown in the weeks before the midterm elections, but they will have to work out differences over issues like the COVID-19 aid. Republicans have pointed to the trillions that have already been approved and money that is still unspent.
Meanwhile, Biden has tapped John Podesta, a Democratic operative and campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, to implement climate measures in Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed in August.
As November midterms approach, Republicans are trying to put fresh energy into their quest to win a Senate majority this fall. Party operatives point fingers at fundraising failures of two GOP nominees and their idiosyncratic tech mogul backer, Peter Thiel.
Thiel's $15 million super PAC investments helped boost Ohio's J.D. Vance and Arizona's Blake Masters in their competitive primaries earlier this year, with the California billionaire even influencing former President Donald Trump's decision to endorse both candidates.
The Ohio race in particular seems in jeopardy. Rookie GOP candidate J.D. Vance goes days without any public events, and his campaign gives little information about his whereabouts.
He has been slow to build a fundraising operation, and a ground game, and is being dramatically outspent on air while racking up a nearly $900,000 in campaign debt last quarter. And now, a super PAC with ties to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to spend a staggering $28 million on television ads in Ohio to save a Senate seat once viewed as a lock — and deny Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan a chance for a major, midterm upset.
These 9 key Senate matchups are set
Pennsylvania
Dr. Mehmet Oz (Republican) vs. John Fetterman (Democrat)
This race is to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
Dr. Mehmet Oz has won Pennsylvania's Republican U.S. Senate primary after a dayslong recount. The celebrity heart surgeon will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November. Fetterman is off the campaign trail while he recovers from a stroke and a serious heart condition. Democrats view this race, a contest to replace retiring two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, as perhaps their best opportunity to pick up a seat in the battle for the Senate. Fetterman ads are railing against outsourced jobs, closed factories, rising costs and low wages, saying “those decisions were made for us by people that don't know us.” National Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to tie Fetterman to his party's most liberal members and to the Biden administration.
Georgia
Sen. Raphael Warnock (Democrat) vs. Herschel Walker (Republican)
Georgia still struggles with its history of slavery, segregation and racial injustice, but voters in the Deep South state have for the first time selected two Black candidates to represent the major parties in a U.S. Senate race. And it's Black voters who could prove decisive to the election outcome in November. Football legend Herschel Walker will represent the Republican Party in its efforts to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock after both men handily defeated primary challengers last week. Black candidates from the two parties have competed for Senate at other times in the recent past in other states, but the contest between Walker and Warnock is expected to be significantly more intense.
Nevada
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (Democrat) vs. Adam Laxalt (Republican)
Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who has embraced lies about the 2020 election, won the Republican nomination for a pivotal Nevada Senate seat, setting up what will likely be a fierce and costly race against incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto, one of the most endangered Democrats in an evenly divided Senate. Republicans see the race as their best opportunity to flip a Senate seat and regain the majority, but are also watching for longer-term signals that Nevada is swinging back in their direction after rejecting every GOP presidential candidate since 2004.
North Carolina
Ted Budd (Republican) vs. Cheri Beasley (Democrat)
This race is to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr.
U.S. Rep. Ted Budd and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley will compete in matchup that should again test former President Donald Trump's influence in North Carolina. Budd’s primary win was a victory for Trump, who elevated the little-known congressman with a surprise endorsement nearly a year ago. Beasley would be North Carolina’s first Black senator if elected in the Republican-leaning state. In 2020, she lost a statewide election to remain chief justice by just 400 votes.
Ohio
J.D. Vance (Republican) vs. Tim Ryan (Democrat)
This race is to fill the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
"Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance, who received Trump's backing in mid-April, won the Republican nomination on May 3. Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan easily won his party's nomination but starts at a disadvantage in this reddening state. Vance and Ryan are vying to fill the seat left by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.
Colorado
Sen. Michael Bennet (Democrat) vs. Joe O'Dea (Republican)
Wisconsin
Sen. Ron Johnson (Republican) vs. Mandela Barnes (Democrat)
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes won the Democratic nomination to face Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters. The matchup is among the last to be set before the November general election, when control of the currently 50-50 split Senate is up for grabs, and Democrats see Wisconsin as one of their best opportunities to flip a seat.
Arizona
Sen. Mark Kelly (Democrat) vs. Blake Masters (Republican)
Trump-backed Blake Masters emerged as the Republican nominee. The 35-year-old first-time candidate has spent most of his career working for billionaire Peter Thiel, who is bankrolling his campaign. Masters emphasized cultural grievances that animate the right, including critical race theory and allegations of big tech censorship. Masters will take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the fall.
Florida
Sen. Marco Rubio (Republican) vs. Val Demings (Democrat)
U.S. Rep. Val Demings easily won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Marco Rubio this fall. Demings, a former police chief and a prodigious political fundraiser, has a chance to become Florida’s first Black female senator. While some Democrats are hopeful that Demings can unseat Rubio, the party's national leadership is prioritizing competitive Senate contests in other states, including neighboring Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
