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The political potency of abortion rights proved more powerful than the drag of President Biden’s approval ratings in Tuesday’s off-year elections, as Ohioans enshrined a right to abortion in their state’s constitution, and Democrats took control of both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly while holding on to Kentucky’s governorship. The night’s results showed the durability of Democrats’ political momentum since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022. It may also, at least temporarily, stem the latest round of Democratic fretting from a series of polls demonstrating Mr. Biden’s political weakness. Here are key takeaways from Tuesday:There’s nothing like abortion to aid Democrats and Biden. Democratic officials have been saying for months that the fight for abortion rights has become the issue that best motivates Democrats to vote, and is also the issue that persuades the most Republicans to vote for Democrats.

Persons: Biden’s, Roe, Wade, Biden Organizations: Virginia General, Democratic, Wisconsin Supreme, Biden Locations: Tuesday’s, Virginia, Wisconsin

At the first two debates, Mr. DeSantis played the front-runner, attacking his opponents only when he was hit first. This has not been an easy stretch for Mr. DeSantis, in no small part because of the attacks from Mr. Trump on everything from his foreign policy credentials to his height. Mr. DeSantis has staked his bid on his performance in the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 15. Mr. DeSantis offered a similar criticism of the president while campaigning in New Hampshire in October. Unless Mr. Trump makes a dramatic last-minute appearance on the stage, that seems unlikely to change.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy —, Donald J, Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, It’s Nikki Haley’s, Haley, Mike Pence —, DeSantis, “ Haley, ”, Mike Murphy, Ms, Will, Haley’s, Kim Reynolds, Christie, I’ve, haven’t, Mike Johnson’s, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Donald Trump, Bibi Netanyahu, Scott, Mr, Ramaswamy Organizations: — Gov, Wednesday, Miami, Republican National Committee, South, United Nations, New, NBC, Trump, Republican Party, Democrats, Israel, Democratic Party, Republican Jewish Coalition, Republican Locations: Miami, Milwaukee, Tuscaloosa, Ala, South Carolina, United, Florida, New Jersey, Iowa, Ukraine, New Hampshire, “

☆ Abortion’s Pull vs. Biden’s Unpopularity: What to Watch in Tuesday’s Elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Here is what to watch:Abortion access vs. Biden’s unpopularity in Virginia and Kentucky. All 140 seats in Virginia’s General Assembly are on the ballot Tuesday, with the Democratic-leaning state’s relatively popular Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, hoping to capture the State Senate and secure total Republican control of Richmond. That feat would propel Mr. Youngkin’s national ambitions. But Democrats are running on abortion rights, warning that G.O.P. control would end abortion access in the last state in the Southeast.

Persons: Biden’s, Donald J, Trump, Biden, Glenn Youngkin Organizations: New York Times, Democratic, Republican, State Senate Locations: Ohio , Kentucky, Virginia , Mississippi, Siena, Virginia, Kentucky, Richmond

Voters in Ohio will decide on enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution, as well as legalizing recreational marijuana use. Will voters in Ohio back abortion rights? Beyond abortion, the most watched initiative will be, again, in Ohio, where voters will decide whether cannabis should be legalized for recreational use. That could put pressure on Congress to move forward legislation at least to ease restrictions on interstate banking for legal cannabis businesses. Texans will also decide whether to raise the mandatory retirement age of state judges to 79, from 75.

Persons: Biden’s, Donald J, Trump, Biden, Glenn Youngkin, Youngkin, Daniel Cameron, Andy Beshear, Steve Beshear, Beshear, Roe, Wade, Frank LaRose, Thomas E, Dobbs, Jackson, Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley, Presley’s, Brett Favre, Reeves, I’ve, Mr, Presley, Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Warren of Organizations: New York Times, Democratic, Republican, State Senate, Republicans, —, Supreme, Affordable, Mississippi Public Service Commission, Texans, Liberal Locations: Ohio, Ohio , Kentucky, Virginia , Mississippi, Siena, Virginia, Kentucky, Richmond, Kansas, Mississippi, Dobbs v, Nettleton, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts

☆ Union Victories May Lift Biden, as U.A.W. Targets Tesla and Others
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

agreed to bring its electric vehicle battery joint venture, Ultium, under the national contract, a boon for Ultium workers but also a pressure point for unions as they seek to organize battery plants sprouting up around the country. “This historic contract is a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs while helping our most iconic American companies thrive,” Mr. Biden said Monday evening. “It highlights the lie peddled by Donald Trump and at times the Big Three that the E.V. transition means lower-quality jobs in a nonunion work force.”The U.A.W. In May, the autoworkers’ union opted to withhold an endorsement of Mr. Biden’s re-election, openly expressing “our concerns with the electric vehicle transition” that the president was pushing through legislation and regulation.

Persons: Mr, Biden, Jason Walsh, Walsh, Donald Trump, Biden’s Organizations: BlueGreen Alliance

☆ Primary Battles Brew Over Progressive Democrats’ Stances on Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And progressive organizations are girding for possible challenges to Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and others, funded from the deep pockets of AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups. “They spent a historic amount of money to intervene, and try and buy primaries in 2022,” said Usamah Andrabi, spokesman for Justice Democrats, the liberal insurgent group that helped elect many of the progressives now on the primary target list. “I think we will see a doubling and tripling down, because no one in the Democratic leadership is trying to stop them.”Officially, AIPAC is neutral for now. Progressive Democrats like Ms. Lee have other constituents to consider, including progressive Jews who remain by her side. Ms. Lee said Jews were “10 percent of our district, but we also have Muslim, Arab, Palestinian constituents who are afraid for their families and their lives.”

Persons: George Latimer, Jamaal Bowman, Eliot Engel, Cori Bush of, Rashida, “, ”, Usamah Andrabi, Marshall Wittmann, Bowman, Lee, ” Waleed Shahid, Biden, Avigail Oren Organizations: Westchester County, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Justice Democrats, Democratic, AIPAC, Israel, Progressive Locations: New York, Westchester, Cori Bush of Missouri, Michigan, Israel, Gaza, Pittsburgh

☆ After Shooting, Maine Senators in the Spotlight on Guns
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, coupled with a conservative Democratic congressman’s reversal on an assault weapons ban, has turned the spotlight on the state’s two senators, Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, and Angus King, a Democrat-leaning independent, both of whom are skeptical about banning military-style rifles. Representative Jared Golden, among the most conservative Democrats in the House, rushed back to his Lewiston district on Thursday, as a gunman who killed 18 people in his hometown remained at large. He then stunned constituents in his traditionally pro-gun district by declaring that it was time for him “to take responsibility” for his “failure” to back a ban on assault weapons, “like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing.”Mr. Golden’s reversal is likely to put pressure on Maine’s senators, both of whom boast of occupying the political center and have used that position to forge significant bipartisan compromises in the past, including gun safety legislation passed last year after the murder of children in Uvalde, Texas. Ms. Collins, in particular, has taken heat from Democrats who say her professions of moderation have faltered at crucial times. Mr. King, who is standing for re-election in 2024, joined Republicans — including Ms. Collins — on Wednesday to back an amendment to a spending bill that would prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from automatically sending veterans’ personal information to the federal firearms background check system if they are deemed mentally unfit to manage their benefits.

Persons: Susan Collins, Angus King, Jared Golden, “, ”, ” Mr, Collins, . King, Collins — Organizations: Democratic, Republican, Democrat, Republicans —, Department of Veterans Affairs Locations: Lewiston , Maine, Lewiston, Uvalde , Texas

☆ To Build Momentum, Scott Tackles Race and Racism in Chicago
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Tim Scott, struggling to gain traction less than three months before the first Republican primary ballots are cast, came to the South Side of Chicago on Monday to rebuke the welfare state and the liberal politicians he dismissed as “drug dealers of despair.”The speech was at New Beginnings Church in the poor neighborhood of Woodlawn. It may have been delivered to Black Chicagoans, but the South Carolina senator’s broadsides — criticizing “the radical left,” the first Black female vice president, Kamala Harris, and “liberal elites” who want a “valueless, faithless, fatherless America where the government becomes God” — were aimed at an audience far away. That audience was Republican voters in the early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and the donors who have peeled away from his campaign. His political persona as the “happy warrior” gave way to a chin-out antagonism toward the Black leaders who run the nation’s third-largest city, and the Democratic Party that “would rather lower the bar for people of color than raise the bar on their own leadership.”Speaking to a largely receptive audience in a church run by a charismatic Republican pastor, Mr. Scott added: “They say they want low-income Americans and people of color to rise, but their actions take us in the opposite direction. The actions say they want us to sit down, shut up and don’t forget to vote as long as we’re voting blue.”

Persons: Tim Scott, Black, Kamala Harris, ”, Scott Organizations: Republican, New Beginnings Church, Black, Democratic Party Locations: Chicago, Woodlawn, South Carolina, America, Iowa , New Hampshire

In the post-debate polling, Mr. Trump gained more support than any of the candidates who did appear on the stage. Since then, as his legal cases play out in the courts, Mr. Trump has grown more extreme, and violent, in his rhetoric. It remains to be seen whether the second debate will persuade top donors still on the sidelines to consolidate behind an alternative to Mr. Trump. Rather than attending the debate, Mr. Trump will appear with union workers in Detroit. A bad night, or just an invisible night, for Mr. Scott would dim hopes of a resurgence.

Persons: Trump, Mark Milley, “, Scott, Haley, Ramaswamy, Tim Scott Organizations: Joint Chiefs of Staff, Republican National, bickered, Reagan Locations: America, Israel, Iowa, Detroit, Milwaukee

☆ An Ohio Town Struggles Between Biden’s Clean Energy Agenda and Union Support
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the shadow of a shuttered General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, far from the United Automobile Workers’ picket lines, the U.A.W. and the management of an electric vehicle battery plant are locked in a wholly different conflict. officials take pains to say the talks in Lordstown between the autoworkers union and Ultium Cells, a joint venture between G.M. and LG Energy Solution in South Korea that is building the fuel cells to power G.M.’s electric vehicles, are not directly linked to the strikes. Vance, Republican of Ohio, specifically pointed to the struggles of Ultium workers laboring near the old G.M.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, —, Biden’s, J.D, Vance Organizations: General Motors, United Automobile Workers, Ultium, LG Energy, Democrats, Republican Locations: Lordstown , Ohio, Ohio, Lordstown, G.M, South Korea, Michigan

Maura Healey of Massachusetts, a liberal Democrat, has declared a state of emergency, activated the National Guard and started petitioning the White House for help. The migrants on state-funded buses from Texas are a fraction of the total number arriving in northern cities. Some of those migrants have family in New York, while others are attracted to the city’s history of welcoming immigrants. Still, the rising clamor is creating a rare convergence between the two parties, which for years have fought in seemingly parallel political universes. Endless Republican news conferences at the border and threats to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, were dismissed as political bluster.

Persons: Maura Healey, Star ”, “, Alejandro Mayorkas, shouldn’t, ”, Josh Riley, Marc Molinaro, Riley, Biden Organizations: Massachusetts, Democrat, National Guard, White House, Star, Republican, Democratic, Hudson Valley Republican, ”, Republicans Locations: Texas, . Texas, New York City, New York, Washington, Albany, Hudson

For a man who routinely seeks the spotlight when faced with politically consequential decisions, this is among the most closely watched dilemmas Mr. Manchin has confronted. “I don’t have a clue what he’s going to do, and I don’t think he knows what he’s going to do,” said Phil Smith, the longtime chief lobbyist for the United Mine Workers of America and a close ally of Mr. Manchin’s. In a brief interview in the basement of the Senate this week, Mr. Manchin said he would make a decision about his future by the end of the year. If he intends to run for re-election, he must inform the state by January. “The bottom line is, I’ve been in West Virginia for a long time and moving in the right direction,” he said.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, Manchin —, West Virginia —, Biden, Manchin, “, ”, Phil Smith, Mr, Manchin’s, I’ve Organizations: West Virginia, Senate, Republican, United Mine Workers of America Locations: New York, West, West Virginia

☆ In Iowa, Pence Preaches Old-School Conservatism to a Dwindling Flock
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

No more than two dozen Iowans had come to C & C Machining in Centerville to hear the last Republican vice president as he pursues his party’s nomination for president. And the ones who showed weren’t so sure how many G.O.P. voters still believed in a gospel that his former running mate, Donald J. Trump, has spent eight years rendering largely obsolete. “The old conservative Republicanism, those are my ideals,” Art Kirchoff, 53, an insurance agency owner, said approvingly to explain why he would vote for Mr. Pence in the Iowa caucuses this January. He had come at the behest of the machine shop’s owner, Gaylon Cowan, a friend, and, Mr. Kirchoff conceded, he wasn’t sure how many of his kind are left in the party.

Persons: Mike Pence, Iowans, Donald J, Trump, Kirchoff, approvingly, Pence, Gaylon Cowan, “, ” Organizations: Social Security, Republican Locations: Centerville, Iowa

The theory has been gaining momentum since two prominent conservative law professors published an article this month concluding that Mr. Trump is constitutionally disqualified from running for office. But even advocates of the disqualification theory say it is a legal long shot. If a secretary of state strikes Mr. Trump’s name or a voter lawsuit advances, Mr. Trump’s campaign is sure to appeal, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court, where the 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices nominated by Mr. Trump. But New Hampshire has jumped out as the early hotbed of the fight. The New Hampshire Republican Party said this week that it would challenge any effort to remove Mr. Trump, or any other candidates who have met requirements, from the ballot.

Persons: Trump, ”, Laurence H ., you’re, Marjorie Taylor Greene Organizations: Mr, Harvard, New Hampshire Republican Party Locations: In Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, But New Hampshire

But Mr. Ramaswamy’s retelling of the anecdote was sharply contradicted by the observations of a New York Times reporter who covered both events. The reporter witnessed the audience in Chicago pepper Mr. Ramaswamy about reparations, systemic racism and his opposition to affirmative action. Immigration was barely mentioned during the formal program. It was so absent that a Ramaswamy campaign aide at one point pleaded for questions on the issue. With that prompting, a single Republican consultant stood up to question Mr. Ramaswamy on his proposals.

Persons: Ramaswamy, “, ” Organizations: Chicago, New York Times, Immigration Locations: Indianola , Iowa, Chicago

In the Republican presidential race, the battle for second place has been jolted by the sudden rise of a political newcomer whose popularity has already eclipsed that of far more seasoned candidates — Vivek Ramaswamy. Jonathan Weisman, who is a political correspondent for The Times, explains the rising candidate’s back story, message and strategy.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Jonathan Weisman Organizations: Republican, The Times

☆ Eminem Tells Vivek Ramaswamy to Stop Rapping His Songs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As it turned out, Vivek Ramaswamy only got one shot to lose himself in the music. Marshall B. Mathers III, better known as the rapper Eminem, has told Mr. Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate, that he is no longer to use Eminem music on the campaign trail, just weeks after Mr. Ramaswamy broke into an impromptu version of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State Fair. At the fair, Mr. Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old political newcomer, had told Gov. “Vivek just got on the stage and cut loose,” his campaign spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said on Monday. “To the American people’s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real Slim Shady,” another of Mr. Mathers’s nom de plumes.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Marshall B, Mathers, Eminem, Ramaswamy, didn’t, Kim Reynolds, “ Vivek, Tricia McLaughlin, “, Slim, ” Organizations: Mathers III, Republican, Fair, BMI, Daily Locations: Iowa

☆ Labor Groups Target Hyundai — and Biden — Over Transition to Electric
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A coalition of labor unions and civic groups in Georgia and Alabama will launch a pressure campaign on Monday targeting Hyundai’s electric vehicle plants and its clean energy suppliers, an effort that could also push the Biden administration to make good on its oft-repeated pledge to create not just jobs but “good union jobs.”By focusing on the shift to electric vehicles at Hyundai, a nonunion carmaker expected to reap huge benefits from Mr. Biden’s prized initiatives, the coalition hopes to make inroads at other automakers, such as B.M.W. in South Carolina and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama, which similarly chose union-hostile territory for their American manufacturing bases. The campaign could also raise the heat on domestic automakers in the middle of contract negotiations with the newly aggressive United Automobile Workers, who are focused on raising wages at electric vehicle suppliers like battery makers. For Mr. Biden, the Hyundai campaign has political ramifications, in setting specific demands on one of the largest automakers in the world in one of the most important swing states in the 2024 presidential election, Georgia.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Hyundai, Benz, United Automobile Workers Locations: Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina

☆ Ramaswamy, the Millennial Candidate, Has a Lot to Say About His Generation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Vivek Ramaswamy, rising in the polls and buoyed by the first Republican primary debate this week, was barnstorming through central Iowa on Friday with a trademark smile and a remarkably bleak generational diagnosis of what ails younger America. The government “systematically lies to us,” he said. He told another gathering in Indianola, “We face a nonzero risk that the United States of America could cease to exist,” obliterated by the blossoming alliance of Russia and China. And yet somehow his evocation of a generational malaise seems to resonate, at least with the crowds that are packing the restaurants, cafes and even larger venues in the state that will cast the first ballots this January for the Republican presidential nomination. Noticeably, however, those crowds don’t seem to include many young voters.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Millennials, “, ”, Ronald Reagan’s, Bill Clinton’s Organizations: Republican Locations: Iowa, America, Pella , Iowa, Indianola, United States, Russia, China, Young

☆ What a Few Seconds of Hand Raising Said About Trump’s G.O.P.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vivek Ramaswamy, the candidate who has clung closest to the front-runner, immediately raised his hand in the affirmative. He was followed quickly by Nikki Haley, who served as Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations; Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who helped Mr. Trump weather accusations of racism; and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, once seen as the most formidable challenger to Mr. Trump, looked to his left, looked to his right and then raised his hand — after the four others had done so. Mike Pence, Mr. Trump’s vice president, then lifted his, clearly reluctantly. Another Trump critic, Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, kept his hands locked at his sides.

Persons: Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott of, Doug Burgum, Ron DeSantis, Trump, Mike Pence, Trump’s, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson Organizations: Gov, Trump Locations: Milwaukee, United Nations, Tim Scott of South Carolina, North Dakota, Florida, New Jersey, Arkansas

Eight candidates will appear onstage for the first Republican debate on Wednesday. Many far more politically experienced contenders have met their end under the bright lights of the debate stage. How Republican voters respond will offer some early clues into the ideological future of the party, particularly in a post-Trump era. He participated in eight face-offs during the 2016 campaign and helped coach Mr. Trump for his presidential debates in 2020. The debate offers Mr. Christie an opportunity to take aim at those aligned with Trumpism, even if they are opposed to Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mitt Romney, gantlet, ”, Newt Gingrich, “ Donald Trump, —, Tucker Carlson, Ron DeSantis, Jordan Gale, Donald Trump, ” Mr, DeSantis, Trump’s, parry, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Pence, Mike Pence’s, AJ Mast, Mike Pence, Ramaswamy, Vivek Ramaswamy’s, MAGA, Victoria Coates, Roe, Wade, Tim Scott of, Christie, Scott, Nikki Haley, Will Christie, David Degner, Coke, New Coke, “ Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Haley, Doug Burgum, Maddie McGarvey, Burgum, Asa Hutchinson, “ We’re Organizations: Republican, Trump, Fox News, Fair, The New York Times, Wednesday, Fox News Radio, PAC, Ukraine, Harvard, Russia, Democratic, Republicans, United Nations, Mr, Credit, The New York, Gov Locations: Atlanta, Florida, Ukraine, Tim Scott of South Carolina, New Jersey, New Hampshire, South Carolina, U.N, Iowa, North Dakota, Arkansas

☆ Ramaswamy’s Foreign Policy Approach Offers Rivals a Line of Attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Ramaswamy, who has never held elected office or worked in government, expresses supreme confidence in his foreign policy views. He has vowed as president to go to Moscow the way Richard M. Nixon went to China. But in a political campaign, his positions may come off as naïve or bizarre — and easy to exploit. First, he told an interviewer, “I don’t believe the government has told us the truth” about the attacks. But caveats and context are often sacrificed on the campaign trail, and Mr. Ramaswamy said on Monday that he expected further foreign policy attacks on the debate stage Wednesday night in Milwaukee.

Persons: Ramaswamy, George F, Kennan, James A, Baker III, Richard M, Nixon, “, Russell Brand Organizations: Twitter Locations: American, Moscow, China, Saudi, Israel, Milwaukee

☆ Vivek Ramaswamy Loves Eminem. And He Doesn’t Care If the Feeling Is Mutual.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For some audiences, Vivek Ramaswamy is a biotech entrepreneur who pushed for pharmaceutical breakthroughs before he tried to break into politics. For others, he is a cultural warrior battling “woke” corporations or a crusader for his definition of “truth,” whether it be the sanctity of two genders or the perpetuation of fossil fuels. The identity that the entrepreneur and Republican candidate for president has kept more or less under wraps since his undergraduate days at Harvard is another thing entirely, Da Vek the Rapper. Yet there it was at the Iowa State Fair this month, the 38-year-old shape-shifting presidential candidate, microphone in hand, spitting Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” before a largely white crowd that appeared somewhere between amused and enthused. Beside him onstage was the Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, who watched with the look of a mother baffled by her child’s latest science fair project.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, “, Vek, Kim Reynolds, Bill Clinton’s, Arsenio Organizations: Harvard, Arsenio Hall Locations: Iowa

☆ Ramaswamy Rides Wave of Support, but Rivals Are Eager to Pounce
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | More About Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For months now, Vivek Ramaswamy has been crisscrossing the early primary states of the 2024 presidential cycle, attracting good crowds with offbeat proposals and a penchant for the media spotlight while gaining little serious attention from his Republican rivals. But after a recent surge in the polls — and a newly revealed debate strategy memo from allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida that singles him out — he is having a well-timed moment, before next week’s first Republican primary debate. The staying power of the Ramaswamy Rise will now be tested by rival candidates loath to see a political novice elevated as the alternative to Donald J. Trump, the front-runner whose legal troubles have snowballed. Polling at this stage of a primary campaign can be fickle, but in polling averages, Mr. Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and author, has grabbed third place, behind Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump, the former president now facing four criminal indictments.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, loath, Donald J, Trump, Ramaswamy, DeSantis Organizations: Republican, Gov Locations: Florida

Georgia Republicans say they know a winning message for 2024: Under President Biden, voters are struggling with inflation, gas prices are on the rise and undocumented migrants are streaming across the southern border. But they fear Donald J. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, won’t be able to stay on message. Mr. Trump’s obsession with the 2020 election, now heightened by two criminal cases over his efforts to steal it, threatens to reopen wounds in the state’s G.O.P. If Mr. Trump is the nominee, it’s unlikely he would contain his vitriol toward the officials who defied him to certify the 2020 election results, including the state’s popular governor — making for potential competing visions. “I don’t think he’ll let us” unite, said Jack Kingston, a former House Republican from Georgia and a Trump ally.

Persons: Biden, Donald J, Trump, won’t, —, “, Jack Kingston, Brian Kemp, ” Organizations: Republicans, Republican Locations: Georgia

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