Where the VP contenders stand on Trump’s biggest issue: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.
In today’s edition, campaign embed Alec Hernández outlines what Donald Trump's VP contenders have said about accepting the 2020 — and 2024 — election results. Plus, chief political analyst Chuck Todd explains why Biden needed to debate Trump earlier than the fall.
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Where Trump’s VP contenders stand on accepting the 2020 (and 2024) election results
By Alec Hernández
No matter how much closer the country gets to the election, Donald Trump can’t stop looking back to the one four years ago.
On the campaign trail, the former president consistently brings up his unfounded claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election from him. He has even said he doesn’t really want to hire anyone on his campaign who accepts that Joe Biden won in 2020.
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Yet a number of politicians considered top contenders to become Trump’s running mate did just that and now have to show their loyalty to him in other ways. Others, however, have long been vocal about their false claims of a rigged election.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, a fervent Trump supporter on Capitol Hill, notably voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s election results even after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Sen. JD Vance of Ohio has been a megaphone for Trump’s stolen election claims and has signaled that he would have declined to certify the election had he been in Vice President Mike Pence’s position.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has acknowledged that Trump ultimately lost the 2020 election, and he said during the first GOP primary debate last year that “Mike Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6.” But lately, he has pinned Biden’s win on irregularities in the voting process.
Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina both voted to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory. Rubio has agreed with Pence that he didn’t have the constitutional authority to overturn the election results, while Scott has said Pence “absolutely” did the right thing.
And now, duking it out to show Trump that they stand by him, none of the potential vice presidential picks has committed unequivocally to accept the 2024 election results.
The campaign shakeup Biden needed
By Chuck Todd
Whatever happens in the first debate between Biden and Trump, it’s guaranteed to be among the most consequential moments of this campaign. And depending on the performance of one or both, holding that early debate in June could be the most consequential decision of this campaign.
To claim we are in uncharted waters or unprecedented territory is an understatement’s understatement. But make no mistake, the trajectory of this race for Biden — coupled with the outside events that are all working against him right now, specifically inflation and Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip — wasn’t sustainable, so the Biden campaign had to do something to change it.
It’s possible that Biden could have waited until the scheduled debates in September or October to hope for a game-changing moment. But that would have been cutting it close.
Waiting until the fall to create a better contrast with Trump would have limited the opportunities to call audibles if Plan A didn’t work. Biden needed to shake up the race before the summer season of conventions and the Olympics.
Perhaps the reason both Biden and Trump wanted this early debate is that they both feared the Commission on Presidential Debates would end up qualifying Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to participate in its events in the fall. By going this early, both candidates are setting up a one-on-one shot at each other before they have to reckon with Kennedy, assuming he can get on enough ballots by the fall and qualify in the polls with a sustained 15% level of support.
An early debate also allows Biden and Trump more time to recalibrate before their conventions, essentially mitigating the possibility that one debate ends one of their campaigns. A bad debate performance in the fall could be more catastrophic politically than it would be, say, a week before July 4. And of course, going early doesn’t preclude more debates in the fall.
That’s all from The Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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