JD Vance's papal diplomacy: 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 White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today's edition, Henry J. Gomez interviews Vice President JD Vance in Rome. Plus, Steve Kornacki breaks down the latest polling showing Andrew Cuomo in the lead in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor.
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ROME — Vice President JD Vance shuffled between presidents and prime ministers this week, tending to complicated relationships with U.S. allies and puzzling over two wars.
But it was his meeting Monday with newly installed Pope Leo XIV that could prove to be most consequential on the world stage, Vance said in an interview with NBC News.
Vance, who is Catholic, said he found the pope to be 'extremely sweet.' He described their conversation as substantive — a promising sign given how Leo had, in his previous service as a cardinal, signaled disapproval of Trump administration immigration policies.
Here are some of the highlights from our interview with Vance.
Seeking a diplomatic partner: Vance spoke of Leo as a key potential partner in President Donald Trump's efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine and in other conflict areas.
'We talked a lot about what's going on in Israel and Gaza. We talked a lot about the Russia-Ukraine situation,' Vance said of the nearly hourlong audience he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had with Leo. 'It's hard to predict the future, but I do think that not just the pope, but the entire Vatican, has expressed a desire to be really helpful and to work together on facilitating, hopefully, a peace deal coming together in Russia and Ukraine.'
An expanding portfolio: Vance has now been to Italy twice as vice president. He has also visited India, represented the White House at conferences in Paris and Munich and touched down in Greenland to reinforce Trump's interest in annexing the island from Denmark. And the White House nearly sent Vance from Rome on a last-minute mission to Israel, but said the logistics could not be worked out in time.
'I definitely think the president has a lot of trust in me, and I'm honored by it, and I think it makes me a more effective vice president,' Vance said. 'A lot of people always asked me between the election and the inauguration: What would my role be? I would always say … I think it'll be being an extra set of eyes and ears for the president, doing the things that he thinks that I need to do, and that's largely how it's worked out.'
Relationship with Rubio: Vance's expansive role has placed him alongside Rubio, the administration's chief diplomat, as a face of Trump's foreign policy. But Vance dismissed any notion of competition or friction.
'My attitude is, if I do end up running in 2028, I'm not entitled to it,' Vance said. 'But I really think that Marco and I can get a lot done together over the next few years. That's how I think about our friendship and our relationship. And I would be shocked if he thought about it any differently.'
Read more from the interview →
By Steve Kornacki
Andrew Cuomo's political comeback attempt is on track, at least for now.
With just over a month until New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, the former governor retains a commanding lead over a crowded field of candidates. And he may stand to benefit further from the recent surge of one of his rivals, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who is drawing from a demographically narrow set of voters.
The latest poll from Marist University shows Mamdani separating from the rest of the pack but still trailing Cuomo.
Under New York City's ranked-choice system, voters are asked to list their preferred candidates in order on the ballot. After the initial votes are tabulated (and assuming no one crosses 50%), the lowest vote-getter is eliminated and his or her votes are reallocated based on second preference selections. Tabulation continues, round by round, until one candidate receives a majority of the votes.
Usefully, Marist's poll asked respondents to rank their preferences and then simulated this process. Even though it took multiple rounds, the contours remained consistent: Cuomo and Mamdani remained in the top two slots in each round, with Cuomo about 20 points ahead of Mamdani, who himself remained well clear of the rest of the pack. Ultimately, Cuomo reached 53% in the fifth round, with Mamdani at 29%.
This is similar to what unfolded in 2021, the first time New York used this system. In that year's Democratic primary, the final polling put now-Mayor Eric Adams ahead, with Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley duking it out for second place — the same dynamic that prevailed when the actual voting tabulations took place.
In other words, while the ranked-choice system is certainly complicated, it doesn't mean that it produces chaos. And that makes the Marist poll even better news for Cuomo, since it suggests that Mamdani may be emerging as the clear second-place candidate.
The 33-year-old Mamdani's rise is being powered by a coalition that's not well suited for victory. With voters under 45, he's running laps around the field. But the primary electorate skews much older, with more than two-thirds likely to be over 45. He has near-majority support from voters who call themselves very liberal, but they make up only a quarter of the electorate. And he fares best with white voters, who will most likely be outnumbered 2-to-1 by nonwhite voters in the primary.
Cuomo, by contrast, is scoring with groups that typically deliver primary wins, faring best with older, working-class and less ideological voters. His giant margin comes from nonwhite voters, especially African Americans.
No doubt, Cuomo's foes will spend the next month turning up the heat on him and reminding voters of his controversial handling of Covid as governor and the sexual harassment claims that knocked him out of office. Media scrutiny figures to intensify, too, and TV ads will feature prominently.
It's also possible that a different Cuomo rival will gain traction, one with broader appeal than Mamdani, making Cuomo's path to 50% more perilous.
But one month out, Cuomo's position appears as strong as it did when he entered the race.➡️ ️Bringing in the big guns: During a closed-door meeting, Trump pushed blue-state Republicans to relent on their SALT demands and warned conservatives, 'Don't f--- around with Medicaid.' But it's unclear if his trip to Capitol Hill managed to sway any of the House Republicans holding out on supporting the party's massive bill for his agenda. Read more →
☑️ Surprise vote: The Senate unexpectedly passed the 'No Tax on Tips Act' by unanimous consent after Sen. Jack Rosen, D-Nev., brought it to the floor. Read more →
🛡️Golden Dome: Trump officially announced his plans for a new missile defense system, saying it should be fully operational by the end of his term. Read more →
💸 Scaling back: Elon Musk said he plans to spend 'a lot less' on political causes after he was one of the biggest donors of the 2024 election. Read more →
⚖️ New Jersey fallout: The Justice Department charged Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., with two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement officials following a confrontation this month at a federal immigration detention facility in Newark. Read more →
🩺 Tone change: Trump's allies quickly shifted their comments on Biden's cancer diagnosis from well wishes to suggestions that the former president hid his condition while he was in office. Read more →
🪑 In the hot seat: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returned to Capitol Hill for his third congressional hearing in a week to face more heated questions from lawmakers about his department's drastic funding cuts. Read more →
👀 Pressure test: FBI leaders Kash Patel and Dan Boningo are under pressure from MAGA voters to act on their claims that the Biden administration and corrupt 'deep state' actors 'weaponized' the agency against Trump. Read more →
🗳️ 2026 watch: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms became the highest-profile Democrat yet to enter the race for Georgia governor. Read more →
🗳️ 2026 watch, cont.: Democratic Rep. Jared Golden announced he is running for re-election in Maine's 2nd District, which Trump carried in 2024, squashing speculation that he would run for governor or the Senate. Read more →That's all From the Politics Desk for now. Today's newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Bridget Bowman.
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